Common English Verbs

The English verb system is often considered the most complex system of the English language. The following sections list the five conjugations — base, simple present, simple past, present participle, past participle — of the three auxiliary and twenty most common verbs in English and list the nine full modal verbs and five quasi-modal verbs.

Be, Have, and Do

As a periphrastic language, English largely relies on auxiliary verbs to express most tenses and aspects of verbs. The three auxiliary verbs of English are be, have, and do. The five conjugations of the three English auxiliary verbs are as follows:

Base	Simple Present	Simple Past	Present Participle	Past Participle
be	am, are, is	was, were	being	been
have	have, has	had	having	had
do	do, does	did	doing	done

As auxiliary verbs, the three verbs be, have, and do appear in many verb phrase constructions including the progressive aspect, perfect aspect, perfect-progressive aspect, passive voice, and interrogative sentences. For example:

• My daughter is reading her favorite books. (progressive aspect)
• The woman has finally finished filling out the paperwork. (perfect aspect)
• Your uncle has been moping around the house all day. (perfect-progressive aspect)
• The pumpkins were stolen by some neighborhood hooligans (passive voice)
• Did you leave the pickle jar on the counter again? (interrogative construction)
• Poppy does love her Elmo pajamas! (emphatic construction)

The verbs be, have, and do also function as main verbs. For example:

• My favorite pastime is learning more about English grammar
• His grandfather had ten siblings.
• Espen did the laundry last night.

All conjugations of be, have, and do are irregular in all forms except in the present participle.

Common English Verbs

Some English verbs occur more commonly than others. The five conjugations of twenty of the most common English verbs aside from the auxiliaries be, have, and do are as follows:

Base	Simple Present	Simple Past	Present Participle	Past Participle
ask	ask, asks	asked	asking	asked
become	become, becomes	became	becoming	become
begin	begin, begins	began	beginning	begun
come	come, comes	came	coming	come
drink	drinks, drinks	drank	drinking	drunk
eat	eat, eats	ate	eating	eaten
feel	feel, feels	felt	feeling	felt
finish	finish, finishes	finished	finishing	finished
get	get, gets	got	getting	got, gotten
give	give, gives	gave	giving	given
go	go, goes	went	going	gone
know	know, knows	knew	knowing	known
learn	learn, learns	learned	learning	learned
like	like, likes	liked	liking	liked
make	make, makes	made	making	made
put	put, puts	put	putting	put
say	say, says	said	saying	said
see	see, sees	saw	seeing	seen
take	take, takes	took	taking	taken
write	write, writes	wrote	writing	written

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are a distinct verb form unique to Germanic languages including English that express modality. Modality is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker such as possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency. Modal verbs differ from prototypical verbs in form and function. The nine full modal verbs of English are as follows:

• can
• could
• may
• might
• must
• shall
• should
• will
• would

In addition to the nine full modal verbs, English also has five quasi-modal verbs, which are a subset of modal verbs that possess some but not all grammatical properties of prototypical modals. The five quasi-modal verbs of English are as follows:

• ought (to)
• had better (had best)
• used to
• dare
• need

Unlike other verbs including the three prototypical auxiliary verbs, the nine full modal verbs and five quasi-modal verbs in English have only one form.

Learning the conjugation patterns of the three auxiliary verbs, twenty most common verbs, and nine modal verbs of English is essential for understanding the language.