The Verb "Shake" in English

Conjugation of "To Shake"

The verb "shake" is an irregular verb. (This means that "shake" 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 Shake"

Form	shake	Alternative Name
Base Form	shake	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	shakes	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	shook	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	shaking	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	shaken	[no alternative name]

"To Shake" in All the Tenses

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