Grammatical Person
What is a person in English grammar?
“grammatical person” pertains to the degree of involvement of the subject of a sentence in an action, event, or circumstance. It can be categorized into first person (referring to the speaker), second person (pertaining to the person being addressed), and third person (referring to anyone or anything not being directly addressed). The grammatical person of the subject in a clause determines the verb conjugation in that clause.
In most cases, verbs only have a third-person singular conjugation, indicated by the addition of the suffix “-s” or “-es,” which applies to subjects like “he,” “she,” and “it.”
However, the verb “be” is an exception since it has five conjugations, depending on the grammatical person of its subject and the verb tense.
(“grammatical person (문법상 인칭)”은 문장상 subject (주어)의 action (행위), event (사건), circumstance (상황)에 대한 참여의 정도를 나타내는 용어이다. 이는 1인칭(speaker (화자), writer(작가)를 가리킴), 2인칭( person being addressed (대화 상대방)을 가리킴), 그리고 3인칭(직접적으로 언급되지 않은 대상을 가리킴)으로 분류된다. Clause (절)의 문법적 인칭은 그 절에서 verbe conjugation(동사 활용)이 활용되는 방식을 결정한다.
대부분의 경우, 동사는 3rd person singular conjugation (3인칭 단수 주어 활용)”-s” 또는 “-es” suffix (접미사)가 더해져서 사용된다. 예: he, she, it 등의 주어에 사용된다.
반면 ‘Be동사‘의 ‘현재형’과 ‘과거형’은 주어의 grammatical person (인칭, number (수))‘ 및 verb tense 동사의 ‘시제‘에 따라 각각 다른 예외가 생기는데 이 점이 ‘Be동사‘와 ‘일반 동사‘의 큰 차이점 중의 하나이다.)
Non-be Verbs
When to conjugate for person
In English, verb conjugation is dependent on the grammatical person of the subject, with the exception of modal auxiliary verbs. However, this variation is only applicable when the verb is in the present simple tense and the subject is singular and in the third person. In such instances, the verb is usually conjugated by adding ” -s” or ” -es” to the end. On the other hand, in the present simple tense for the first or second person, the verb is used in its base form or bare infinitive.
(영어에서 verb conjugation (동사활용)은 subject (주어)의 grammatical person (문법적인 인칭)에 따라 결정된다. 하지만 modal auxiliary verb (법조동사)를 제외한 경우에만 해당된다. 이러한 변화는 보통 동사가 present simple tense (현재 단순형 시제)이며 subject (주어)가 simple (단수)이고 third person (3인칭)인 경우에만 적용된다. 이 경우, verb (동사)는 일반적으로 끝에 “-s” 또는 “-es”를 추가하면 된다. 반면에, present simple tense (현재 단순형시제)에서 first person (일인칭) 또는 second person (이인칭)인 경우에는 verbe (동사)를 bare infinitive (원형)으로 사용한다.)
For example:
- “I want a soda.” (first-person singular, present simple tense)
- “You want a soda.” (second-person singular, present simple tense)
- “She wants a soda.) (third-person singular, present simple tense)
- “They want a soda.) (third-person plural, present simple tense)
Note that this conjugation does not occur with the past or future simple tenses:
- “I wanted a soda.” (first-person singular, past simple tense)
- “You wanted a soda.” (second-person singular/plural, past simple tense)
- “She wanted a soda.) (third-person singular, past simple tense)
- “I will want a soda.” (first-person singular, future simple tense)
- “You will want a soda.” (second-person singular/plural, future simple tense)
- “She will want a soda.” (third-person singular, future simple tense)
Auxiliary verbs
The combination of auxiliary verbs and main verbs in a clause produces a distinct and particular meaning. The three main auxiliary verbs, do, have, and be, can all reflect tense and person through conjugation. When we want to ask questions or create negative verbs, we use do as an auxiliary. In the present tense, when referring to the third-person singular subject, do is conjugated to does.
(Clause (절)의 Auxiliary verb (조동사)와 main verb (주 동사)의 결합은 독특하고 특정한 의미를 만든다. 주 동사와 결합할 수 있는 세 가지 주요 보조 동사인 do, have, be는 모두 활용을 통해 tesne (시제)와 person (인칭)을 반영할 수 있다. 의문문을 묻거나 부정동사를 만들때 do를 auxiliary verb (조동사)로 사용한다. Present tense (현재 시제)에서 third person singular subject (3인칭 단수 주어)를 가르킬때, do는 does로 conjugated (활용)된다.)
