Regular verbs in English
Sign up for free to get all information about private lessons and our available group courses (A1, A2, B2, B2, C1, C2)
Sign up for freeSign up for free to get all information about private lessons and our available group courses (A1, A2, B2, B2, C1, C2)
Sign up for freeThis chapter is about the regular verbs in English. The English regular verbs are all conjugated the same way and thus easy to conjugate.
A regular verb in English is a verb that all conjugate according to the same rule in present tense, past tense and their past participle.
Take online language lessons with a professional teacher
Regular verbs are all conjugated the same in the present tense.
Only the 3rd person singular changes from the basic form of a regular verb in the present simple tense. The table below shows you these rules.
Rule | Example |
---|---|
Most regular verbs just add '-s' to the root of the verb for the 3rd person singular. |
|
Verbs that end with a vowel other than 'e' get a '-es'. |
|
Verbs that end with '-s', '-ch', '-sh', '-x', and '-z' get a '-es'. |
|
Verbs that end in consonant and '-y' changes to 'ies'. |
|
Verbs that end in vowel and '-y' gets '-s'. |
|
Note that the examples contain regular and irregular verbs.
The rules of the past tense for the regular verbs are the same for all these verbs.
The past simple rule: infinitive verb + ed
However, there are some exceptions to this rule. Which are shown in the table below.
Rule | Example |
---|---|
Verbs that end in '-e', only get '-d'. |
|
Verbs that end in consonant and '-y' changes to 'ied'. |
|
Verbs that end in vowel and '-y' get '-ed'. |
|
The past participle of regular verbs in English can be formed by adding '-d' or '-ed' to the root of the verb.
Root of the verb + '-d' / '-ed'
Regular verb | Past participle | Example |
---|---|---|
to book | booked |
|
to learn | learned |
|
to play | played |
|
to wait | waited |
|
For the explanation of the different tenses: present simple, past simple, present perfect and past perfect, visit these chapters of this course about verbs.
Take a look at the list of the regular verbs to study the common English verbs.
Do the exercises to train your skills!
1 List of regular verbs in English | Study the list of English regular verbs. |