Class 7: Forms of Verbs

How to use the forms

V1 is mainly used with:

• Present Simple: I play cricket.
• After will: I will play cricket.
• After do/does/did: Did you play cricket?

V2 is used for:

• Simple Past: I played cricket yesterday.
• Irregular example: I went to school.

V3 is used with:

• has/have → Present Perfect: I have eaten.
• had → Past Perfect: I had eaten.
• will have → Future Perfect: I will have eaten.

V-ing is used with:

• am/is/are → I am playing.
• was/were → I was playing.
• will be → I will be playing.
• has/have/had been → I have been playing.

⭐ Important: Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Regular verbs usually form V2 and V3 by adding -ed:

play → played → played
work → worked → worked
clean → cleaned → cleaned

Irregular verbs change differently and need to be memorised:

go → went → gone
eat → ate → eaten
write → wrote → written
take → took → taken

The 4th form of a verb is usually called the -ing form or Present Participle.

Example

Form	Name	Example: write
V1	Base form	write
V2	Past form	wrote
V3	Past participle	written
V4	-ing form / Present participle	writing

When do we use V4?

V4 is mainly used in continuous tenses:

• Present Continuous: I am writing.
• Past Continuous: I was writing.
• Future Continuous: I will be writing.
• Present Perfect Continuous: I have been writing.

It can also work as a gerund (a verb ending in -ing used like a noun):

• Swimming is good exercise.
• I enjoy reading.

Easy way to remember

V1 → V2 → V3 → V4

go → went → gone → going
eat → ate → eaten → eating
play → played → played → playing
write → wrote → written → writing

 V1- Base         V2 - Past       V3- Past       V-ing 

 Form                                   Participle

understand	understood	understood	understanding
begin	began	begun	beginning
break	broke	broken	breaking
choose	chose	chosen	choosing
drive	drove	driven	driving
fall	fell	fallen	falling
forget	forgot	forgotten	forgetting
know	knew	known	knowing
ride	rode	ridden	riding
ring	rang	rung	ringing
wear	wore	worn	wearing
win	won	won	winning
lose	lost	lost	losing
meet	met	met	meeting
leave	left	left	leaving
feel	felt	felt	feeling
tell	told	told	telling
sell	sold	sold	selling
send	sent	sent	sending
build	built	built	building
learn	learnt/learned	learnt/learned	learning
play	played	played	playing
work	worked	worked	working
walk	walked	walked	walking
help	helped	helped	helping
open	opened	opened	opening
close	closed	closed	closing
clean	cleaned	cleaned	cleaning
watch	watched	watched	watching