Irregular Verbs In Present Tense: 5 Facts You Should Know

Irregular verbs never follow any particular rules while changing themselves into different tense forms, though an irregular verb does some addition of suffixes according to the person of the noun.

An “irregular verb” never follows any traditional rule of changing formation in different tense forms, but there are always some fixed rules of changing formation according to the number of nouns.

Let us check various facts and explanations related to the use of irregular verbs in the present tense.

Forms of irregular verbs used in present tense –

We are going to take the irregular verb ‘buy’ as a sample and go through its changes in various types of sentences in the present tense.

Changes of irregular verb forms in various types of present tense sentences are given below.

Serial Number	Type of Sentence	Person	Form of Irregular Verb
1.	Simple Present Tense	1st Person Singular Number	break
2.	Simple Present Tense	1st Person Plural Number	break
3.	Simple Present Tense	2nd Person Singular Number	break
4.	Simple Present Tense	2nd  Person Plural Number	break
5.	Simple Present Tense	3rd  Person Singular Number	breaks
6.	Simple Present Tense	3rd  Person Plural Number	break
7.	Present Continuous Tense	1st Person Singular Number	breaking
8.	Present Continuous Tense	1st Person Plural Number	breaking
9.	Present Continuous Tense	2nd Person Singular Number	breaking
10.	Present Continuous Tense	2nd  Person Plural Number	breaking
11.	Present Continuous Tense	3rd  Person Singular Number	breaking
12.	Present Continuous Tense	3rd  Person Plural Number	breaking
13.	Present Perfect Tense	1st Person Singular Number	have broken
14.	Present Perfect Tense	1st Person Plural Number	have broken
15.	Present Perfect Tense	2nd Person Singular Number	has broken
16	Present Perfect Tense	2nd  Person Plural Number	have broken
17.	Present Perfect Tense	3rd  Person Singular Number	have broken
18.	Present Perfect Tense	3rd  Person Plural Number	have broken
19.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	1st Person Singular Number	have been breaking
20.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	1st Person Plural Number	have been breaking
21.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	2nd Person Singular Number	has been breaking
22.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	2nd  Person Plural Number	have been breaking
23.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	3rd  Person Singular Number	have been breaking
24.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	3rd  Person Plural Number	have been breaking

Example – Pijush always breaks glass windows with the cricket ball.

Explanation –

Here, the irregular verb is in use to frame the “Simple Present Tense” sentence.

How irregular verbs are used in presents tense –

Irregular verbs are those verbs that form their own rules to change their form instead of following the traditional rule of adding ‘-ed’ or ‘-d’ to the present form. Now, let us see how irregular verbs are used in the present tense.

Each and every type of irregular verb has four types of forms. Those five types of forms are

1. Infinitive
2. Simple Present
3. Simple Past
4. Past Participle
5. Present Participle / Present Continuous

Now, we need to categorize the form of irregular verbs according to the type of present tense sentences.

Serial Number	Form of Irregular Verb	Type of Present Tense Sentence
1.	Infinitive	Simple Present Tense
2.	Simple Present	Simple Present Tense
3.	Simple Past	Not Applicable
4.	Past Participle	Present Perfect Tense
5.	Present Participle	Present Continuous Tense and Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Example – Mina sings a Rabindra Sangeet to please her mother.

Explanation –

The verb ‘sing’ can be easily marked as an irregular verb as we can not change its form in the past tense by adding the traditional ‘-ed’ or ‘d’. We have added ‘s’ to the irregular verb ‘sing’ because the subject ‘Mina’ is a third-person singular number.

When irregular verbs are used in present tense –

A verb is regular or irregular and can be easily identified by looking at its simple past form. An irregular verb does follow random rules to change its form in the simple past tense.

Reasons behind using irregular verbs in the present tense have been listed below.

Serial Number	Situation	Example
1.	To show an action that is normally done by the subject.	Pijush writes a letter to his father about his health condition.
2.	To show an action that is in process.	Pijush is writing a letter to his father about his health condition.
3.	To show an action which already happened in the past but somehow still connected to the present.	Pijush has written a letter to his father about his health condition.
4.	To show an action which has already been started in past but the action is still in working condition.	Pijush has been writing a letter to his cousin brothers to discuss about coming wedding ceremony.

Explanation –

The verb ‘write’ can be easily marked as an irregular verb as we can not change its form in the past tense by adding the traditional ‘-ed’ or ‘d’. Here, the irregular verb ‘write’ has been used to frame four different sentences to serve four different purposes.

Formula and structure of irregular verbs used in present tense –

One must understand the formula and structure of sentences in various present tense modes to get a clear idea about the position of irregular verbs in a specific mode of tense.

Structures of irregular verbs used in various types of present tense forms are given below.

Serial Number	Type of Sentence	Structure	Example
1.	Simple Present Tense	Subject + Present Form of Irregular Verb + Object	I weep a lot due to my failure.
2.	Present Continuous Tense	Subject + Be Verb + Present Form of Irregular Verb along with ‘ing’ + Object	I am weeping a lot due to my failure.
3.	Present Perfect Tense	Subject + have/has + Past Participle Form of Irregular Verb + Object	I have wept a lot due to my failure.
4.	Present Perfect Continuous Tense	Subject + have/has + been + Present Form of Irregular Verb  along with ‘ing’ + Object	I have been weeping due to failure for the last two hours.

Explanation –

The verb ‘weep’ can be easily marked as an irregular verb as we can not change its form in the past tense by adding the traditional ‘-ed’ or ‘d’. Here, the irregular verb ‘weep’ has been used to frame four different sentences of four different tense forms.

Examples of irregular verbs used in present tense –

The formation of various present-tense sentences is different. We need to use the form of irregular verbs according to the type of present tense sentences.

Examples of irregular verbs used in present tense along with related explanations have been enlisted below.

Serial Number	Examples	Explanations
1.	I rise every morning at 6 a.m. to get some fresh air.	The irregular verb ‘rise’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Simple Present Tense’.
2.	I am ringing the bell to call my entire pet dog for a meal.	The irregular verb ‘ring’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Continuous Tense’.
3	You should leave along with your mother to your school function.	The irregular verb ‘leave’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Simple Present Tense’.
4.	We are taking some souvenirs as a memory of this wonderful journey.	The irregular verb ‘take’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Continuous Tense’.
5.	The man in the market is thinking of buying some fresh sea fish.	The irregular verb ‘think’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Continuous Tense’.
6.	Sandip has gone to school.	The irregular verb ‘go’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Perfect Tense’.
7.	I have flown to Delhi to meet my mother.	The irregular verb ‘fly’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Perfect Tense’.
8.	Rina feels the need for some raw vegetables to cook a delicious meal.	The irregular verb ‘feel’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Simple Present Tense’.
9.	Mina has been freezing the chocolate ice-cream for one week.	The irregular verb ‘freeze’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Present Perfect Continuous Tense’.
10.	Pijush hangs a beautiful picture of Ullswater lake.	The irregular verb ‘hang’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Simple Present Tense’.
11.	Rina is a girl but she rides a heavy-duty motorcycle.	The irregular verb ‘ride’ is in use to frame the sentence in ‘Simple Present Tense’.

Conclusion –

It is not mandatory that an irregular verb always change its form in the past and past participle form. Verbs that never change their form in any tense form are also called “irregular verbs.”