Verb phrases

Learn about the basic parts of verbs and verb phrases and do the exercises to practise using them.

Level: beginner

Verbs in English have four basic parts:

Most verbs are regular: they have a past tense and past participle with –ed (worked, played, listened). But many of the most frequent verbs are irregular.

Base form	-ing form	Past tense	Past participle
work	working	worked	worked
play	playing	played	played
listen	listening	listened	listened

Basic parts

Verbs in English have four basic parts:

Base form	-ing form	Past tense	Past participle
work	working	worked	worked
play	playing	played	played
listen	listening	listened	listened

Most verbs are regular: they have a past tense and past participle with –ed (worked, played, listened). But many of the most frequent verbs are irregular.

Verb phrases

Verb phrases in English have the following forms:

1. a main verb:

	main verb
We	are	here.
I	like	it.
Everybody	saw	the accident.
We	laughed.

The verb can be in the present tense (are, like) or the past tense (saw, laughed).

2. the auxiliary verb be and a main verb in the –ing form:

	auxiliary be	-ing form
Everybody	is	watching.
We	were	laughing.

A verb phrase with be and –ing expresses continuous aspect. A verb with am/is/are expresses present continuous and a verb with was/were expresses past continuous.

3. the auxiliary verb have and a main verb in the past participle form:

	auxiliary have	past participle
They	have	enjoyed	themselves.
Everybody	has	worked	hard.
He	had	finished	work.

A verb phrase with have and the past participle expresses perfect aspect. A verb with have/has expresses present perfect and a verb with had expresses past perfect.

4. a modal verb (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) and a main verb:

	modal verb	main verb
They	will	come.
He	might	come.