Verb Conjugation—Grammar Rules (2024)

Verb conjugation refers to how a verb changes to show a different person, tense, number or mood.

To be verb conjugation

In English, we have six different persons: first person singular (I), second person singular (you), third person singular (he/she/it/one), first person plural (we), second person plural (you), and third person plural (they). We must conjugate a verb for each person. The verb to be is a particularly notable verb for conjugation because it’s irregular.

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Conjugation of the irregular verb to be:

Verb tense conjugation

Verbs are also conjugated according to their tenses. Verb tense indicates when the action in a sentence is happening (e.g., in the present, future, or past). Regular verbs follow a standard pattern when conjugated according to tense. Look at the examples below:

Conjugation of the regular verb to live (based on tense):

Conjugation of the regular verb to work (based on tense):

Irregular verbs do not follow a standard pattern when conjugated according to verb tense. The following example illustrates this point:

Conjugation of the irregular verb to drink (based on tense):