verbform

Verbform is a term used in linguistics to refer to a specific morphological realization of a verb chosen to express grammatical information. It encompasses any distinct variant a verb can take, not just the base form. Verb forms encode features such as tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, and number, and they help indicate the relationship between the event described and the sentence’s subject. Languages differ in how these forms are produced: some rely mainly on inflection, others on auxiliary verbs, word order, or particles.

Finite and non-finite forms are a common division. Finite verb forms carry tense and often agree with the subject in person or number; they can function as the main predicate of a clause. Non-finite forms do not mark tense or agreement on their own and include infinitives, participles, and gerunds, which typically participate in complex predicates or serve as noun or adjective forms.

Common English verb forms illustrate these categories: the infinitive to eat; finite forms such as eat, eats, ate; the present participle eating; and the past participle eaten. Participles form aspects and tenses when combined with auxiliary verbs (has eaten, is eating) and can function as adjectives (a spoiled fruit).

Cross-linguistic variation is significant. Some languages exhibit rich verbal morphology with many periphrastic or fused forms to encode tense, aspect, mood, voice, and agreement; others rely more on word order and auxiliary constructions. The study of verbforms intersects with morphology, syntax, and typology, highlighting how languages encode action, time, and modality in diverse ways.