Level: beginner
Verbs in English have four basic parts:
| Base form | -ing form | Past tense | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| work | working | worked | worked |
| play | playing | played | played |
| listen | listening | listened | listened |
Most verbs are regular: they have a past tense and past participle with –ed (worked, played, listened). But many of the most frequent verbs are irregular.
Level: beginner
Basic parts
Verbs in English have four basic parts:
| Base form | -ing form | Past tense | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| work | working | worked | worked |
| play | playing | played | played |
| listen | listening | listened | listened |
Most verbs are regular: they have a past tense and past participle with –ed (worked, played, listened). But many of the most frequent verbs are irregular.
Verb phrases
Verb phrases in English have the following forms:
- a main verb:
| main verb | ||
|---|---|---|
| We | are | here. |
| I | like | it. |
| Everybody | saw | the accident. |
| We | laughed. |
The verb can be in the present tense (are, like) or the past tense (saw, laughed).
| auxiliary be | -ing form | |
|---|---|---|
| Everybody | is | watching. |
| We | were | laughing. |
A verb phrase with be and –ing expresses continuous aspect. A verb with am/is/are expresses present continuous and a verb with was/were expresses past continuous.
- the auxiliary verb have and a main verb in the past participle form:
| auxiliary have | past participle | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| They | have | enjoyed | themselves. |
| Everybody | has | worked | hard. |
| He | had | finished | work. |
A verb phrase with have and the past participle expresses perfect aspect. A verb with have/has expresses present perfect and a verb with had expresses past perfect.
- a modal verb (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) and a main verb:
| modal verb | main verb | |
|---|---|---|
| They | will | come. |
| He | might | come. |
- The verb phrase 1
- The verb phrase 2
Level: intermediate
- the auxiliary verbs have and been and a main verb in the –ing form:
| auxiliary have been | -ing form | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Everybody | has been | working | hard. |
| He | had been | singing. |
A verb phrase with have been and the -ing form expresses both perfect aspect and continuous aspect. A verb with have/has expresses present perfect continuous and a verb with had expresses past perfect continuous.
- a modal verb and the auxiliaries be, have and have been:
| modal | auxiliary | verb | |
|---|---|---|---|
| They | will | be | listening. |
| He | might | have | arrived. |
| She | must | have been | listening. |
- the auxiliary verb be and a main verb in the past participle form:
| auxiliary be | past participle | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| English | is | spoken | all over the world. |
| The windows | have been | cleaned. | |
| Lunch | was being | served. | |
| The work | will be | finished | soon. |
| They | might have been | invited | to the party. |
A verb phrase with be and the past participle expresses passive voice.
- The verb phrase 3
- The verb phrase 4
Level: advanced
We can use the auxiliaries do and did with the infinitive for emphasis:
It was a wonderful party. I did enjoy it.
I do agree with you. I think you are absolutely right.
We can also use do for polite invitations:
Do come and see us some time.
There will be lots of people there. Do bring your friends.
Comments
hi team its realy very helpful.
now i feel that i am getting command over verbs.
actually we had a bit confusion regarding irregular verb that is there any gramatical rule for irregular verb?
Hi,
I'm glad to hear that you are making progress!
I'm afraid there aren't really reliable rules for irregular verbs - that's what 'irregular' means! One rule is that the more common the verb, the more likely it is to be irregular.
However, if you look at a list of irregular verbs, you will see that you can see some groups. For example, 'break / broke / broken' and 'speak / spoke / spoken' obviously follow the same pattern. 'Choose / chose / chosen' is not exactly the same, but is quite similar. These sort of patterns can help you to learn them.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
I like that, very much, thank you
Dear sir,
I would ask you to help me to find the correct answer for the above exercise because the check answer button doesn't active,
Thank you in advance,
Dear Nisreen,
Just click on 'See Answers'.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
First I would like to thank all the team for these useful courses.
I have a small question:) the adverbial 'lately' in the question number 6, is it among the adverbials of frequency?
Thanks in advance.
Regards.
Wafa
It is great shame !!!
The verb phrase is the main verb plus the complement, object, and/or adverbial.
Does anybody from the "The LearnEnglish Team" has a proper English grammar university education?
Every section of grammar is full of misleading terms and mistakes.
Shame and if you are native English speakers.
You are wasting the UK taxpayers money.
Why we said
(The windows have been cleaned.)
and didn't say
(The windows has been cleaned.) ????
Hello Hany,
We say 'the windows have' because the subject ('windows') is plural and the third person plural form of 'to have' is 'they have', not 'they has'.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
hi,
i am using all i find here in my English classes. they really work.
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