Verb Forms and Tenses

Using the principal parts of a verb listed in a dictionary, you can construct all the forms of the verb which then can be used to decide which tense (or other conjugation) is appropriate.

Principal Parts of the Verb

1. base

A. noted in the dictionary as the main verb

2. past

A. constructed from the base form
by adding -ed

or

B. noted in the dictionary as irregular

3. past participle

A. constructed using the base form
by adding -ed

or

B. constructed using the irregular past form noted in the dictionary
and adding -ed

or

C. noted in the dictionary as irregular

Main Forms of the Verb

1. base form

A. use the base verb part

2. -s form

A. constructed using the base verb part and -s (or -es)

(except for the verb be)

3. present participle form/ -ing form

(used for all progressive and perfect progressive tenses)

A. constructed using the base verb part
and adding -ing

(regular and irregular verbs are the same)

4. past form

A. same as the past part of the verb

5. past participle form/ -ed form

(used for all perfect tense and for passive voice)

A. same as the past participle part of the verb

Other Forms of the Verb

infinitive
to + the base form

perfect infinitive
to have + the past participle

progressive forms
a form of the verb be (be, was, were, been) + present participles form of the verb

emphatic forms
a form of the verb do (do, did, done) + a form of the verb

future
will + the base form

note: The above is based on Greenbaum’s Oxford English Grammar.