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Summary
Verbs are action words. They tell you what a person or thing is doing or being. All sentences must contain at least one verb as without a verb a sentence is technically incomplete. Verb tenses tell you when something is happening. In this summary, you'll find out how to spot verbs and understand their tenses.
The basic form of a verb is called the infinitive. The infinitive of a verb has the word to in front of it, for example, to walk, to eat, to live. Verbs change their spelling depending on who or what is doing the action.
First person | Second person | Third person |
| I, we | you | he, she, it, they |
Most verbs don't change in the present tense apart from in the third person singular (he, she, it). When he, she, or it does a verb in the present tense you need to add on -s to the end of the verb.
Tense | to talk (infinitive) |
| First person singular | I talk |
| Second person singular | you talk |
| Third person singular | he / she / it talks |
| First person plural | we talk |
| Second person plural | you talk |
| Third person plural | they talk |
Verbs have tenses which tell you when an action is happening, whether it's in the past, present, or future. There are several different forms of each tense which you can see in the table below.
tense | to talk (infinitive) | |
Present | Present simple | I talk |
| Present continuous | I am talking | |
| Present perfect | I have talked | |
Past | Past simple | I talked |
| Past continuous | I was talking | |
| Past perfect | I had talked | |
| Past perfect continuous | I had been talking | |
Future | Future | I will talk |
| Future continuous | I will be talking | |
| Future perfect continuous | I will have been talking | |
The past tense is used for an action which happened in the past. The present tense is used for an action which is happening now in the present and the future tense is used for an action which will happen in the future.
Tip: Try and stick to one tense when writing. If you start writing in the past tense, don't suddenly switch to the present. Continue writing the sentence or paragraph in the past tense.
FAQs
Question: What is a verb tense?
Answer: Verb tenses tell us when an action is happening, if it's in the past, present, or future.
Question: What is an infinitive?
Answer: The basic form of verb is called the infinitive. The infinitive of a verb has the word 'to' in front of it, for example 'to walk', 'to eat', 'to live'.
Question: What are verbs?
Answer: Verbs are action words. They tell you what a person or thing is doing or being.
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