Finite verb forms in English

Why should you care about finite verb forms?

Finite verb forms in English contain a lot of information. They mark number, person, tense, and mood, all of which contribute to meaning.

Finite verbs are also the the part of the verb phrase that has to agree with the subject (in person and number). In the example below, the subjects are green and the finite verbs are in bold.

If my neighbor’s stupid kids don’t turn down that awful music soon,   I   am going to lose my mind.

Subject-verb agreement is an important part of English grammar. When you make mistakes with subject-verb agreement, it makes it harder for people to understand what you mean. Unless the context is very clear, listeners don’t know if the mistake is in the verb form or in the subject. For example, where is the error in the sentence below?

The package you ordered have arrived. X

We don’t know for sure which is correct:
The package you ordered has arrived (one package). ✔
The packages you ordered have arrived (more than one package). ✔

Even if the meaning is clear from the context, subject-verb agreement errors tend to draw more than their fair share of attention, distracting and even annoying the listener. So it’s worth making the effort to get them right!

Finite verb forms

All English verbs have finite forms for present and past; for example, go vs.went, and stop vs. stopped. (NOTE: A few irregular verbs (put, set, cost, etc.) have present and past forms that are the same.)

All non-modal English verbs (except be) also change form for the third person singular in the present tense (he/she/it goes).

All of this might seem confusing, but the pattern is really pretty straightforward. Look at Table 1 below, and you’ll see it’s a lot simpler in table form.

Table 1. FINITE VERB FORMS
NUMBER	PERSON	PRESENT	PAST
SINGULAR	FIRST SECOND THIRD	I walk you walk he/she/it walks	I walked you walked he/she/it walked
PLURAL	FIRST SECOND THIRD	we walk you walk they walk	we walked you walked they walked

Finite forms of be

The verb be is the naughty problem child of the finite verb family, because it doesn’t follow the regular pattern of most other verbs. (See Table 2 below.)

Table 2. BE
NUMBER	PERSON	PRESENT	PAST
SINGULAR	FIRST SECOND THIRD	I am you are he/she/it is	I was you were he/she/it was
PLURAL	FIRST SECOND THIRD	we are you are they are	we were you were they were

The two most frequent verbs in English – be and have

Be and have are extremely frequent in English — in fact, they are the two MOST FREQUENTLY OCCURRING verbs. It’s not just because being and having are generally common things to talk about. The finite forms of be and have used in many English tenses, for example:

Present perfect: I have gone / She has gone
Present continuous: I am going / She is going / They are going
Present perfect continuous: I have been going / She has been going
Past continuous: I was going / She was going / They were going

Because finite forms of be and have are so frequent in English, it’s a good idea for learners to become very comfortable with using them as soon as possible. Fortunately, have follows the regular finite verb pattern, only marking past and present overall, and the third person in the present. (See Table 3 below).

Table 3. HAVE
NUMBER	PERSON	PRESENT	PAST
SINGULAR	FIRST SECOND THIRD	I have you have he/she/it has	I had you had he/she/it had
PLURAL	FIRST SECOND THIRD	we have you have they have	we had you had they had

If you don’t feel comfortable choosing the correct forms of be and have, it’s worth spending time to memorize and practice them until the right forms come automatically. There is a place for old-fashioned drills and memorization!

Being comfortable with the finite forms of be and have will make forming your tenses a lot easier, because you won’t be struggling to remember which finite form to use. That frees up mental energy so you can work on other challenging things, like watching out for subject-verb agreement.