1st, 2nd and 3rd form

Almost every tense in Part B is built from one of these forms. If you know which form follows which helping word, half of English grammar is already solved.

The five forms

1st form (V1): the base

The plain verb. Used in the present simple, after to, and after do / does / did and modals like will, can, should.

go, eat, write, play

2nd form (V2): the past

Used only in the past simple, and used alone, never with did or had.

went, ate, wrote, played

3rd form (V3): the past participle

Never used alone. It always follows have / has / had, or am / is / are / was / were in the passive.

gone, eaten, written, played

4th form (V4): the -ing form

Used after am / is / are / was / were / been for continuous tenses, and as a noun: Reading is useful.

going, eating, writing, playing

5th form (V5): the -s form

The present simple with he, she, it and any single person or thing.

goes, eats, writes, plays

Which form goes where

Where each verb form is used
Form	Used like this
V1	I play cricket. / He does not play. / Did you play? / I will play. / I want to play.
V2	I played yesterday. (alone, with no helper)
V3	I have played. / He had played. / The match was played in Lahore.
V4	I am playing. / She was playing. / They have been playing.
V5	He plays cricket every Sunday.

Regular verbs: the spelling rules

Adding -ed for the 2nd and 3rd form
Rule	Examples
Most verbs: add -ed	work → worked, call → called, visit → visited
Verb already ends in e: add only -d	live → lived, close → closed, hope → hoped
Consonant + y: change y to i, add -ed	study → studied, carry → carried, try → tried
Vowel + y: just add -ed	play → played, enjoy → enjoyed, stay → stayed
One short vowel + one consonant (stressed): double the consonant	stop → stopped, plan → planned, prefer → preferred

Adding -ing for the 4th form
Rule	Examples
Most verbs: add -ing	read → reading, go → going, talk → talking
Verb ends in a silent e: drop the e	write → writing, make → making, come → coming
Short vowel + one consonant: double the consonant	sit → sitting, run → running, begin → beginning
Verb ends in ie: change to y	lie → lying, die → dying, tie → tying

Regular verbs are easy: the 2nd and the 3rd form are the same word. work → worked → worked. The table below holds the irregular verbs, where they are not. These are the ones you must memorise, and they are the most common verbs in the language.

85 irregular verbs you will actually use

Search the verb table85 verbs

Irregular verbs: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and -ing form
1st form (V1)	2nd form (V2)	3rd form (V3)	-ing form	Urdu
be	was / were	been	being	ہونا
beat	beat	beaten	beating	مارنا / ہرانا
become	became	become	becoming	بننا
begin	began	begun	beginning	شروع کرنا
bite	bit	bitten	biting	کاٹنا
blow	blew	blown	blowing	پھونکنا
break	broke	broken	breaking	توڑنا
bring	brought	brought	bringing	لانا
build	built	built	building	تعمیر کرنا
burn	burnt / burned	burnt / burned	burning	جلنا / جلانا
buy	bought	bought	buying	خریدنا
catch	caught	caught	catching	پکڑنا
choose	chose	chosen	choosing	چننا
come	came	come	coming	آنا
cost	cost	cost	costing	قیمت ہونا
cut	cut	cut	cutting	کاٹنا
do	did	done	doing	کرنا
draw	drew	drawn	drawing	کھینچنا / تصویر بنانا
drink	drank	drunk	drinking	پینا
drive	drove	driven	driving	چلانا
eat	ate	eaten	eating	کھانا
fall	fell	fallen	falling	گرنا
feed	fed	fed	feeding	کھلانا
feel	felt	felt	feeling	محسوس کرنا
fight	fought	fought	fighting	لڑنا
find	found	found	finding	ڈھونڈ لینا
fly	flew	flown	flying	اڑنا
forget	forgot	forgotten	forgetting	بھولنا
forgive	forgave	forgiven	forgiving	معاف کرنا
get	got	got / gotten	getting	حاصل کرنا
give	gave	given	giving	دینا
go	went	gone	going	جانا
grow	grew	grown	growing	بڑھنا / اُگانا
hang	hung	hung	hanging	لٹکانا
have	had	had	having	رکھنا / پاس ہونا
hear	heard	heard	hearing	سننا
hide	hid	hidden	hiding	چھپانا
hit	hit	hit	hitting	مارنا
hold	held	held	holding	تھامنا
hurt	hurt	hurt	hurting	تکلیف دینا
keep	kept	kept	keeping	رکھنا
know	knew	known	knowing	جاننا
lead	led	led	leading	رہنمائی کرنا
learn	learnt / learned	learnt / learned	learning	سیکھنا
leave	left	left	leaving	چھوڑنا / روانہ ہونا
lend	lent	lent	lending	اُدھار دینا
let	let	let	letting	اجازت دینا
lie (rest)	lay	lain	lying	لیٹنا
lose	lost	lost	losing	کھونا / ہارنا
make	made	made	making	بنانا
mean	meant	meant	meaning	مطلب ہونا
meet	met	met	meeting	ملنا
pay	paid	paid	paying	ادائیگی کرنا
put	put	put	putting	رکھنا
read	read (red)	read (red)	reading	پڑھنا
ride	rode	ridden	riding	سواری کرنا
ring	rang	rung	ringing	بجانا / گھنٹی بجنا
rise	rose	risen	rising	بلند ہونا
run	ran	run	running	دوڑنا
say	said	said	saying	کہنا
see	saw	seen	seeing	دیکھنا
sell	sold	sold	selling	بیچنا
send	sent	sent	sending	بھیجنا
shake	shook	shaken	shaking	ہلانا
shine	shone	shone	shining	چمکنا
show	showed	shown	showing	دکھانا
shut	shut	shut	shutting	بند کرنا
sing	sang	sung	singing	گانا
sit	sat	sat	sitting	بیٹھنا
sleep	slept	slept	sleeping	سونا
speak	spoke	spoken	speaking	بولنا
spend	spent	spent	spending	خرچ کرنا / گزارنا
stand	stood	stood	standing	کھڑا ہونا
steal	stole	stolen	stealing	چوری کرنا
swim	swam	swum	swimming	تیرنا
take	took	taken	taking	لینا
teach	taught	taught	teaching	پڑھانا
tell	told	told	telling	بتانا
think	thought	thought	thinking	سوچنا
throw	threw	thrown	throwing	پھینکنا
understand	understood	understood	understanding	سمجھنا
wake	woke	woken	waking	جاگنا
wear	wore	worn	wearing	پہننا
win	won	won	winning	جیتنا
write	wrote	written	writing	لکھنا

Verb form mistakes and their corrections
Wrong	Right	Why
I have wrote a letter.	I have written a letter.	After have / has / had use V3, never V2.
He did not went.	He did not go.	After did / does / do use V1.
She has went to Karachi.	She has gone to Karachi.	Went is V2; gone is V3.
I will going tomorrow.	I will go tomorrow.	After a modal (will, can, should) use V1.
The work is do by him.	The work is done by him.	The passive always uses V3.

Check yourself

Give the missing form.

write → ___ → ___
Show the answer
wrote → written
go → ___ → ___
Show the answer
went → gone
bring → ___ → ___
Show the answer
brought → brought
choose → ___ → ___
Show the answer
chose → chosen
Fix: He has went to Karachi.
Show the answer
He has gone to Karachi.
Fix: She did not came.
Show the answer
She did not come.
Fix: I will going tomorrow.
Show the answer
I will go tomorrow.
Spelling: study + ed, stop + ed, write + ing, sit + ing
Show the answer
studied, stopped, writing, sitting

More practice on this topic: 15 exercises →