Did you know that there are thousands of English verbs? 

Luckily, you don’t need to learn them all to be able to communicate. In fact, you can get pretty far just mastering the common ones. 

Below, we’ll go through the 10 most commonly used English verbs. Interestingly, they’re all irregular verbs (also known as strong verbs), meaning you don’t form the past tense by using the usual “–ed” ending.  

Before we dig in, here a few things to remember:

• In the simple present tense, the third-person singular always takes an “s”
• Use the present participle form in continuous tenses
• Use the past participle form in present perfect and past perfect tenses

Okay, let’s get into it!

The 10 most commonly used English verbs

1. To be

 → Used to describe the identity or qualities of a person or a thing

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
be	am/are/is	was/were	being	been

“My son doesn’t want to go to school because his friend was being mean to him.” (past continuous)

2. To come

→ To move toward someone or something 

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
come	come/comes	came	coming	come

“My family came to canada when I was six years old.” (simple past)

3. To do

→ To perform an action

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
do	do/does	did	doing	done

“She does her homework every evening after dinner.” (simple present)

4. To get

→ To obtain (receive or be given) something

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
get	get/gets	got	getting	gotten

“His mom has gotten him a new winter coat.” (present perfect)

5. To go 

→ To travel or move to a place

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
go	go/goes	went	going	gone

“When the pandemic is over, she will be going to Hawaii with her husband.” (future continuous)

6. To have

→ To own/possess something

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
have	have/has	had	having	had

“They’re having their wedding in the spring of 2022.” (present continuous)

7. To make 

→ To build, create, or produce

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
make	make/makes	made	making	made

“She had already made him a cake when she learned he couldn’t eat wheat.” (past perfect)

8. To say

→ To use your voice to express something with words

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
say	say/says	said	saying	said

“Can you speak slowly? I don’t understand what you’re saying.” (present continuous)

9. To see 

→ To notice something by using your eyes

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
see	see/sees	saw	seeing	seen

“That movie is so good that I’ve seen it seven times.” (present perfect)

10. To take 

→ To carry or move something or someone to a place

Base form	Simple present	Simple past	Present participle	Past participle
take	take/takes	took	taking	taken

“He knew it was going to rain so he took an umbrella.” (simple past)