Regular Verbs in English

A Regular Verb has its base form doesn’t change when we use it in Past Tense or Past Participle. On the other hand, a verb that change its base form is called Irregular Verb. Most of English verbs are regular verbs. They have four different basic forms.

• Base form: The normal verb we find in dictionary.
• Verb-s form: The form we use when the verb goes with third singular person or thing in Present Tense.
• Verb-ed form: When the verb used in Past tense.
• Verb-ing form: The form when we use in Continuous form.

Even Regular Verbs don’t change their forms, but there are some rules we must understand and learn to memorize how to use it.

Dropping silent “-e” in the end of the verb.

Adding “-es” to the verbs

For verbs that end with “-s”, “-ss”, “- sh”, “-ch”, “-x”, “-z”, “-o” affix the suffix -es to the end of the verb. For example:

• to box – box – boxes
• to catch – catch – catches
• to kiss – kiss – kisses
• to watch – watch – watches
• to wish – wish – wishes
• to do – do – does

The doubling rule:

When a verb ends with a letter sequence of consonant-vowel-consonant, double the final consonant.

• If the verb is longer than one syllable, double only if the stress falls on the last syllable.
• The letters h,w,x,y are never doubled ( fix-fixing).

Example with verb “beg” (b=consonant, e=vowel, g=consonant, stress falls on the last and only syllable /beg/ — double!) :

• Please believe me, I am begging you! (am begging is in the Present Continuous tense)

Change “-y” to “-ies”

For verbs spelled with a final y preceded by a consonant, change the y to an i and then affix the ­-es suffix. For example:

• to apply – apply – applies
• to copy – copy – copies
• to identify – identify – identifies
• to reply – reply – replies
• to try – try – tries

Summary

Here is a table of some basic usages of Regular Verbs in English.

[section title=”Notes – how to use Regular Verbs”]

1. Pronunciation differences in past/past participle after /p, s, k, f/ sounds
2. Pronunciation differences in past/past participle after /t, d/ sounds
3. Spelling and pronunciation differences in –s form after /s, sh, ch, z/ sounds
4. Dropping of “silent e” with –ing endings
5. Doubled consonants after “short” vowel sounds
6. Spelling differences when “y” is preceded by a consonant

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