english verbs irregular in third person singular present tense

We don't put an S on the end of the verb in the negative form. In the negative, the main verb is always in the bare infinitive (without TO). Again, the only variation occurs in the 3rd person where we use does not. To form the negative we use the auxiliary do not. If the verb ends in a Consonant + Y, we remove the Y and + IES in the third person. He kisses his wife before he goes to work.Ģ.She watches soap operas every afternoon.If the verb ends in SS, X, CH, SH or the letter O, we add + ES in the third person. The only change that is made to these verbs is in the third person – for He, She or It.ġ. Irregular verbs in English in the present tense follow very simple rules. These verbs can also function as main verbs.Normally in the present tense we add S to the end of the verb in the 3rd person (He, She, It). There are only three primary helping verbs: do, have, be. We use primary helping verbs to change the tense or voice of the main verb, and to make questions and negatives. The tables on this page show the forms of all helping verbs. We use helping verbs (auxiliary verbs) with main verbs. To be, or not to be, that is the question:.We heard them sing their national anthem.These example sentences use main verbs in different forms. Note that 'have', 'do' and 'be' also function as helping or auxiliary verbs, with exactly the same forms. The present participle is always made by adding '-ing' to the base, and the 3rd person singular present simple is always made by adding 's' to the base (though there are some variations in spelling). They do not learn the present participle and 3rd person singular present simple for regular or irregular verbs for another very simple reason - they never change. They do not learn these for regular verbs for one very simple reason - the past simple and past participle are always the same: they are formed by adding '-ed' to the base. They may spend many hours chanting: sing, sang, sung go, went, gone have, had, had etc. It is an 'infinity marker' or 'particle'.Īt school, students often learn by heart the base, past simple and past participle (sometimes called V1, V2, V3, meaning Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3) for irregular verbs. As they are identical in form to the base form, and 'to' is not part of the verb, we do not list the infinitive as a separate form. There are two possibilities for the infinitive:įor example, sing and to sing are both infinitives.

English verbs irregular in third person singular present tense