verb (s), verbs (pl)

(principal forms or tenses, functions, and conjugation formats)

auxiliary verbs or helping verbs
These elements of verbs save users the trouble of changing the main verb to show present, past, and future tenses.

Here is a list of helping or auxiliary verbs: can, could, would, should, do, does, did, has, have, had, may, might, must, shall, and will plus the eight forms of the verb to be (am, are, be, been, being, is, was, were).

The auxiliary verbs are those which can't stand by themselves, but are always in combination with a "full verb"; for example, it is not acceptable to say, "We can home", but "We can go home." "Can" being the auxiliary verb and "go" being the full verb.

"Have" can act as both an auxiliary verb in the forms of the present perfect, past perfect, present perfect progressive, and past perfect progressive forms; as indicated by the following examples:

"I have gone to the store." (present perfect)

"She had already set the table before the guests came." (past perfect)

"She has been washing the car for the last two hours." (present perfect progressive)

"She had been washing the dishes before the phone rang." (past perfect progressive)

The verb "have" can stand alone as a full verb, too: "I have a basket of apples."

The verb "do" is about the same as "have". It can be used as a full verb or as an auxiliary verb:

"Jim's wife did the shopping today."

"The bus did stop and it did pick up the waiting passengers on time."

verb forms and their functions
The (verbs) entry at the end of the four indicated verbs presents the principal tenses that are used with the "persons"; such as,
  • First person, the one who is speaking: I, singular; and we, plural.
  • Second person, the one who is spoken to: you, singular; and you, plural.
  • Third person, the one who is spoken about: he, she, it, singular; and they, plural.
  • Plus the numbers: (s) = singular (only one of something) or (pl) = plural (more than one).

    • Examples of the (verbs) and what they are indicating:

    abdicate, abdicates; abdicated; abdicating (verbs)

    abdicate [first person (s) and (pl), second person (s) and (pl), plus third person (pl)], abdicates [third person (s)] (see the examples shown in the "Present Tenses" below);

    abdicated [past tense, (s) and (pl)];

    abdicating [present progressive, present perfect, past perfect, future perfect] (verbs)


    The full range of applicable conjugation formats:

      Present Tenses

    • I abdicate (singular); We abdicate (plural)
    • You abdicate (singular); You abdicate (plural)
    • He, She, It abdicates (singular); They abdicate (plural)

      • Past Tenses

    • I abdicated (singular); We abdicated (plural)
    • You abdicated (singular); You abdicated (plural)
    • He, She, It abdicated (singular); They abdicated (plural)

      • Future Tenses

    • I will abdicate (singular); We will abdicate (plural)
    • You will abdicate (singular); You will abdicate (plural)
    • He, She, It will abdicate (singular); They will abdicate (plural)

      • Present Progressive Tenses

    • I am abdicating (singular); We are abdicating (plural)
    • You are abdicating (singular); You are abdicating (plural)
    • He, She, It is abdicating (singular); They are abdicating (plural)

      • Present Perfect Tenses

    • I have been abdicating (singular); We have been abdicating (plural)
    • You have been abdicating (singular); You have been abdicating (plural)
    • He, She, It has been abdicating (singular); They have been abdicating (plural)

      • Past Perfect Tenses

    • I had been abdicating (singular); We had been abdicating (plural)
    • You had been abdicating (singular); You had been abdicating (plural)
    • He, She, It had been abdicating (singular); They had been abdicating (plural)

      • Future Perfect Tenses

    • I will have been abdicating (singular); We will have been abdicating (plural)
    • You will have been abdicating (singular); You will have been abdicating (plural)
    • He, She, It will have been abdicating (singular); They will have been abdicating (plural)

    You may return to this Parts of Speech for Word Entries Index to see explanations and examples of other parts of speech for a better understanding of their functions.