Verb
From Wikigogy
- Verb
- word to decribe an action
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
English verbs change when the time or mood changes, unlike in languages like Chinese. A full verb (or infinite) is the action word with "to", to walk, to sing, to scream, to order, etc.
[edit] Agreement
Agreement is the way a verb changes with the person, number or gender. In English, there is only agreement with the person. When talking about the here and now, he, she, and it get an extra -(e)s.
- He plays football.
- She enjoys classical music.
- It rains constantly.
- Brad flies to England once a month.
- Tina sells perfume for a living.
- The baby wants to be fed.
[edit] Tense
Tense is a way to alter the verb, so it expresses a different time. Tense is different with regular and irregular verbs. All regular verbs have the same pattern. You can see this in the past tense. The 178 irregular verbs in English don't follow these rules and need to be learned separately.
[edit] Present tense
The rules for present tense are already discussed under agreement: he, she and it get an extra -(e)s. The only verbs that are different in present tense are to be and to have
| Person | To be | To have |
|---|---|---|
| I | am | have |
| you | are | have |
| he/she/it | is | has |
| we | are | have |
| they | are | have |
To have only changes with he, she and it: it's not haves but has.
[edit] Past tense
The past tense is used when you talk about something that happened before the present and is not going on in the present. So, the action was completed in the past. Regular verbs are made into past tense by adding -(e)d. Irregular verbs follow their own pattern, you need to learn them by heart.
[edit] Future tense
[edit] Continuous
[edit] Mood
Mood is the way to talk about unreal or expected actions.
