1. Principal Parts of Verbs

2. The four basic forms of a verb are called the principal parts of the verb.

3. The four principal parts of a verb are the base form, the present participle, the past, and the past participle.

4. Examples Base Form Past Past Participle start (is) start-ed wear
Present Part-iciple
Past
Past Participle
start
(is)
starting
start-ed
(have)
started
wear
(is) wear-ing
wore
(have) worn

5. Note
The words is and have are included in the chart on the previous slide because present participle and past participle verb forms require helping verbs (forms of be and have) to form tenses.

6. As you can see from their names, the principal parts of a verb are used to express time.

7. Present Time She wears a blue uniform.
Ray has been wearing his baseball cap.

8. Past Time Yesterday, we wore sweaters.
I had worn braces for three months.

9. Future Time Jessica will wear her new dress at the party.
By next spring, Joey will have worn holes in those shoes.

10. A verb that forms its past and past participle by adding –d or –ed is called a regular verb. A verb that forms its past and past participle differently is called an irregular verb.

11. Regular Verbs Base Form Present Participle Past Past Participle Wash
(is) washing
washed
(have) washed
Hop
(is) hopping
Hopped
(have) hopped
Use
(is) using
used
(have) used

12. Note
Most regular verbs that end in –e drop the –e before adding –ing. Some regular verbs double the final consonant before adding –ing or –ed.

13. Examples
Cause
Causing
Caused
Drop
Dropping
Dropped

14. One common error in forming the past or past participle of a regular verb is to leave off the –d or –ed ending.

15. Example NONSTANDARD: Josh was suppose to meet us here.
STANDARD: Josh was supposed to meet us here.