Forms of Verbs: Meaning, Forms, List, Examples & Practice Worksheet with Answers

In English Grammar, Verb Forms refer to the different ways in which a verb is used to show the time of action, the subject, and the grammatical condition of a sentence. Here, the time of action means that the different forms of verbs help us understand whether the action is happening in the present, has happened in the past, or will happen in the future.

There are five verb forms in English, Base Form (Root Verb), Past Simple Form, Past Participle, Present Participle (‘-ing’ form), and Third-Person Singular Present Simple Form. 

For example:

• I always go for a walk after dinner. (Base Form)
• We went to the mall yesterday. (Past Simple Form)
• He was gone when I reached his home. (Past Participle)
• They are going on vacation in August. (Present Participle)
• She goes for a run early in the morning. (Third-Person Singular Present Simple Form)

Verbs: The Three Basic Forms: Cambridge Dictionary

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “Main verbs have three basic forms: the base form, the past form, and the –ed form (sometimes called the ‘ed participle’):

Base form: used as the infinitive form, with ‘to’ or without ‘to’ and for the present simple, except third person singular, which uses the –s form.

Past form: used for the past simple

-ed form: used after auxiliary ‘have’ and ‘be’

Verb Forms: Oxford Dictionary

According to the Oxford Dictionary, “Verb forms are the different inflected versions of a verb that express grammatical contrasts such as tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, and number. These include forms like the base form, third-person singular present, past tense, past participle, and present participle/gerund.”  

Also Read:

• Transitive Verbs: Meaning and Examples
• Intransitive Verbs: Meaning, Examples & Exercises

There are five forms of verbs: Base Form (V1), Past Simple Form (V2), Past Participle (V3), Present Participle (V4), and Third-Person Singular Present Simple Form (V5). Let us understand each of these verb forms in detail and how to use the forms of verbs in a sentence, along with examples.

1. Base Form (V1)

The Base Form or V1 is the first form of a verb. It is also known as the Root Verb. The base form is the original or starting point of the form of verbs and remains unchanged. These root verbs are used to form different forms of verbs.

Example:

• I dance every day.
• They watch movies on weekends only.
• Let me finish my homework before 8 pm.

2. Past Simple Form (V2)

The simple past form or V2 form of the verb tells us that the action has already happened in the past. It shows that a task was finished/completed in the past. In general, the past simple form of a verb is formed by adding ‘-ed’ or ‘d’ at the end of the root verb. However, there are irregular verbs where this rule is not applicable and the V2 form is completely different (like Drink → Drank, Think → Thought).

Example:

• He lied to his teachers about the test.
• The team cheated to win the match.
• I read the news yesterday.

3. Past Participle Form (V3)

The past participle form or V3 form of the verb is used to form perfect tenses like present perfect tense, past perfect tense, or future perfect tense, and passive voice sentences.

Just like the past simple form, the past participle verb forms are also formed by adding ‘ed’ or ‘d’ at the end of the root verb. In this case, too, some irregular verbs do not follow the general ‘ed’ and ‘d’ rule and need to be remembered. The past participle verb forms always have an auxiliary verb with them.

Example:

• If only I had solved the puzzle on time, I would have won the championship.
• She has read all the novels.
• He was gone when I reached his house.

4. Present Participle Form (V4)

The present participle form, or V4 form, or the ‘-ing’ form of the verb, helps describe the ongoing actions. These forms of verbs are used in continuous tenses like present continuous tense, past continuous tense, and future continuous tense, and come with auxiliary verbs.

Example:

• Vedika is playing with her doll.
• They are going to college.
• He is decorating the Christmas Tree.

5. Third-Person Singular Present Simple Form (V5)

The third-person singular form, or V5 form of the verb, helps represent the simple present tense. These forms of verbs are used when the subject of the sentence is he, she, it, or a singular noun. To form the V5 verb form, ‘s’ or ‘es’ is added at the end of the root verb (‘ies’ in certain cases).

Example:

• Suhana dances every day after school.
• She watches thriller movies only.
• It takes time to complete a visual presentation.

Also Read:

• What is Subject & Predicate?
• Types of Tenses in English

In English, the root verbs are the base or original form of a verb before any change. The root forms of a verb do not have any suffixes. They are used to create the other verb forms. For instance, choose, draw, drink, etc.

The root verbs are also known as the V1 form of the verb, as they are the foundation of all verb forms.

Examples:

• He must improve his English for the job.
• We eat lunch at the office cafeteria.

Root Verb Examples

Check out the table below for a list of root verbs. Also find their different forms of verbs:

Root Verb	Past Simple Form	Past Participle	Present Participle	Third-Person Singular Present
Read	Read	Read	Reading	Reads
Throw	Threw	Thrown	Throwing	Throws
Pay	Paid	Paid	Paying	Pays
Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven	Forgiving	Forgives
Upset	Upset	Upset	Upsetting	Upsets
Grow	Grew	Grown	Growing	Grows
Ride	Rode	Ridden	Riding	Rides
Make	Made	Made	Making	Makes

• Grammar Rules for Subject Verb Agreement
• What is a Gerund?

Regular and Irregular verbs are two types of verbs that change form to show the tense of an action. Let’s understand how these two verbs are different from each other.

