Principal parts
Encyclopedia
In language
learning, the principal parts of a verb
are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate
the verb through all its forms.
are the bare infinitive, past tense
and past participle. For example the verb 'to take' has the principal parts take–took–taken. The verb 'to do' has do–did–done and the verb 'to say' has say–said–said.
Most verbs are regular enough not to require a knowledge of the principal parts. For example the verb love derives all its forms systematically (love, loves, loved, loving), and since these can all be deduced from the basic form (the citation, dictionary, or lexicographic form, which in English is the bare infinitive
), no other principal parts have to be learned. With irregular verbs like the verb sing, on the other hand, the forms sang and sung cannot be deduced, so the learner of English must memorize three principal parts, sing–sang–sung. From these, all other forms (like sings or singing) can be deduced.
There are a handful of verbs in English
that are so irregular that the principal parts are not enough to conjugate
them fully. For example the verb 'to be' has the principal parts be–was/were–been, showing an irregular past tense (was for the first- and third-person singular, and were for the rest), and an entirely irregular present tense (using am, is and are instead of forms derived from the first principal part be).
(See also English verbs
, English irregular verbs
, English as an additional language.)
, determined by the type of verb:
have the following principal parts:
It's possible to make the present
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég borði, "though I eat") from the first principal part (að borða, "to eat"). It's also possible to make the past
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég borðaði, "though I ate") from the second principal part (ég borðaði, "I ate").
have the following principal parts:
It's possible to make the present
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég finni, "though I find") from the first principal part (að finna, "to find"). It's also possible to make the past
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég fyndi, "though I found") from the second principal part (við fundum, "we found").
It's possible to make the present
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég kunni, "though I knew") from the first principal part (að kunna, "to know"). It's also possible to make the past
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég kynni, "though I knew") from the third principal part (ég kunni, "I knew").
It's possible to make the present
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég snúi, "though I turn") from the first principal part (að snúa, "to turn"). It's also possible to make the past
subjunctive mood
(þótt ég sneri, "though I turned") from the second principal part (ég sneri, "I turned").
. Most of the verb forms in Latin derive from the first two principal parts: portābō, "I shall carry", is derived from the root portā-, taken from the present infinitive. However, all active perfect forms are derived from the third principal part (so portāveram, "I had carried", is taken from portāv-) while the perfect participle (portātus, portāta, portātum, "having been carried") is derived from the supine and is used to form passive perfect tenses with the auxiliary verb
sum (such as portātum est, "it has been carried").
For many Latin verbs, the principal parts are predictable: portō shown above uses a single stem, port-, and all principal parts are derived from them with the endings -ō – -āre – -āvī – -ātum. Others have more complicated forms: regō ("I rule") has the perfect form rēxī and supine rectum, derived as *reg-sī and *reg-tum. A handful of verbs, such as sum - esse - fuī - futūrum ("to be") are simply irregular.
A number of verbs have less than four principal parts: deponent verb
s, such as hortŏr – hortāri – hortātus sum, "to exhort", lack a perfect form, as do semi-deponent verbs, such as audeō – audēre – ausus sum, "to dare"; in both cases, passive forms are treated as active, so all perfect forms are covered by the perfect participle. A handful of verbs are also defective, including the verb ōdī – ōdisse, "to hate", which only has perfect forms derived from a single stem.
have six principal parts: present (I), future (II), aorist
(III), perfect (IV), perfect middle (V) and aorist passive (VI), each listed in its first-person singular form:
One principal part can sometimes be predicted from another, but not with any certainty. For some classes of verbs, however, all principal parts can be predicted given the first one.
, verbs are traditionally held to have only one principal part, the infinitive, by which one can classify the verb into one of three conjugation paradigms (according to the ending of the infinitive, which may be -ar, -er or -ir). However, some scholars believe that the conjugation could be regularized by adding another principal part to vowel-alternating verbs, which shows the alternation. For example, herir "to hurt" is usually considered irregular because its conjugation contains forms like hiero "I hurt", hieres "you hurt", where the vowel in the root
changes into a diphthong. However, by including the first person singular, present tense, indicative mood form (hiero) as a principal part, and noting that the diphthong
appears only when that syllable is stressed, the conjugation of herir becomes completely predictable. (See also Spanish verbs
, Spanish conjugation
.)
and the verbal noun
, for example 'to kiss'. All finite forms can be deduced from the imperative ('kiss!'), all non-finite forms from the verbal noun ('kissing'). The ten irregular verbs can, with only two or three small aberrations (unexpected lenition), be deduced from four principal parts.
(identical to the verb stem), the first person singular
of the present tense
and the modified stem. For example the verb okwogera 'to speak' has the principal parts yogera–njogera–yogedde.
The present tense
, far past tense, near future tense, far future tense, subjunctive and infinitive
are derived from the imperative. The present perfect, conditional and near past tense are derived from the modified stem.
In theory the second principal part can be derived from the first, but in practice this is so complicated that it's usually memorised as a separate principal part.
(See also Ganda verbs.)
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
learning, the principal parts of a verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
the verb through all its forms.
