The Verb "Wear" in English

Conjugation of "To Wear"

The verb "wear" is an irregular verb. (This means that "wear" 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 Wear"

Form	wear	Alternative Name
Base Form	wear	Infinitive Form
The -S Form	wears	Third Person Singular Form
Past Form	wore	Simple Past Tense
The -ING Form	wearing	Present Participle Form
The Past Participle Form	worn	[no alternative name]

"To Wear" in All the Tenses

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