Simple Present Tense

Simple Present Tense~

The following tables give examples of common verbs and their singular and plural forms. Note that, for many verbs, the only difference between singular and plural forms in the present tense occurs in the third person singular. An s (or

occasionally es) is added.

Regular Verb: to bake (Simple Present Tense)

	Singular	Pulrar
First Person	I bake	We bake
Second Person	You bake	You bake
Third person	He or she;it bakes	They bake

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Irregular verbs do not conform to the nice, neat pattern shown above. Irregular verbs change form by changing more than

just the ending. The most notable irregular verb is to be because it changes in its various forms more than any other verb.

Irregular Verb: to be (Simple Present Tense)

　

Singular

Pulrar

　

First Person

I am

We are

Second Person

You are

You are

Third person

　

He or she;it is

They are

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Notice in the two tables above that the singular and plural forms of the second person are identical. In fact, in the present tense of to be, the second person singular form is the only one that patterns with the plural.

Of course, the singular and plural pronouns for the second person are identical as well. The historical reason for this is

that English has lost daily usage of its original second person singular pronoun (thou). The plural form (you from the older form of ye) "took over" the singular slot to fill in that gap. So the singular and plural verb forms in second person will always be identical because you is "really" (historically) the plural form.Because speakers like to be able to differentiate between singular and plural, various dialects have other forms for the second person plural: y'all, youse, you'uns, and you guys are examples of forms used in various dialects in the States to indicate non-gender-specific plural.

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