Join In
Twitter
YouTube
Weekly Newsletter
Libraries
A-Z Grammatical Terms
A-Z Confused Words
FAQs by Writers
A-Z Awkward Plurals
Punctuation Lessons
Common Mistakes
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Grammar Videos
(ordered by category) Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Grammar Videos
(ordered by category) Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
Verb Conjugation in English
What Is Verb Conjugation?
"Verb conjugation" means changing a verb so it works in your sentence. More specifically, it means changing a verb so your audience knows who is performing the action, when the action happens, and whether the action is completed or ongoing.Let's start by doing some verb conjugation with the verb "to paint." The first thing to say is that "paint" is the base form of the verb "to paint." (The base form is the verb without the "to." It's the version of the verb you would find in a dictionary.)
Let's do some verb conjugation with "to paint":
- Jack has painted the fence.
- "Has" fits with "Jack." It tells us the action was performed by one person.
- The "-ed" ending tells us the action was in the past.
- The "-ed" ending also tells us the action is completed.
- Jack and Jill have painted the fence.
- Jack and Jill are painting the fence.
- "Are" fits with "Jack and Jill." It tells us the action was performed by more than one person.
- "Are" also tells us the action is in the present.
- The "-ing" ending tells the action is ongoing.
The rest of this page will give an overview of, and provide links to, the different topics related to verb conjugation. (I know it looks complicated, but persevere. Learning the topics that fit under the verb-conjugation "umbrella" is the key to cracking a language, any language.)
Table of Contents
- The Six Elements of Verb Conjugation
- (1) Who or What Is Performing the Action?
- (2) Is the Action Performed by One or More Than One?
- (3) When Is the Action Happening?
- (4) Is the Action Ongoing or Completed?
- (5) Is the Action Is Done by or to the Subject?
- (6) Is the Action a Wish or Hypothetical, a Statement, or an Order?
- Printable Test

The Six Elements of Verb Conjugation
Verb conjugation can tell us six things about a verb:- (1) Who or what is performing the action.
- (2) Whether the action is performed by one or more than one.
- (3) When the action is happening.
- (4) Whether the action is ongoing or completed.
- (5) Whether the action is done by or to the subject.
- (6) Whether the action is a wish or hypothetical, a statement, or an order.
(1) Who or What Is Performing the Action?
The subject of a verb tells us who or what is performing the action. In these two examples the subjects are in bold:- I am painting the fence.
- You are painting the fence.
- Jack is painting the fence.
Every subject fits into one of three categories:
- First Person. This is the person or people speaking (i.e., "I" or "we").
- Second Person. This is the person or people being addressed (i.e., "you").
- Third Person. This is everybody else. It is the person or people neither speaking nor being addressed (i.e., "he," "she," "it," "they," or any noun).
Person Category | Pronoun or Noun | "to be" | "to paint" |
---|---|---|---|
First Person Singular | I | am | paint |
Second Person Singular | you | are | paint |
Third Person Singular | he / she / it dog, alien (or any other singular noun) |
is | paints |
First Person Plural | we | are | paint |
Second Person Plural | you | are | paint |
Third Person Plural | they dogs, aliens (or any other plural noun) |
are | paint |
(2) Is the Action Performed by One or More Than One?
As we've just covered, the subject of a verb tells us whether the action is performed by one person or thing or more than one. In grammar, this is called number. In English, there are two number categories: singular and plural.In the last section, we said that the subject of a verb always fits into one of six categories. There are three person categories (first person, second person, and third person) and two number categories, giving us six categories in total (first person singular, second person singular, third person singular, first person plural, second person plural, and third person plural).
So, now we can say that the person and number of a subject determines how a verb is conjugated.
This infographic gives an overview of the concept of number in grammar:
(3) When Is the Action Happening?
The tense of a verb tells us when the action is happening. An action can be in the past, present, or future. As we will cover in the next section on aspect, there are four more ways to describe an action. ("Ongoing" and "completed" are two of those four ways.) This means there are 12 tenses in total.Here is the full list of the 12 tenses in English, showing how the verbs "to go" and "to laugh" are conjugated for each tense. (The table includes a link to a lesson for every tense, where there is a detailed explanation, a test, and an explainer video.)
The 4 Past Tenses | Example 1 | Example 2 |
---|---|---|
simple past tense | I went | She laughed |
past progressive tense | I was going | She was laughing |
past perfect tense | I had gone | She had laughed |
past perfect progressive tense | I had been going | She had been laughing |
The 4 Present Tenses | Example 1 | Example 2 |
simple present tense | I go | She laugh |
present progressive tense | I am going | She is laughing |
present perfect tense | I have gone | She has laughed |
present perfect progressive tense | I have been going | She has been laughing |
The 4 Future Tenses | Example 1 | Example 2 |
simple future tense | I will go | She will laugh |
future progressive tense | I will be going | She will be laughing |
future perfect tense | I will have gone | She will have laughed |
future perfect progressive tense | I will have been going | She will have been laughing |
(4) Is the Action Ongoing or Completed?
The aspect of a verb tells us whether the action is ongoing or completed. In fact, there is a little more to aspect than that. There are four aspects:Aspect | Use | Example |
---|---|---|
Simple Aspect (also called the indefinite aspect) | Expresses a fact |
|
Perfect Aspect (also called the complete aspect) | Expresses a completed action |
|
Progressive Aspect (also called the continuing aspect) | Expresses an ongoing action |
|
Perfect Progressive Aspect | Expresses the end of an ongoing action |
|
(5) Is the Action Is Done by or to the Subject?
The voice of a verb tells us whether the action is done by or to the subject. There are two possibilities:Voice | Use | Examples |
---|---|---|
The Active Voice | Shows a verb whose subject performs the action of the verb | |
The Passive Voice | Shows a verb whose subject has the action of the verb done to it |
(6) Is the Action a Wish or Hypothetical, a Statement, or an Order?
The mood of a verb tell us whether the action is a wish or hypothetical, a statement or question, or an order.There are three moods in English:
Mood | Use | Examples |
---|---|---|
The Indicative Mood | States a fact or asks a question |
|
The Imperative Mood | Expresses an order |
|
The Subjunctive Mood | Shows a wish, a suggestion, a demand, or hypothetical situation |
|
Help Us Improve Grammar Monster
- Do you disagree with something on this page?
- Did you spot a typo?
Find Us Quicker!
- When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.