VERBS IN ENGLISH

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 VERBS IN ENGLISH

Verbs are simply words that indicate that an action, state, or condition is taking
place at a certain point in time.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The WordReference Random House Learner’s Dictionary of American English

explains that a verb is:
a member of a class of words that typically express action, state, or a relation
between two things and are often formally distinguished, as by being marked for
tense, aspect, voice, mood, or agreement with the subject or object.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Just as in Spanish and Italian, verbs are conjugated according to person and
number as well as tense, aspect, mood, and voice and all verbs must agree with
their subject.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

When used in reference to the conjugation of verbs, person refers to the noun (a
person, place, thing, or idea) performing the action and, just as in Spanish and
Italian, the subjects of verbs are either singular or plural and occur in the 1 st, 2nd,
or 3rd person.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Person can be defined as: a grammatical category for pronouns and verbs that
distinguishes between the speaker of something said (the first person), the
person spoken to (the second person), and other people or things spoken about
(the third person).
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• These are the persons and numbers for verbs in English:

• 1st person singular: I (yo in Spanish)

• 2nd person singular: you (tú in Spanish)
• 3rd person singular: he, she, it (él, ella, and also Usted in Spanish)

• 1st person plural: we (nosotros in Spanish)

• 2nd person plural: you (vosotros/vosotras in Spanish)
• 3rd person plural: they (ellos, ellas in Spanish)
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The next factor in determining the conjugation of verbs is tense.

 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Tense is defined as:

a category of verbs or changes in the forms of verbs that serve chiefly to show or
refer to the time of the action or state expressed by the verb;
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• There are twelve possible forms for every verb in English, which are based on
a combination of the tense, aspect, mood and voice of the verb employed.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• So far we have described the person, number, and tense of verbs, but a
discussion of the aspect of verbs is also necessary.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Aspect is defined as:

• a grammatical category for verbs that indicates how long the action described
is, whether it is repeating, if it is beginning, or if it has been completed:
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• In English, there are three tenses and four aspects, which leads to the total
number of conjugations for a verb when accounting for tense, aspect, mood,
voice, person, and number of a verb
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• The three tenses in English are present, past, and future.

• The four aspects in English are simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect,
continuous.
• It is through a combination of these aspects and tenses as well as accounting
for the mood, voice, person, and number of a verb that leads the speaker or
writing to the correct tense of the verb he or she wants to use.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• It is through selecting a combination of these aspects and tenses as well as

accounting for the mood, voice, person, and number of a verb that leads the
speaker or writer to the correct tense of the verb he or she wants to use.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Mood refers to the attitude of the speaker about the action, state, or condition
that the verbs expresses in the statement he or she is making.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Just as in Spanish and Italian, the moods for verbs are:

• Indicative
• Subjunctive
• Conditional
• Imperative
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• English may have the same moods as in Spanish or Italian, however, English
expresses these moods differently than in Spanish and Italian.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• While Spanish and Italian make frequent use of the subjunctive, English makes
use of modal verbs much more frequently.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• English still uses the subjunctive, just less frequently than the other Romance
languages.
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• The indicative mood is used to state facts that are either affirmative (true) or
negative (not true).

• Examples:
• I am going to the store.
• I want to eat.
• I have many friends.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The subjunctive mood in English, similar to in Spanish and Italian, is used to

express the speaker’s opinion, feelings, attitude, doubt, or sense of obligation
about an action, state, or condition the speaker wants to express.

• We will cover the subjunctive mood in English in more detail later in the course.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The conditional mood is used to express a hypothesis or the possibility or

impossibility of some action, state, or condition occurring at some point in time
based on a condition or set of conditions.

We will explore the conditional mood in English in more detail later in the course.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The imperative mood is used to issue a command to the person or persons to

whom the speaker is talking to.
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• Because the subject of the verb in the imperative is always the 2 nd person
singular or plural, verbs in the imperative do not need a subject as the subject is
always understood based on the context.

• Examples:
• Go to sleep.
• Eat your food.
• Calm down.
• Give me the book
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• We will start our exploration of verbs forms with the simple present indicative.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• To form the simple present of regular verbs in English, simply use the base
form of the vlb for all persons and number, except for the 3rd person singular
which adds the suffix –s.