English
The principal parts of an English verbEnglish verbs
Verbs in the English language are a part of speech and typically describe an action, an event, or a state.While English has many irregular verbs , for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward...
are the bare infinitive, past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
and past participle. For example the verb 'to take' has the principal parts take–took–taken. The verb 'to do' has do–did–done and the verb 'to say' has say–said–said.
Most verbs are regular enough not to require a knowledge of the principal parts. For example the verb love derives all its forms systematically (love, loves, loved, loving), and since these can all be deduced from the basic form (the citation, dictionary, or lexicographic form, which in English is the bare infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
), no other principal parts have to be learned. With irregular verbs like the verb sing, on the other hand, the forms sang and sung cannot be deduced, so the learner of English must memorize three principal parts, sing–sang–sung. From these, all other forms (like sings or singing) can be deduced.
There are a handful of verbs in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
that are so irregular that the principal parts are not enough to conjugate
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
them fully. For example the verb 'to be' has the principal parts be–was/were–been, showing an irregular past tense (was for the first- and third-person singular, and were for the rest), and an entirely irregular present tense (using am, is and are instead of forms derived from the first principal part be).
(See also English verbs
English verbs
Verbs in the English language are a part of speech and typically describe an action, an event, or a state.While English has many irregular verbs , for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward...
, English irregular verbs
English irregular verbs
The English language has a large number of irregular verbs. In the great majority of these, the past participle and/or past tense is not formed according to the usual patterns of English regular verbs...
, English as an additional language.)
Icelandic
There are four types of principal parts in the Icelandic languageIcelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
, determined by the type of verb:
Weak verbs
Icelandic weak verbsGermanic weak verb
In Germanic languages, including English, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs, which are therefore often regarded as the norm, though historically they are not the oldest or most original group.-General description:...
have the following principal parts:
| First principal part | Second principal part | Third principal part |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive Infinitive In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives... |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... past tense Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future... indicative mood |
Past participle Participle In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier... |
| að borða ("to eat") | ég borðaði ("I ate") | ég hef borðað ("I have eaten) |
| Að elska ("to love") | ég elskaði ("I loved") | ég hef elskað ("I have loved") |
It's possible to make the present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég borði, "though I eat") from the first principal part (að borða, "to eat"). It's also possible to make the past
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég borðaði, "though I ate") from the second principal part (ég borðaði, "I ate").
Strong verbs
Icelandic strong verbsGermanic strong verb
In the Germanic languages, a strong verb is one which marks its past tense by means of ablaut. In English, these are verbs like sing, sang, sung...
have the following principal parts:
| First principal part | Second principal part | Third principal part | Fourth principal part |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive Infinitive In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives... |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... past tense Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future... indicative mood |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... plural Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... past tense Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future... indicative mood |
Past participle Participle In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier... |
| Að finna ("to find") | Ég fann ("I found") | Við fundum ("we found") | Ég hef fundið ("I have found") |
It's possible to make the present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég finni, "though I find") from the first principal part (að finna, "to find"). It's also possible to make the past
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég fyndi, "though I found") from the second principal part (við fundum, "we found").
Preterite-present verb
Icelandic Preterite-present verbs have the following principal parts:| First principal part | Second principal part | Third principal part | Fourth principal part |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive Infinitive In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives... |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... present tense Present tense The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb... indicative mood |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... past tense Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future... indicative mood |
Past participle Participle In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier... |
| Að kunna ("to know") | Ég kann ("I know") | Ég kunni ("I knew") | Ég hef kunnað ("I've known") |
It's possible to make the present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég kunni, "though I knew") from the first principal part (að kunna, "to know"). It's also possible to make the past
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég kynni, "though I knew") from the third principal part (ég kunni, "I knew").
Ri-verbs
Icelandic Ri-verbs have the following principal parts:| First principal part | Second principal part | Third principal part |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive Infinitive In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives... |
First person Grammatical person Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns... singular Grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions .... past tense Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future... indicative mood |
Past participle Participle In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier... |
| Að snúa ("to turn") | Ég sneri ("I turned") | Ég hef snúið ("I have turned") |
| Að gróa ("to heal") | Ég greri ("I healed") | Ég hef gróið ("I have healed") |
| Að núa ("to rub") | Ég neri ("I rubbed") | Ég hef núið ("I have rubbed") |
| Að róa ("to row") | Ég reri ("I rowed") | Ég hef róið ("I have rowed") |
It's possible to make the present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég snúi, "though I turn") from the first principal part (að snúa, "to turn"). It's also possible to make the past
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
(þótt ég sneri, "though I turned") from the second principal part (ég sneri, "I turned").
Latin
In Latin, most verbs have four principal parts. For example, the verb for "to carry" is given as portō – portāre – portāvī – portātum, where portō is the first-person singular present active indicative ("I carry"), portāre is the present active infinitive ("to carry"), portāvī is the first-person singular perfect active indicative ("I carried"), and portātum is the accusative supineSupine
In grammar a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages.-In Latin:In Latin there are two supines, I and II . They are originally the accusative and dative or ablative forms of a verbal noun in the fourth declension, respectively. The first supine ends in -um. It has two uses. The first...
