To conjugate a verb is to give or choose the forms it takes for features such as tense and agreement. The verb walk, for example, appears as walk in I walk, walks in she walks, and walked in she walked.
Regular and irregular verb forms
- Regular. The base form walk gives walks, walking, and walked. Walked works as both the simple past and the past participle.
- Irregular. The verb write has wrote as its simple past and written as its past participle. Compare She wrote yesterday and She has written three pages.
- Be. I am, she is, and they are show how the present form of be changes with the subject. In the past, compare she was and they were.
Verb forms and verb groups
A verb group can also include a helping verb. In she is walking and they are walking, is and are agree with their subjects. Walking stays the same.