Example:
I help We help
You help You help
He/she/it helps They help
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• For verbs that end in –sh, -ch, -x, or –s, the simple present is still formed by
using the base form, but the 3rd person singular adds the suffix –es to the base
form.

• Example:
• I wash We wash
• You wash You wash
• He/she/it washes They wash
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Verbs that end in an –o also add the suffix –es to the 3rd person singular in the
simple present.

• Example:
• I go We go I do We do
• You go You go You do You do
• He/she/it goes They go He/she/it does They do
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The verb to be (ser/estar) is irregular. You will just have to remember these
forms in the simple present:

• to be:
• I am (yo soy) We are (nosotros somos)
• You are (tú eres) You are (vosotros sois)
• He/she/it is (él/ella/Usted es) They are (ellos/ellas/Ustedes son)
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Since the conjugation of verbs in English is the same for all persons and
numbers, English requires the use of a subject with a verb.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The subject of a verb must always be stated because it will not be readily
understood by English speakers who automatically expect that there will be a
subject and a verb in any given sentence.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Because of the way that verbs are conjugated in English, you always, always,
always, always, always have to state the subject of the verb.
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• The only exception to the rule requiring the use of subjects with verbs is the
imperative, because imperatives are commands and thus their context renders
the subject of the command to be already understood.
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The simple present, as its name implies, describes actions, states, or conditions
occurring in the present, but they do not necessarily occur at the very moment of
speaking.
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In English, when people want to talk about actions, states, or conditions that are
occurring right now as they are speaking, the present continuous is generally
preferred.
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• To form the present continuous of a verb, you need to combine a form of to be

in the simple present plus what is called a present participle.

• present continuous: TO BE + present participle

• In this case, the verb to be is functioning as what is called a helping verb or

auxiliary verb.
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• The present participle is what helps give the verb the sense that the action of
the verb is continuing to take place right now. As its name suggests, it
describes actions, states, or conditions as continuously occurring in the present.
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• The present participle is formed by adding –ing to the end of the base form, the
form of the verb that results when the word “to” is dropped from the infinitive):

• Examples:
• help (base form) helping (present participle)
• make (base form) making (present participle)
• do (base form) doing (present participle)
eat (base form) eating (present participle)
fly (base form) flying (present particple)
 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Example sentences:
• My cousin is helping his mother.
• Dad is making dinner.
• My brother is doing his homework.
• Everyone is eating lunch.
• The birds are flying.
The present continuous describes actions, states, or conditions taking place right
now at the moment of speaking, but it can also describe planned activities that
will happen in the future.

Examples:
Rob and I are going skiing next weekend.
My sister is flying into town from Chicago.
I am traveling to Puerto Rico next month.
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• Remember that all conjugated verbs have tense, aspect, and mood. The verb to
be in the present continuous provides the tense, while the present participle
provides the aspect, and the mood is indicative.

• present continuous = TO BE + present participle

 VERBS IN ENGLISH

• Choose the correct verb in the sentences below. Choose between the simple
present or present continuous.

That dog ______ (barks/is barking) at me every time it sees me.

That dog barks at me every time it sees me.

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• The children _________ (walk/are walking) to school every morning.

• The children walk to school every morning.

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• My father __________ (works/is working) for a large law firm.

• My father works for a large law firm.

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• My wife and I _________ (go/are going) to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks.

• My wife and I are going to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks.

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• The professor __________ (teaches/is teaching) philosophy at a local

university.

• The professor teaches philosophy at a local university.

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• As of now, it __________ (rains/is raining).

• As of now, it is raining.
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• He cannot come to the phone. He __________ (eats/is eating).

• He cannot come to the phone. He is eating.

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• My friend __________ (runs/is running) in the local marathon every year.

• My friend runs in the local marathon every year.

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• My aunt is a very talented artist. She __________ (paints/is painting) beautiful

paintings in her spare time as a hobby.

• My aunt in a very talented artists. She paints beautiful paintings in her spare
time as a hobby.