The Verb "Sink" in English

Conjugation of "To Sink"

The verb "sink" is an irregular verb. (This means that "sink" 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 Sink"

Form	sink	Alternative Name
Base Form	sink	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	sinks	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	sank	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	sinking	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	sunk	[no alternative name]

"To Sink" in All the Tenses

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