Basis	Regular Verbs	Irregular Verbs
Meaning	Verbs that follow the basic rule of adding a suffix to the root verb.	Verbs that do not follow the basic rules.
Rule for Past Simple & Past Participle Form	Add ‘ed’, ‘d’, ‘ied’	No specific rule.
Spelling Change	No change in root spelling in the past form	Partial, complete, or no change in root spelling in different forms
Example	Explain → Explained → Explained	Go → Went → Gone Run → Ran → Run Do → Did → Done

Examples:

• They spoke to the teacher about the assignment. (Irregular Verb)
• The dog jumped over the fence. (Regular Verb)
• She baked a delicious cake for my birthday. (Regular Verb)
• He came to the party with a date. (Irregular Verb)

Also Read: 

• Types of Composition
• Rules of Precis Writing

Below are the lists of the V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 verbs forms in different categories

No Change in the Verb Forms (V1, V2, V3)

Below is the list of verbs whose V1, V2, & V3 forms remain the same.

Base Form (V1)	Past Simple Form (V2)	Past Participle (V3)	Present Participle (V4)	Third-Person Singular Present (V5)
Cost	Cost	Cost	Costing	Costs
Put	Put	Put	Putting	Puts
Hit	Hit	Hit	Hitting	Hits
Set	Set	Set	Setting	Sets
Shut	Shut	Shut	Shutting	Shuts
Bid	Bid	Bid	Bidding	Bids
Quit	Quit	Quit	Quitting	Quits
Thrust	Thrust	Thrust	Thrusting	Thrusts
Cast	Cast	Cast	Casting	Casts
Read	Read	Read	Reading	Reads

Regular Verbs

The table below includes regular verbs and their five forms of verbs.

Base Form (V1)	Past Simple Form (V2)	Past Participle (V3)	Present Participle (V4)	Third-Person Singular Present (V5)
Die	Died	Died	Dying	Dies
Earn	Earned	Earned	Earning	Earns
Face	Faced	Faced	Facing	Faces
Decorate	Decorated	Decorated	Decorating	Decorates
Clap	Clapped	Clapped	Clapping	Claps
Ask	Asked	Asked	Asking	Asks
Flee	Fled	Fled	Fleeing	Flees
Improve	Improved	Improved	Improving	Improves
Lie	Lied	Lied	Lying	Lies
Shred	Shredded	Shredded	Shredding	Shreds

Irregular Verbs

Below listed are the irregular verbs with their V1, V2, V3, V4, and V5 verb forms.

Base Form (V1)	Past Simple Form (V2)	Past Participle (V3)	Present Participle (V4)	Third-Person Singular Present (V5)
Take	Took	Taken	Taking	Takes
Begin	Began	Begun	Beginning	Begins
Break	Broke	Broken	Breaking	Breaks
Come	Came	Come	Coming	Comes
Fly	Flew	Flown	Flying	Flies
Fall	Fell	Fallen	Falling	Falls
Sing	Sang	Sung	Singing	Sings
Steal	Stole	Stolen	Stealing	Steals
Swim	Swam	Swum	Swimming	Swims
Smell	Smelt/Smelled	Smelt/Smelled	Smelling	Smells

Also Read:

List of Synonyms

List of Common Idioms

List of One Word Substitution

Follow the simple and effective tips below to learn the forms of verbs.

1. There are different forms of verbs. Start with regular verbs. For these verbs, you have to simply add suffixes like ‘d’, ‘ed’, or ‘ied’ to form the past simple and past participle verb forms. Prepare a list of common regular verbs and understand the suffix required for different types of regular verbs.

• ‘ed’: Most of the regular verbs require ‘ed’.
• ‘d’: Regular verbs ending with the letter ‘e’, need the suffix ‘d’.
• ‘ied’: Regular verbs ending with a consonant and ‘y’ require ‘ied’. In these cases, ‘y’ is replaced with ‘ied’.

2. Now learn about the rule for the third-person singular present verb form. For these verbs, you have to add ‘s’, ‘es’, or ‘ies’ at the end of the root verb.

• ‘s’: Most verbs require ‘s’
• ‘es’: Verbs ending in ‘o’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ss’, ‘x’, etc.
• ‘ies’: Verbs ending with ‘y’ required ‘ies’. ‘y’ is replaced with ‘ies’.

However, there are certain exceptions to the third rule. Verbs like pay, play, etc., are converted into V5 verb form by adding ‘s’ at the end, and ‘y’ also stays in its place.

3. As learnt above, irregular verbs do not follow one single rule, so it can be difficult to learn their verb forms. However, many irregular verbs follow patterns. Prepare a list of different groups of irregular verbs using the same pattern and learn them accordingly. For example:

• All forms remain the same (Hit → Hit → Hit)
• V2 and V3 are same (Bring → Brought → Brought)
• All forms are different (Sing → Sang → Sung)

4. Prepare flashcards or a chart with a verb table showing the V1, V2, V3, and V4 verb forms. Revise from the table regularly.

5. Write, speak, and practice the different forms of verbs with sentences. Try to frame sentences with a single verb in different forms.

Example (Write):

• I write short stories in my free time.
• I wrote two short stories yesterday.
• I have written 20 short stories till now.
• I am writing a short story on ‘A Trip to a Hidden Island’.
• She writes short stories on motivational topics.