Most Common English Verbs

30 Most Common English Verbs

Many students ask which words they should learn first. On strategy is to focus on the most commonly used words. Check out this list of the 30 most common verbs in the English language! The verbs are listed in their base form, present tense, past tense, and perfect forms.

Words that are more common will generally be more useful, so it's a good idea to learn more common verbs first! Get to know these verbs first to make the most of your new vocabulary as you learn English. 

What patterns do you notice in the list of verbs?

There is a general rule in languages (sometimes called Zipf’s Law or The Principle of Least Effort) that predicts that more commonly used words will tend to be shorter. And, as you might expect from that, the first 20 most common verbs are all only one syllable.

You may also notice that 19 of the verbs on the list are irregular verbs.

Note that verbs that work only as auxiliaries and modals (such as can and will) have been removed from this list. Verbs that act as both auxiliaries and main verbs have been left in. Data for this table came from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA).

List of 30 Most Common English Verbs Conjugated

30 Most Common Verbs in English

#	Infinitive	Present	Past	Perfect
1	to be	am, is, are	was, were	been
2	to have	has, have	had	had
3	to do	do, does	did	done
4	to know	know, knows	knew	known
5	to think	think, thinks	thought	thought
6	to go	go, goes	went	gone
7	to get	get, gets	got	gotten
8	to say	say, says	said	said
9	to want	want, wants	wanted	wanted
10	to see	see, sees	saw	seen
11	to mean	mean, means	meant	meant
12	to let	let, lets	let	let
13	to make	make, makes	made	made
14	to come	come, comes	came	come
15	to take	take, takes	took	taken
16	to look	look, looks	looked	looked
17	to thank	thank, thanks	thanked	thanked
18	to tell	tell, tells	told	told
19	to put	put, puts	put	put
20	to like	like, likes	liked	liked
21	to talk	talk, talks	talked	talked
22	to need	need, needs	needed	needed
23	to believe	believe, believes	believed	believed
24	to give	give, gives	gave	given
25	to try	try, tries	tried	tried
26	to call	call, calls	called	called
27	to find	find, finds	found	found
28	to feel	feel, feels	felt	felt
29	to happen	happen, happens	happened	happened
30	to ask	ask, asks	asked	asked

If you like this, check out these other English grammar posts! 

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The Most Common English Adjectives

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Collocates with Summer

Collocates with summer

It's summer in Boston! ☀️😎🏖

Let's take a look at some of the words that are most common after summer. Remember, a collocate is a word that is often used with another word.  Focusing on collocation is a very good way to learn common English phrases and expressions. 

Here are some of the most common words after summer that we hope you find useful as you learn English!

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If this was helpful, check out these other English collocates!

This, That, These, Those - Demonstratives

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What are This, That ,These, and Those?

This, that, these, and those are called demonstratives.

Demonstratives are grammar words that we use to show if an object or idea is close to or far from the person speaking. You can say that we use demonstratives to demonstrate where things are and how many there are.

This and that are both singular demonstratives. These and those are both plural.

This hat is Jayne's.

That scarf is Ennio's

These sneakers are Santiago's

Those gloves are Maya's

This and these are used for things that are here, close to the speaker. That and those are used for things that are there, far from the speaker. Close and far here can mean physical distance or psychological distance.

This pen here is Jayne's

These keys I'm holding are Ennio's

That stapler over there is Santiago's

Those books on the table are Maya's

There are two ways that we use the determiners this, that, these, and those. We can use them as pronouns or as determiners.

Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative determiners come before a noun, as part of the noun phrase. Because they come before a noun, demonstrative determiners are sometimes inaccurately called demonstrative adjectives.

this fish

that squid

these clams

those crabs

Demonstrative determiners give us information about the quantity and location of nouns. If we say this apple, we know there is one apple, and it's right here. If someone says those apples, it usually means many apples, and they are over there, not close to the speaker.

This and that are both singular, meaning they only talk about one thing.  This is for a thing that is close to us, and that is for a thing that is far away. These and  those are both plural, used to talk about many things. These is for things that are close to us, and those is for things that are far away.

This, that, these, and those are all demonstratives: they demonstrate where things are and how many there are. In the examples above, they all come before nouns, which makes them  determiners. But these same four words can also be used without nouns, acting as pronouns. In that case they are called  demonstrative pronouns. 

Demonstrative Pronouns

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Today, we will take a look at another, similar way to use this, that, these, and those. We can also use these words without a noun after them. For example, we can say, "This is a hammer." Here, this doesn't go before the subject of the sentence; it is the subject of the sentence. It works takes the place a noun and represents the thing, the hammer. Words that stand in place of a noun are called pronouns. So in these sentences, this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative pronouns. See the graphic below for some more examples.

One more time, if they come directly before a noun, this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative determiners. If they replace a noun, acting as a subject or object, they are called demonstrative pronouns.

Notice that the meanings are the same for demonstrative determiners and demonstrative pronouns. This and that are both singular. These and those are both plural. This and these are both for things that are close. That and those are both for things that are over there.

Other free grammar resources

Review of Participles

Remember:

Participles (or participial adjectives) are verbs with -ED and -ING endings that can work like adjectives, describing people and things.

 -ED participles (past participles) usually describe how we feel, as in, "I feel exhausted."

-ING participles (present participles) usually describe things that make us feel that way, as in, "That hike was exhausting."

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Anatomy of an Email - Greeting

The punctuation you use at the end of an email greeting is important!  

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Sky Collocates

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