{"id":5576,"date":"2021-11-03T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=5576"},"modified":"2021-11-10T15:59:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T21:59:17","slug":"english-verb-conjugation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/verbs\/english-verb-conjugation\/","title":{"rendered":"English Verb Conjugation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A verb conjugation in English is a list of all of a verb\u2019s forms in written and spoken expression. Those forms represent a verb\u2019s person, tense, number, voice, and mood.<\/p>\n

To illustrate verb conjugation, we will focus on the verb to touch, <\/em>which is the infinitive<\/a> of the verb. The principal parts of to touch <\/em>are touch <\/em>and touched.<\/em><\/p>\n

English Verb Conjugation: Person and Number<\/h2>\n

Person concerns the performer or performers of an action. It has three categories (first, second, and third person) and two numbers (singular or plural). The singular and plural forms of the three persons make six total persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

English Verb Conjugation: Tense<\/h2>\n

Tense identifies the timing of the verb person\u2019s action: in the past, the present, or the future. For this discussion, we will focus on the simple verb tenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Simple Present Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI touch<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou touch<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it touches<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Simple Past Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI touched<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou touched<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it touched<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Simple Future Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI will touch<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe will touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou will touch<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou will touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it will touch<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey will touch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Regular verbs in English maintain a consistent pattern to communicate tense, as we can see in conjugation of the verb to dance<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Present Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI dance<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou dance<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it dances<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Past Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI danced<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe danced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou danced<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou danced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it danced<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey danced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Future Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI will dance<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe will dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou will dance<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou will dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it will dance<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey will dance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(For a closer look at how irregular verbs are treated in English, review our discussion Staying Regular with Irregular Verbs<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

English Verb Conjugation: Voice<\/h2>\n

Voice in English verb conjugation establishes whether an action is active or passive<\/a>. In the active voice, the subject performs the verb. In the passive voice, either the subject is unstated or unknown or the object of an action becomes the focus.<\/p>\n

The passive voice is formed with the proper form of to be <\/em>and the past participle<\/a> of the verb.<\/p>\n

Example active voice:<\/em><\/strong> I touched the statue. (Subject performs the action.)<\/p>\n

Example passive voice:<\/em><\/strong> The statue was touched. (Subject is unstated or unknown.)<\/p>\n

Example passive voice:<\/em><\/strong> The statue was touched by me. (Object is the focus.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far, all of our conjugation of to touch <\/em>has been in the active voice. Here is the passive conjugation of to touch <\/em>by person, number, and tense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Present Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI am touched<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe are touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou are touched<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou are touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it is touched<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey are touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Past Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI was touched<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe were touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou were touched<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou were touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it was touched<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey were touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Future Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
first person singular<\/td>\nI will be touched<\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/td>\nwe will be touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
second person singular<\/td>\nyou will be touched<\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/td>\nyou will be touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
third person singular<\/td>\nhe, she, it will be touched<\/td>\nthird person plural<\/td>\nthey will be touched<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

English Verb Conjugation: Mood<\/h2>\n

The mood of an English verb reflects the speaker\u2019s manner or attitude in what is being expressed. In verb conjugation, the main moods are the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative.<\/p>\n

The indicative mood<\/strong> represents statements of fact and information delivery: I touched the statue.<\/em> We are simply telling someone what we did.<\/p>\n

The imperative mood<\/strong> signals a direct request or a command to a particular person: Touch the statue.<\/em> We are not stating a fact or sharing information but rather issuing a directive to someone. The imperative mood often includes an understood but omitted \u201cyou\u201d as the subject: (You) touch the statue.<\/em><\/p>\n

We use the subjunctive mood<\/strong><\/a> to convey a wish, demand, suggestion, or recommendation. We also use it for something that is contrary to fact or otherwise impossible.<\/p>\n

The subjunctive mood prompts an alteration of proper verb conjugation. Compare the following sentences.<\/p>\n

He touches<\/u> the statue.<\/em><\/p>\n

I demand that he touch<\/u> the statue.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The first sentence states a fact, making it indicative with standard conjugation of the third-person present tense. In the second sentence, the subject is making a strong request, implicating that the subjunctive mood will follow. This is reflected by changing the third-person singular present from he touches <\/em>to he touch<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/h3>\n

Clarifying the Conditional Tense<\/a>
\nStaying Regular with Irregular Verbs<\/a>
\nPresent Perfect Tense<\/a><\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Correctly conjugate the enclosed infinitive verb in each sentence.<\/p>\n

1. (To put) down that turkey sandwich!<\/p>\n

2. Joann has requested that Thomas (to put) down that turkey sandwich.<\/p>\n

3. This year the children\u2019s performance-company schedule will (to include) highlights from The Nutcracker.<\/em><\/p>\n

4. The Salinases have already (to start) decorating their home for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

5. The statue was (to touch) by the public at least a thousand times today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Put<\/strong> down that turkey sandwich!<\/p>\n

2. Joann has requested that Thomas put<\/strong> down that turkey sandwich.<\/p>\n

3. This year the children\u2019s performance-company schedule will include<\/strong> highlights from The Nutcracker.<\/em><\/p>\n

4. The Salinases have already started <\/strong>decorating their home for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

5. The statue was touched <\/strong>by the public at least a thousand times today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A verb conjugation in English is a list of all of a verb\u2019s forms in written and spoken expression. Those forms represent a verb\u2019s person, tense, number, voice, and mood. To illustrate verb conjugation, we will focus on the verb to touch, which is the infinitive of the verb. The principal parts of to touch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5576"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5623,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576\/revisions\/5623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}