Is Verb A Conjugation:5 Facts You Should Know

A meaningful sentence is all about the subject-verb agreement in all grammatical aspects with the help of the conjugation of verbs. Let us look at ways to conjugate verbs.

A verb must change its form to go hand in hand with its respective subjects in terms of all types of grammatical aspects. Herein lies the need for the conjugation of verbs.

Now, we will learn important facts about the conjugation of verbs along with various ways to conjugate verbs.

What is a verb conjugation?

There are various grammatical aspects that a verb must follow to match itself with its subject. Let us check the concept of conjugation of verbs for proper subject-verb agreement.

“Verb Conjugation” is the process of changing the form of a verb to match the subject in terms of some specific grammatical aspects.

A list of those aspects has been given below.

Aspects of a verb that must be conjugated in relation to its subject ExampleExplanation
1. A verb must be conjugated according to the “person” of the respective subjective.Pijush never gives up his effort while facing any hurdle in life.The person of the sentence is “Pijush” and he is the third person singular number. Thus, we have added “-s” to the verb “give.” This addition of “s” to the basic form of the verb “give” can be termed as “conjugation of the verb”.
2. A verb must be conjugated according to the “number” of the respective subject.They are going to the market to buy some raw and fresh vegetables.The number of the subject “They” is a third-person plural number. Thus, we have changed the verb “am” to “are” to match the subject of the sentence, and this process is called “conjugation of verb.”
3. A verb must be conjugated according to the “tense” of the respective subject.I have been boiling the potato since last one hour but still it not cooked.We have added “ing” to the verb “boil” because the sentence is in the present perfect continuous tense and this process is called “conjugation of verb”.
4. A verb must be conjugated according to the “mood” of the respective subject.I wish I were the head of the elephant herd.We have added the verb “were” instead of “is” or “was” after the speaker “I” because the sentence is in the “subjunctive mood”.
Aspects of a verb that must be conjugated in relation to its subject 

How to conjugate a verb?

We can not apply the same rules to conjugate both regular and irregular verbs. Let us check the different rules of the conjugation of verbs.

Conjugation of “Regular Verb” –

There are some specific suffixes to be added to the base form of the regular verb form to make it conjugated into different tenses, moods, persons, and genders.

Tense FormAddition of suffixVerb Form
1. Simple Present TenseBase Form / “-s” to the third person singular numberAchieve / Achieves
2. Present Continuous Tense“-ing”am/ is/ are achieving
3. Present Perfect Tense“-ed”Have achieved
4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense“-ing”have been achieving
5. Simple Past Tense“-ed”achieved
6. Past Continuous Tense“-ing”was achieving
7. Past Perfect Tense“-ed”had achieved
8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense“-ing”had been achieving
9. Simple Future Tense“-ed”had achieved
10. Future Continuous Tense“-ing”will be achieving
11. Future Perfect Tense“-ed”had achieved
12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense“-ing”will have been achieving
Conjugation of “Regular Verb”

Conjugation of “Irregular Verb” –

It can not be specified with any rule, structure, pattern, or tendency to conjugate irregular verbs. There is only a common rule that we need to add the suffix “-s” to the basic form of both regular and irregular verbs in “simple present tense form”.

Let us check conjugation of two irregular verb forms.

Tense FormIrregular Verb “give”Irregular Verb “buy”1. Simple Present Tensegivesbuys
2. Present Continuous Tenseam/ is/ are givingam/ is/ are buying
3. Present Perfect TenseHave gaveHave bought
4. Present Perfect Continuous Tensehave been givinghave been buying
5. Simple Past Tensegavebought
6. Past Continuous Tensewas givingwas buying
7. Past Perfect Tensehad gavehad bought
8. Past Perfect Continuous Tensehad been givinghad been buying
9. Simple Future Tensehad gavehad bought
10. Future Continuous Tensewill be givingwill be buying
11. Future Perfect Tensehad gavehad bought
12. Future Perfect Continuous Tensewill have been givingwill have been buying
Conjugation of “Irregular Verb”

What is a regular verb conjugation?

Both “regular” and “irregular” verbs can be conjugated by following their own set of rules. Let us see the concept of regular verb conjugation in action.

The “regular” verb conjugation is the easiest way to conjugate verbs because we can conjugate a regular verb by adding some specific suffixes. There are four types of suffixes that can be used to conjugate the most common verbs in English, and those are regular verbs.

Those four suffixes are as follows.

  1. “-d”
  2. “-ed”
  3. “-ing”
  4. “-s”

Example –

Let us see how the regular verb “join” is conjugated according to various tense forms. Here, we have taken “I” as the subject.

