The Verb "Sweep" in English

Conjugation of "To Sweep"

The verb "sweep" is an irregular verb. (This means that "sweep" 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 Sweep"

Form	sweep	Alternative Name
Base Form	sweep	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	sweeps	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	swept (also sweeped)	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	sweeping	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	swept (also sweeped)	[no alternative name]

"To Sweep" in All the Tenses

The tables below show how "sweep" 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	swept (also sweeped) swept (also sweeped) swept (also sweeped) swept (also sweeped) swept (also sweeped) swept (also sweeped) The simple past tense is for a completed activity that happened in the past.	was sweeping were sweeping was sweeping were sweeping were sweeping were sweeping The past progressive tense is for an ongoing activity in the past. Often, it is used to set the scene for another action.	had swept (also sweeped) had swept (also sweeped) had swept (also sweeped) had swept (also sweeped) had swept (also sweeped) had swept (also sweeped) The past perfect tense is for emphasizing that an action was completed before another took place.	had been sweeping had been sweeping had been sweeping had been sweeping had been sweeping had been sweeping 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	sweep sweep sweeps sweep sweep sweep The simple present tense is mostly for a fact or a habit.	am sweeping are sweeping is sweeping are sweeping are sweeping are sweeping The present progressive tense is for an ongoing action in the present.	have swept (also sweeped) have swept (also sweeped) has swept (also sweeped) have swept (also sweeped) have swept (also sweeped) have swept (also sweeped) The present perfect tense is for an action that began in the past. (Often, the action continues into the present.)	have been sweeping have been sweeping has been sweeping have been sweeping have been sweeping have been sweeping 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 sweep will sweep will sweep will sweep will sweep will sweep The simple future tense is for an action that will occur in the future.	will be sweeping will be sweeping will be sweeping will be sweeping will be sweeping will be sweeping The future progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will occur in the future.	will have swept (also sweeped) will have swept (also sweeped) will have swept (also sweeped) will have swept (also sweeped) will have swept (also sweeped) will have swept (also sweeped) The future perfect tense is for an action that will have been completed at some point in the future.	will have been sweeping will have been sweeping will have been sweeping will have been sweeping will have been sweeping will have been sweeping 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.