9. Conjugation of verb

A conjugated verb is a verb that has been changed from its base form to express tense, person, number, aspect, mood, and voice. For example, a different form of the same verb is used to show when an action takes place, to agree with the person (who could be first, second, or third person), to agree with a singular or plural subject, etc: I walk to school every day. / I walked to school yesterday. / He walks to school. / We walk to school. In the first two sentences, the verb walk is used in the present tense (walk) and past tense (walked). In the last two examples, the verb walk is used to agree with the third person singular (walks) and first person plural (walk).

When we conjugate a verb, we list the different forms of the verb according to the following grammatical categories:

Tense – Verbs come in three tenses: past, present, and future

There are six tenses for verb. Each verb (in bold) is conjugated for the tenses as follow:

Simple Present: She cycles to school.

(The simple present tense shows an action that always happens or happens often.)

Simple Past: She cycled to school.

(The simple past tense shows an action in the past.)

Simple future: She will cycle to school.

(The simple future tense shows an action that happens in the future.)

Present Perfect: She has cycled to school.

(The present perfect tense shows an action that happen recently,)

Past Perfect: She had cycled to school.

(The past perfect tense shows an action that was completed at some time in the past.)

Future Perfect: She will have cycled to school.

(The future perfect tense shows an action that will be completed at a specified time in the future.)

Person – Verbs are conjugated for each of the six different persons:

first person singular: I go; second person singular: you go; third person singular: he/she/it/one goes

first person plural: we go; second person plural: you go; third person plural: they go

Number – Verbs have two numbers: singular – the dog barks; plural – the dogs bark

Aspect – All verbs have both tense and aspect. Each tense is subdivided into aspects. The different combinations of tenses and aspects make possible aspects such as simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive. These aspects tell us whether the actions are continuous, completed, or both continuous and completed. (More on Aspect of Verb)

Mood – Verbs can be in one of the three moods: indicative, imperative, or subjunctive. (More on Moods of Verb)

Voice – Verbs can be in the active voice or the passive voice (SeeLesson 15)