How to conjugate verbs in English

English verbs can be conjugated in active or passive voice according to the function of the subject in the sentence, the same as in Spanish. Take, for example, the phrase: “Sara eats the orange” (Sara eats the orange). In this case, when we talk about the active voice, we focus on the subject who performs the action, that is, Sara.

However, when we refer to the passive voice, we find a phrase in which the subject does not carry out the action, but is the one who receives it. “The orange is being eaten by Sara”. In this case the subject is the orange and, as we have said, receives the action.

This is important because in each conjugation in English (whether you want to conjugate verb tenses in the present, past or future) there is an active voice and a passive voice that we will see below.

Irregular verbs and regular verbs in English

To conjugate each verb well, it is not enough to know the verb tenses in English, because you have to learn to differentiate irregular verbs from regular verbs in English.

Although we will show you in more detail below, first you should know that regular verbs are those that can build their form in the past by adding only “-d” (when the verb in question ends in a vowel E) or “-ed” (when the verb ends in any other letter) at the end. Let’s see an example:

• Verb “to ask” (to ask) in present tense: I ask a question every day.
• Verb “to ask” in the past tense: I asked a question every day.
• Verb “to ask” in present perfect: I have asked a question every day.

On the other hand, irregular verbs in English are those that cannot form their past by adding only “-e” or “-ed” at the end. These have different endings depending on the verb, so many prefer to memorize them. We can find:

• Verbs with the same past simple and participle form: buy, bought, bought
• Verbs with identical forms in both the infinitive and the past simple and participle: cut, cut, cut (cut, cut, cut)
• Verbs with totally different forms: forget, forgot, forgotten

We start by talking about the present tenses in English:

• Present simple: the present simple is formed using the infinitive verb for the subjects “I”, “you”, “we” and “they”. For the third persons, “he”, “she” and “it”, we must add an “s” at the end of the verb. Example: I drink coffee every morning (I drink coffee every morning), he drinks coffee every morning. (he drinks coffee every morning).
• Present continuous: the present continuous in English requires the use of the auxiliary “to be” accompanying the gerund verb (verb in the present with the ending “ing”). Example: I am working at the moment.
• Present perfect: This verb tense is used in sentences in which a past event has significance even now. To form the present perfect in English, the auxiliary verb “to have” (in the first persons I, we, you, they) and “has” (in the third persons he, she, it) is used. Example: I have danced (I have danced) or He has gone to the river (he has gone to the river).
• Present perfect continuous: As the present perfect, this conjugation uses the auxiliary verb “to have / has” in addition to “been” (the participle of the verb “to be”) before the gerund verb (ending in “ing”). This conjugation is used to establish continuity in a past action that still lasts. Example: They have been talking for hours.

We continue with the conjugations in English, but this time for the past tenses:

• Simple past: The past simple is the most common way to conjugate verbs in the past in English. For this conjugation, regular verbs are used (they are written in the infinitive, with the ending “-e” or “-ed”) and irregular (their writing changes when conjugated). Example: I cried watching the film (I cried watching the film) and He thought of his dog (he thought about his dog).
• Past continuous– Past continuous in English is used in actions that were happening at a specific time in the past. Like the present continuous, this conjugation is formed with the auxiliary verb “to be” and the gerund verb. Example: I was watching TV (I was watching television).
• Past perfect: the past perfect in English is used in actions that occurred before another action in the past. To do this, we take the auxiliary verb “to have” and the participle of the verb that we want to conjugate. Example: I had seen him before.
• Past perfect continuous: the past perfect continuous indicates actions occurring at the moment but during the past prior to another action that occurred. We use the auxiliary “had been” and the gerund verb. Example: We had been sleeping for hours when they arrived.

Finally, we turn to the future tenses to conjugate several English verbs:

• Simple future: To structure sentences in the future simple in English, two auxiliaries can be used: “will” (“will not” for negations) and “going to” (“go to” translated into Spanish). The auxiliary “going to” is used for planned actions, with a high probability of happening, while “wil” is usually used to make voluntary promises or predictions. In negative sentences, the “not” comes after the verb “to be”. Example: I will call you tomorrow or He’s not going to come.
• Future continuous: the future continuous in English is formed using the auxiliary “will be” or “be going to” prior to the gerund verb (infinitive verb + ing). Example: I will be sleeping.
• Future perfect: in this tense, both auxiliaries (will and going to) are accompanied by “have”, since the future perfect serves to express a future action, which will happen before a certain event. Example: she will have eaten before you come back from work. (She will have eaten before you come back from work).
• Future perfect continuous: the future perfect continuous is used to express actions that have continuity over another action or future event. As in the future perfect, both the auxiliary “will” and “going to” can be used, without altering the meaning of the sentence. Both auxiliaries are conjugated with the auxiliary “have been” in this verb tense. Example: He will have been working for three months when he moves to Mexico next year.

When we talk about conjugating verb tenses with the conditional form in English, we are mainly referring to three possible forms of conditionals:

• Conditional: we use it to refer to something that a subject would do if the opportunity arose, although it is in no case a safe phrase. We use the “would” before the verb that you want to conjugate in question. Example: I would travel to Paris. (I would travel to Paris).
• Conditional continuous: once again we will use the “would”, but this time it will be followed by the verb “to be + gerund of the verb that we want to conjugate, since we use it to refer to something that would happen at a certain moment if the occasion had been given. Example: I would be traveling to Paris.
• Conditional perfect: to conjugate verbs with the perfect conditional we use “would” followed by have + participle of the verb to be conjugated. We refer to something that would have happened in the past if certain circumstances had occurred. Example: (I would have traveled to Paris) I would have traveled to Paris.

If you want to see a table with the conjugation of verbs in English, do not miss the following image; We offer you as an example the verb “to be” (to be or to be) conjugated in all present, past, future and conditional tenses.

Note that the first column is infinitive, the second is the past and participle, and the third is the meaning.

• Avoid – Avoided – Avoid
• Attack – Attacked – Attack
• Apologize – Apologized – Apologize
• Believe – Believed – Believe
• Balance – Balanced – Balance
• Complete – Completed – Complete
• Cook – Cooked – Cook
• Call – Called – Call
• Dance – Danced – Dancing
• Die – Died – Die
• Enjoy – Enjoyed – Enjoy
• Follow – Followed – Follow
• Finish – Finished – Finish
• Guess – Guessed – Guess
• Help – Helped – Help
• Imagine – Imagined – Imagine
• Judge – Judged – Judge
• Kiss – Kissed – Kiss
• Like -…