“s”, “es” or “ies” Third person singular
See instructions for use of “s” “es” and “ies” in Present Simple
Did you put all these verbs in the right place in the table?
spy, rush, get, play, tax, employ, sew, follow, fight, boil, deny, meet, look, reach, display, pass, fry, echo, teach, ask, touch, kiss, send, buy, fax, hiss
Check the table for the answers:
| Spelling of third person singular forms in Present Simple Tense | ||
| Most verbs: Add “s” to infinitive | Work -> works | Know -> knows |
| Sit -> sits | Get -> gets | |
| See -> sees | Live -> lives | |
| Sew -> sews | Follow -> follows | |
| Boil -> boils | Fight -> fights | |
| Meet -> meets | Look -> looks | |
| Send -> sends | Ask -> asks | |
| verbs finishing with one vowel + "y": add "s" to infinitive | Stay -> stays | Employ -> employs |
| Play -> plays | Display -> displays | |
| Buy -> buys | ||
| *Verbs ending with consonant and “y”: change "y" for "ies" | Cry -> cries | Hurry -> hurries |
| Fly -> flies | Imply -> implies | |
| Try -> tries | Deny -> denies | |
| Fry -> fries | Study -> studies | |
| Spy -> spies | Worry -> worries | |
| Verbs ending in sibilant sounds –s, -z, -ch, -sh, or –x: add "es" | Fix -> fixes | Push -> pushes |
| Tax -> taxes | Rush -> rushes | |
| Buzz -> buzzes | Finish -> finishes | |
| Fax -> faxes | Confess -> confesses | |
| Hiss -> hisses | Reach -> reaches | |
| Kiss -> kisses | Teach -> teaches | |
| Pass -> passes | Touch -> touches | |
| Verbs ending with one “o” add “es” | Go -> goes | Do -> does |
| Echo -> echoes | Veto -> vetoes | |
| Verb “to have” | Have -> has | |
Read the comments below to see:
-
why we add es, s, ies in the third person singular of the Present simple
-
what is a “third person”
where we put adverbs of time/frequency
he never eats breakfast is it correct or not
Hi Mishal,
Of course, “He never eats breakfast” is grammatically correct. – although I always think that it’s better to eat breakfast 😉
never, usually, often etc are one word adverbs of time/frequency which are used before the main verb:
-She usually has cereals for breakfast.
-The team often play on Sundays.
-John has always lived in Birmingham.
…. but after the verb “be”:
-Fred is always happy.
-Miriam was usually a very good student.
For more information about adverbs you can start here:
https://learnenglishlanguagewell.com/2015/how-to-use-adverbs1/
Please tell me what exactly a third person is And please give some examples for that as well.
Richa Sharma
Generally the grammar of verb forms in any language changes depending on who is doing an action. With the verb “to be” for example we say:
Singular
1st. I am English
2nd. You are a student
3rd. John is an architect
We separate into
1st person (I) this refers to “me”:
I am a teacher; I come from England; I live in a small town; I like reading; I went to school in England
2nd person (you) this refers to “you” the person I am talking to or writing to:
Do you like apples?; You are reading this; You wrote a comment on my web
3rd (third) person (she, he, it, John, Mary, my mother etc) This refers to another person or thing that is not “me” or “you”
David lives in London; He works in a bank; Maria studies Italian; She likes Italian food
I will write an article about this and then I’ll send you the link. OK?
I wok. you work. They work. He ,She,,It works
I ,you.We,they buy. He, She ,It buys.
I ,you.We,they cry. He, She,It cries
I ,you.We,they fix it. He, She fixes it
I ,you.We,they go. He, She,It goes
I ,you.We,they have. He, She ,It has
Jabbar,
this is not the eperalta website. I’ve sent you an e-mail explaining what you should do
Do you have any more examples? Can I download them?
ex:- me and my boyfriend wants to go to shimala
is it correct sentence or not
Hi Rajni
No, your example is not correct:
“me and my boyfriend” is the equivalent of “we” and this means that “we want to go to Shimala” or “Me and my boyfriend want to go to Shimala”
ONLY if we talk about one other person (she, he, my mother, my boyfriend) do we use wants (with “s”)
Of course: “My boyfriend wants to go to Shimala with me” would be correct
Thank you so much respected
Sir/Madam for the response
🙂
It’s our pleasure.
Don’t hesitate to contact us again if you have any other questions.
why we use (es) after (x-o-s-ss-sh-ch-zz) and not only (s) !? 😉
IbraheeM thank you for your question.
We put “es” after (x-o-s-ss-sh-ch-zz) in the third person singular because of its pronunciation. With spelling in English (and probably other languages) we have to consider that the spoken language existed before reading and writing was established. Therefore the spelling of the words that end in sibilant sounds (x, s, ch, z, sh) reflects how we pronounce the words. This is because if we want to pronounce these verbs – miss, mix, match, mash with an additional “s” sound we need to add a vowel sound after the x, ss, ch, etc or it becomes extremely difficult to pronounce. So the spelling: misses, mixes, matches and mashes guide us to the correct prounciation for the written word.
Also with verbs that finish with “ss” (miss, kiss) if we only put an “s” and not “es” would we spell them with 3 “s”: kisss, misss ?
Really, awesome answer. I do like the explanation (admin).Thanks.
Thanks for your nice comment Sanori