The Verb "Tear" in English

Conjugation of "To Tear"

The verb "tear" is an irregular verb. (This means that "tear" 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 Tear"

Form	tear	Alternative Name
Base Form	tear	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	tears	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	tore	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	tearing	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	torn	[no alternative name]

"To Tear" in All the Tenses

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