Tense FormExample of “Conjugation of Regular verb”Explanation
1. Simple Present TenseI walk along the seaside to get some nice sea shells.We have kept the regular verb “walk” in its root form to make it appropriate for the “Simple Present Tense” form.
2. Present Continuous TenseI am walking along the seaside to get some nice sea shells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Present Continuous Tense” form.
3. Present Perfect TenseI have walked along the seaside for the last hour to get some nice seashells.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Present Perfect Tense” form.
4. Present Perfect Continuous TenseI have been walking along the seaside to get some nice seashells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Present Perfect Continuous Tense” form.
5. Simple Past TenseI walked along the seaside to get some nice sea shells.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Simple Past Tense ” form.
6. Past Continuous TenseI was walking along the seaside to get some nice sea shells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Past Continuous Tense” form.
7. Past Perfect TenseI had walked along the seaside before sundown to collect some nice sea shells.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Past Perfect Tense” form.
8. Past Perfect Continuous TenseI had been walking along the seaside to get some nice sea shells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Past Perfect Continuous Tense” form.
9. Simple Future TenseI will walk along the seaside to get some nice seashells.We have kept the regular verb “walk” in its root form to make it appropriate for the “Simple Future Tense ” form.
10. Future Continuous TenseI will be walking along the seaside to get some nice seashells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Future Continuous Tense ” form.
11. Future Perfect TenseI will have walked along the seaside to get some nice seashells.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Future Perfect Tense ” form.
12. Future Perfect Continuous TenseI will have been walking along the seaside to get some nice seashells.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the regular verb “walk” to make it appropriate for the “Future Perfect Continuous Tense” form.
Conjugation of Regular verb

Conjugation of verb examples –

Now we will go through the conjugation of both regular and irregular verb forms to have a clear idea of the same.

“Regular Verb” Conjugation –

Now we will see how the regular verb “smile” is conjugated according to various tense forms. Here, we have taken “Ronit” as the subject. We must make a note that the subject “Ronit” is a third person singular number.

Tense FormExample of “Conjugation of Regular verb”Explanation
1. Simple Present TenseRonit smiles at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-s” has been added to the regular verb “smile” because the subject “Ronit” is third person singular female.
2. Present Continuous TenseRonit is smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
3. Present Perfect TenseRonit has smiled for last five minutes at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
4. Present Perfect Continuous TenseRonit has been smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
5. Simple Past TenseRonit smiled at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
6. Past Continuous TenseRonit was smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
7. Past Perfect TenseRonit had smiled for five minutes at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
8. Past Perfect Continuous TenseRonit had been smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
9. Simple Future TenseRonit will smile at the adorable girl to make her happy.The regular verb “smile” is in its root form.
10. Future Continuous TenseRonit will be smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
11. Future Perfect TenseRonit would have smiled at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ed” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
12. Future Perfect Continuous TenseRonit would have been smiling at the adorable girl to make her happy.The suffix “-ing” has been added to the root form of the verb “smile”.
Conjugation of Regular verb

“Irregular Verb” Conjugation –

How the irregular verb “bring” is conjugated here according to various tense forms we will explore. Here, we have taken “Mina” as the subject. We must make a note that the subject “Mina” is a third person singular number.

Tense FormExample of “Conjugation of Regular verb”Explanation
1. Simple Present TenseMina brings some black chocolate for those orphan children.The suffix “-s” has been added to the irregular verb “bring” because the subject “Mina” is a third-person singular female.
2. Present Continuous TenseMina is bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the present continuous tense.
3. Present Perfect TenseMina has brought some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “brought” because the sentence is in the Present Perfect Tense.
4. Present Perfect Continuous TenseMina has been bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
5. Simple Past TenseMina brought some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “brought” because the sentence is in the Simple Past Tense.
6. Past Continuous TenseMina was bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the Past Continuous Tense.
7. Past Perfect TenseMina had brought some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “brought” because the sentence is in the Past Perfect Tense.
8. Past Perfect Continuous TenseMina had been bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the Past Perfect Continuous Tense.
9. Simple Future TenseMina will bring some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” is in its root form because the sentence is in simple future tense.
10. Future Continuous TenseMina will be bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the Future Continuous Tense.
11. Future Perfect TenseMina will have brought some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “brought” because the sentence is in the Future Perfect Tense.
12. Future Perfect Continuous TenseMina will have been bringing some black chocolate for those orphan children.The irregular verb “bring” has been conjugated to “bringing” because the sentence is in the Future Perfect Continuous Tense.
Conjugation of Regular verb

Conclusion –

We must make a note that both “regular verbs” and “irregular verbs” need to be conjugated according to their respective subjects, although the rules of regular verb conjugation and irregular verb conjugation are different.