The Verb "Slay" in English

Conjugation of "To Slay"

The verb "slay" is an irregular verb. (This means that "slay" does not form its simple past tense or its past participle by adding "-ed" or "-d" to the base form.)

The Five Forms of "To Slay"

Form	slay	Alternative Name
Base Form	slay	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	slays	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	slew	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	slaying	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	slain	[no alternative name]

"To Slay" in All the Tenses

The tables below show how "slay" conjugates in the past, present, and future tenses.

Past Tenses

Person	Simple Past	Past Progressive Tense	Past Perfect Tense	Past Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	slew slew slew slew slew slew The simple past tense is for a completed activity that happened in the past.	was slaying were slaying was slaying were slaying were slaying were slaying The past progressive tense is for an ongoing activity in the past. Often, it is used to set the scene for another action.	had slain had slain had slain had slain had slain had slain The past perfect tense is for emphasizing that an action was completed before another took place.	had been slaying had been slaying had been slaying had been slaying had been slaying had been slaying The past perfect progressive tense is for showing that an ongoing action in the past has ended.

Present Tenses

Person	Simple Present	Present Progressive Tense	Present Perfect Tense	Present Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	slay slay slays slay slay slay The simple present tense is mostly for a fact or a habit.	am slaying are slaying is slaying are slaying are slaying are slaying The present progressive tense is for an ongoing action in the present.	have slain have slain has slain have slain have slain have slain The present perfect tense is for an action that began in the past. (Often, the action continues into the present.)	have been slaying have been slaying has been slaying have been slaying have been slaying have been slaying The present perfect progressive tense is for a continuous activity that began in the past and continues into the present (or finished very recently).

Future Tenses

Person	Simple Future	Future Progressive Tense	Future Perfect Tense	Future Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	will slay will slay will slay will slay will slay will slay The simple future tense is for an action that will occur in the future.	will be slaying will be slaying will be slaying will be slaying will be slaying will be slaying The future progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will occur in the future.	will have slain will have slain will have slain will have slain will have slain will have slain The future perfect tense is for an action that will have been completed at some point in the future.	will have been slaying will have been slaying will have been slaying will have been slaying will have been slaying will have been slaying The future perfect progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will be completed at some specified time in the future.

Most Common Irregular Verbs

The two most common irregular verbs in English are "be" and "have." These pages give more details about these two verbs:

Here are the next 10 most common irregular verbs in English:

see, say, go, come, know, get, give, become, find, and think

This page was written by Craig Shrives.