Verb Conjugation, Adverbs, Prepositions, and More

Posted on Mar 16, 2025 in English

Verb Conjugation, Adverbs, Prepositions and More

The Verb

Verb characteristics:

  • Person: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.
  • Number: Singular or plural.
  • Tense: Past, present, or future.
  • Mood: Indicative (factual, realistic), subjunctive (hypothetical or subjective), imperative (command).
  • Aspect: Reports whether the verbal action is completed (perfective) or unfinished (imperfective). Example: When I arrived (perfective), she was sleeping (imperfective).
  • Voice: Expresses the relationship between the verb and the subject. It can be:
    • Active: The grammatical subject is the agent of the action. Example: My team trounced its rival. Employers and trade unions signed the collective agreement.
    • Passive: The grammatical subject undergoes the action of the verb (subject as patient). A periphrasis is constructed consisting of the verb “to be” conjugated in the tense in question, plus the participle of the verb which provides the meaning. Example: The rival was thrashed by my team. The agreement was signed.

Verb Conjugations

Active Voice: Indicative

Simple Forms
  • Present: win, like, start.
  • Past Tense: was, ate, started.
  • Present Perfect Simple (can also be past): win, ate, left.
  • Future: I will win, I will eat, I shall leave.
  • Conditional: would win, would eat, would depart.
Composite Forms
  • Present Perfect: have won, have eaten, have departed.
  • Past Perfect: had won, had eaten, had left.
  • Past Anterior: had won, had eaten, had left.
  • Future Perfect: shall have gained, will have eaten, will have departed.
  • Conditional Perfect: would have won, would have eaten, would have departed.

Active Voice: Subjunctive

Simple Forms
  • Present: win, eat, split.
  • Imperfect: win, eat, depart.
  • Future: win, eat, depart.
Composite Forms
  • Present Perfect: have won, have eaten, have departed.
  • Past Perfect: had or would have won, had or would have eaten, had or would have departed.
  • Future Perfect: have won, have eaten, have departed.
Infinitive
  • Present: win, eat, depart.

Verb Combinations

Auxiliary verb + verb in a non-personal form (may or may not be accompanied by a link; only appears in the periphrastic infinitive):

  • Infinitive: To rest.
  • Gerund: While the action takes place.
  • Participle: Action completed.

Adverbs

  • Location: Here, there, near, far, in front, behind, around.
  • Time: Yesterday, today, tomorrow, soon, later, before, now, never, after, yet, still, always.
  • Manner: Well, badly, and many ending in “-ly” (e.g., sadly, humanely).
  • Quantity: Very, little, much, just, almost, more.
  • Affirmation: Yes, true.
  • Negation: No, never.
  • Doubt: Maybe, probably, possibly, perhaps.
  • Relative: Where, when, how, how much.
  • Interrogative: Where, when, how, how much.

Prepositions

Prepositions are unstressed words (e.g., a, of, by).

Conjunctions

  • Copulative: and, or.
  • Explanatory: That is, that is to say.
  • Disjunctive: or.
  • Distributive: and now, well, it is.
  • Adversative: but.

Interjections

  • Imitative: Reproduce sounds in reality through onomatopoeia: ZAP! CRASH! BOOM!
  • Expressive: Used to express a feeling of pain, joy, or sadness: OW! OH!
  • Appellative: Used to attract attention: HEY! SHH!
  • Formal: HELLO! THANK YOU! CONGRATULATIONS!