The Verb "Shoot" in English

Conjugation of "To Shoot"

The verb "shoot" is an irregular verb. (This means that "shoot" 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 Shoot"

Form	shoot	Alternative Name
Base Form	shoot	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	shoots	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	shot	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	shooting	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	shot	[no alternative name]

"To Shoot" in All the Tenses

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