The Verb "Sing" in English

Conjugation of "To Sing"

The verb "sing" is an irregular verb. (This means that "sing" 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 Sing"

Form	sing	Alternative Name
Base Form	sing	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	sings	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	sang	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	singing	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	sung	[no alternative name]

"To Sing" in All the Tenses

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