A conjugation is an arrangement of the changing of verb forms in accordance with a person, tense, number, gender, or aspect. It means that verbs do change its form to express a grammatically correct idea.
Let us check out how verb form changes to show a different gender, person, number, tense, or aspect.
Person
There are different persons in English, such as,
1. First person:
- Singular > I
- Plural > We
2. Second person:
- Singular > You
- Plural > You
3. Third person:
- Singular > He, She, It
- Plural > They
Let us see how the verb ‘to be’ conjugate for each of the above person.
1. First person:
- Singular > I am
- Plural > We are
2. Second person:
- Singular > You are
- Plural > You are
3. Third person:
- Singular > He is, She is, It is
- Plural > They are
Conjugation For Tense + Aspect
Conjugation for ‘tenses’ are very obvious in sentences; they help in expressing the time or duration of a particular action. For instance, whether the action took place in the present, past, or future tense. However, the ‘aspect‘ tells the degree at which the action is completed (i.e. continuous, perfect, or progressive.)
Check out the conjugation in the examples below:
Verb used: ‘to like’
1. Simple Present > He, She, It (likes) + I, We, You, They (like)
- Present Continuous > I (am liking) + He, She, It (is liking) + We, You, They (are liking)
- Present Perfect > I, We, You, They (have liked) + He, She, It (has liked)
- and Present Perfect Continuous > I, We, You, They (have been liking) + He, She, It (has been liking)
2. Simple Past > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (liked)
- Past Continuous > He, She, It (was liking) + I, We, You, They (were liking)
- Past Perfect > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (had liked)
- and Past Perfect Continuous > He, She, It, I, We, You, They (had been liked)
3. Simple Future > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will like)
- Future Continuous > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will be liking)
- Future Perfect > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will have liked)
- and Future Perfect Continuous > I, We, You, They, He, She, It (will have been liking)
Number
For ‘number’, the verb is conjugated according to the number of the subject i.e. whether the subject is singular or plural. For example, ‘he, she, it’ are singular subjects. So, conjugated verbs need an –s at the end to express the singular subject, like;
- He writes.
- She writes.
- It writes.
In the same way, plural subjects ‘you, they, we’ do not need an –s.
- You write
- They write
- We write
Gender
There is no such influence of conjugation on gender.
- She writes.
- He writes.
Irregular Verbs
Not all verbs follow regular conjugation rules, especially in past tense and past participle forms. Irregular verbs change unpredictably.
Regular: walk, walked, walked
Irregular: go, went, gone
Regular: play, played, played
Irregular: eat, ate, eaten
Common irregular verbs include drink (drank, drunk) and take (took, taken). These verbs don’t follow the usual “-ed” ending for past tense, so they must be memorized.
Conjugation in Negative Sentences and Questions
In negative sentences and questions, auxiliary verbs like do, does, and did are used to form the correct structure.
Negative: She does not like coffee.
Question: Does she like coffee?
Negative: They did not finish their work.
Question: Did they finish their work?
The main verb stays in its base form after do/does/did in questions and negatives. The auxiliary verb changes depending on the tense and subject.
Common Mistakes in Verb Conjugation
Errors in verb conjugation often involve mixing singular/plural forms or incorrect tense usage.
Mistake: He like football.
Correction: He likes football.
Mistake: I have saw that movie.
Correction: I have seen that movie.
To avoid these errors, ensure subject-verb agreement (e.g., singular subjects need verbs ending in -s) and use the correct past participle for perfect tenses.
What Did You Learn?
Conjugation is such a changing process in which a verb form changes according to the person, number, tense, or aspect. Conjugation should be properly understood to make writing grammatically correct and error-free.