The Verb "Wake" in English

Conjugation of "To Wake"

The verb "wake" is an irregular verb. (This means that "wake" 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 Wake"

Form	wake	Alternative Name
Base Form	wake	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	wakes	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	woke	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	waking	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	woken	[no alternative name]

"To Wake" in All the Tenses

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