Verb Forms
A1 · BeginnerVerbsEvery English verb has a small set of forms, and each one has specific jobs — including some surprising double duty.
What you'll learn
- Base form: work, go, eat — used after do/does/did, modals, and for I/you/we/they in present simple
- -s form: works, goes, eats — used for he/she/it in present simple
- -ing form: working, going, eating — used in continuous tenses AND as a noun (gerund)
- Past form: worked, went, ate — used in the past simple
- Past participle: worked, gone, eaten — used in perfect tenses and the passive voice
The five verb forms
Every English verb has up to five forms: the base form, the -s form, the -ing form, the past form, and the past participle. Regular verbs often reuse the same form for the past and the past participle (worked/worked), but irregular verbs frequently don't (went/gone).
-ing: one form, two jobs
The -ing form does double duty. It's part of the continuous tenses (be + -ing): 'I am working.' But the exact same form can also act as a noun, called a gerund, as the subject or object of a sentence: 'Working from home has its perks.'
Past participle: also two jobs
The past participle appears after have/has/had in the perfect tenses, and after be in the passive voice — two very different grammatical structures using the exact same verb form.
Real English
Watch out
The present perfect needs the past participle (gone), not the past simple form (went) — these differ for many irregular verbs.
The continuous tenses need the -ing form after be, not the base form.
The he/she/it form of the present simple needs -s added to the base form.
Real life — Talking about hobbies
"What do you do in your free time?"
"Mostly reading, and I've recently started painting."
"That's great — painting always seemed relaxing to me."
"It really is. I've been doing it every weekend."
Practice
Exercise 1 · Choose the correct form
Which is the base form of the verb 'went'?
Exercise 2 · Choose the correct form
Which is the -ing form of 'write'?
Exercise 3 · Choose the correct form
Which is the past participle of 'eat'?
Exercise 4 · Choose the correct answer
'Swimming is great exercise.' What job is 'swimming' doing here?
Exercise 5 · Choose the correct form
Which form goes after 'has' in the present perfect?
Exercise 6 · Fix the mistake
Fix the mistake:
Exercise 7 · Choose the correct form
Which is the -s form of 'study'?
Exercise 8 · Complete the sentence
Complete: the past simple form of 'begin' is ___.
Exercise 9 · Complete the sentence
Complete: the -ing form of 'run' (double the consonant) is ___.
Exercise 10 · Build the sentence
Exercise 11 · Choose the correct answer
How many main forms does a regular English verb have (base, -s, -ing, past, past participle — with past and past participle often identical)?
Quick challenge
Five quick questions to check what stuck.
Question 1 / 5
Score: 0/0
Which is the past participle of 'see'?
You learned
- Five verb forms: base, -s, -ing, past, past participle.
- The -ing form is used in continuous tenses AND as a noun (gerund).
- The past participle is used in perfect tenses AND the passive voice.
- Irregular verbs often have different past and past participle forms (went vs gone).
Related grammar lessons
Verb Basics
Learn what a verb is, how to find it in a sentence, and why English sentences always need a subject — even when there's nothing real to refer to.
Regular and Irregular Verbs
Learn how regular verbs form the past simple predictably with -ed, why irregular verbs don't follow spelling rules, and why the past form never changes for the subject.
Verb Types
Get an overview of the main categories of English verbs — main verbs, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, and phrasal verbs — and how they work together in a sentence.
Auxiliary Verbs
Go deeper into be, do, and have as auxiliary (helping) verbs — how they build questions, negatives, continuous and perfect tenses, the passive voice, and emphasis — and how to tell an auxiliary use apart from a main-verb use.