. Most of the verb forms in Latin derive from the first two principal parts: portābō, "I shall carry", is derived from the root portā-, taken from the present infinitive. However, all active perfect forms are derived from the third principal part (so portāveram, "I had carried", is taken from portāv-) while the perfect participle (portātus, portāta, portātum, "having been carried") is derived from the supine and is used to form passive perfect tenses with the auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
sum (such as portātum est, "it has been carried").
For many Latin verbs, the principal parts are predictable: portō shown above uses a single stem, port-, and all principal parts are derived from them with the endings -ō – -āre – -āvī – -ātum. Others have more complicated forms: regō ("I rule") has the perfect form rēxī and supine rectum, derived as *reg-sī and *reg-tum. A handful of verbs, such as sum - esse - fuī - futūrum ("to be") are simply irregular.
A number of verbs have less than four principal parts: deponent verb
Deponent verb
In linguistics, a deponent verb is a verb that is active in meaning but takes its form from a different voice, most commonly the middle or passive. A deponent verb doesn't have active forms; it can be said to have deposited them .-Greek:...
s, such as hortŏr – hortāri – hortātus sum, "to exhort", lack a perfect form, as do semi-deponent verbs, such as audeō – audēre – ausus sum, "to dare"; in both cases, passive forms are treated as active, so all perfect forms are covered by the perfect participle. A handful of verbs are also defective, including the verb ōdī – ōdisse, "to hate", which only has perfect forms derived from a single stem.
Ancient Greek
Verbs in Ancient GreekAncient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
have six principal parts: present (I), future (II), aorist
Aorist (Ancient Greek)
In the grammar of Ancient Greek, including Koine, the aorist |voices]].-Terminology:In traditional grammatical terminology, the aorist is a "tense", a section of the verb paradigm formed with the same stem across all moods...
(III), perfect (IV), perfect middle (V) and aorist passive (VI), each listed in its first-person singular form:
- Part I forms the entire present system, as well as the imperfect.
- Part II forms the future tense in the active and middle voices.
- Part III forms the aorist in the active and middle voices.
- Part IV forms the perfect and pluperfect in the active voice, and the (exceedingly rare) future perfect, active.
- Part V forms the perfect and pluperfect in the middle voice, and the (rare) future perfect, middle.
- Part VI forms the aorist and future in the passive voice.
One principal part can sometimes be predicted from another, but not with any certainty. For some classes of verbs, however, all principal parts can be predicted given the first one.
Spanish
In SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, verbs are traditionally held to have only one principal part, the infinitive, by which one can classify the verb into one of three conjugation paradigms (according to the ending of the infinitive, which may be -ar, -er or -ir). However, some scholars believe that the conjugation could be regularized by adding another principal part to vowel-alternating verbs, which shows the alternation. For example, herir "to hurt" is usually considered irregular because its conjugation contains forms like hiero "I hurt", hieres "you hurt", where the vowel in the root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
changes into a diphthong. However, by including the first person singular, present tense, indicative mood form (hiero) as a principal part, and noting that the diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
appears only when that syllable is stressed, the conjugation of herir becomes completely predictable. (See also Spanish verbs
Spanish verbs
Spanish verbs are one of the most complex areas of Spanish grammar. Spanish is a relatively synthetic language with a moderate-to-high degree of inflection, which shows up mostly in the verb conjugation....
, Spanish conjugation
Spanish conjugation
This article presents a set of paradigms — that is, conjugation tables — of Spanish verbs, including examples of regular verbs and some of the most common irregular verbs...
.)
Scottish Gaelic
In Scottish Gaelic there are two principal parts for the regular verb: the imperativeImperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
and the verbal noun
Verbal noun
In linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
, for example 'to kiss'. All finite forms can be deduced from the imperative ('kiss!'), all non-finite forms from the verbal noun ('kissing'). The ten irregular verbs can, with only two or three small aberrations (unexpected lenition), be deduced from four principal parts.
Ganda
The principal parts of a Ganda verb are the imperativeImperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
(identical to the verb stem), the first person singular
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
of the present tense
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
and the modified stem. For example the verb okwogera 'to speak' has the principal parts yogera–njogera–yogedde.
The present tense
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
, far past tense, near future tense, far future tense, subjunctive and infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
are derived from the imperative. The present perfect, conditional and near past tense are derived from the modified stem.
In theory the second principal part can be derived from the first, but in practice this is so complicated that it's usually memorised as a separate principal part.
(See also Ganda verbs.)
See also
- Regular verbRegular verbA regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language to which it belongs. A verb that cannot be conjugated like this is called an irregular verb. All natural languages, to different extents, have a number of irregular verbs...
- Irregular verbIrregular verbIn contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned...
- Grammatical conjugationGrammatical conjugationIn linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
- Latin conjugationLatin conjugationLatin verbs have four main patterns of conjugation. As in a number of other languages, Latin verbs have an active voice and a passive voice. Furthermore, there exist deponent and semi-deponent Latin verbs , as well as defective verbs...
- Root (linguistics)Root (linguistics)The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
- Lemma (morphology)