For example:
- “Do you want any ice cream?” (second-person singular/plural)
- “Does he want any ice cream?” (third-person singular)
- “They don’t want any ice cream.” (third-person plural)
- “She doesn’t want any ice cream.” (third-person singular)
Auxiliary verbs have and be are used to create different forms of tenses such as perfect, continuous, and perfect continuous. The main verb in these tenses does not change based on person, but in some cases, the auxiliary verb can. In the present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses, the auxiliary verb have is used in its present-simple form, which is conjugated as “has” in the third-person singular.
For example:
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- “I have been working a lot lately.” (first-person singular)
- “You have been working a lot lately.” (second-person singular/plural)
- “He has been working a lot lately.” (third-person singular)
- “They have been working a lot lately.” (third-person plural)
- “I have eaten too much food.” (first-person singular)
- “You have eaten too much food!” (second-person singular/plural)
- “The dog has eaten too much food!” (third-person singular)
- “The dogs have eaten too much food!” (third-person plural)
In contrast, the present continuous and past continuous tenses use the verb be as an auxiliary verb. Be conjugates in different ways depending on the person and tense.:
Present Continuous Tense
- “I am running out of time.” (first-person singular)
- “We are running out of time.” (first-person plural)
- “You are running out of time.” (second-person singular/plural)
- “He is running out of time.” (third-person singular)
- “They are running out of time.” (third-person plural)
- “I was running out of time.” (first-person singular)
- “We were running out of time.” (first-person plural)
- “You were running out of time.” (second-person singular/plural)
- “He was running out of time.” (third-person singular)
- “They were running out of time.” (third-person plural)
We’ll examine all the ways be can conjugate a little bit later in this section.
Spelling conjugated verbs
As we’ve seen already, some verbs take “-s” or “-es” to conjugate for third-person singular subjects, depending on how they are spelled. Let’s look at the rules that guide which kinds of verbs take which endings.
Add “-s”
The vast majority of verbs simply take the suffix “-s” onto the end of their base form, as in:
| Base form | Third-person singular |
|---|---|
| I play | she plays |
| they break | it breaks |
| we buy | he buys |
| you write | the author writes |
| I bake | my father bakes |
| they lie | he lies |
Add “-es”
There are some verbs that already end in a sibilant sound (a sound like a hiss or buzz) created by the endings “-ss,” “-z,” “-x,” “-sh,” “-ch,” or “-tch.” Adding “-s” to the end would just elongate that sound in an odd way, so we add the suffix “-es” instead so that the sound is distinguished. For example:
| Base form | Third-person singular |
|---|---|
| they catch | she catches |
| we mix | it mixes |
| I hush | he hushes |
| we pass | he passes |
| they quiz | the teacher quizzes |
| I approach | she approaches |
We also usually add the “-es” suffix to verbs ending in a consonant + “-o,” as in:
| Base form | Third Person Singular Present Tense |
|---|---|
| I go | he goes |
| we do | she does |
| they forgo | he forgoes |
| they veto | the committee vetoes |
| I lasso | the rancher lassoes |
| you undo | he undoes |
However, verbs ending in a vowel + “-o” (such as moo, boo, woo, or radio) simply take the “-s” ending (moos, boos, woos, radios). Solo is unique in that it ends in a consonant + “o,” yet it also only takes “-s” for the third-person singular (solos).
Change “y” to “i” and add “-es”
If a verb ends in a consonant followed by “-y,” we conjugate by changing “y” to “i” and then adding “-es.” (Note that if “y” is preceded by a vowel, as in play, buy, stay, etc., then we simply add “-s” as usual.)
| Base form | Third-person singular |
|---|---|
| they cry | he cries |
| we try | she tries |
| they scurry | it scurries |
| the dogs bury | he buries |
| I fly | the pilot flies |
| I spy | she spies |
Conjugating be
The verb be is known as a highly irregular verb due to the huge variation in how it conjugates for tense and person. Below are all the possible conjugations of the verb—eight forms in total!
| Grammatical person | Base form | Past Tense Singular | Past Tense Plural | Past Participle | Present Tense Singular | Present Tense Plural | Present Participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n/a | be | been | being | ||||
| first person | I was | we were | I am | we are | |||
| second person | you were | you were | you are | you are | |||
| third person | he/she/it was | they were | he/she/it is | they are |
Like have and do, the verb be can function as both an auxiliary verb and the main verb of a clause. When it acts as an auxiliary, it is used to form past continuous and present continuous tenses. When it acts as the main verb, it is known as a linking verb, which connects the subject to a description, rather than expressing an action. We have previously discussed examples of being used to create continuous tenses, now let’s see examples of it functioning as a linking verb.
- “I am 32 years old.”
- “Were you cold last night?”
- “It was very rainy in Ireland.”
- “John is in the other room.”
- “She is a bully.”
- “They are a lost cause.”
Note that we don’t conjugate be into its past and present participles to reflect grammatical person; instead, they are used when be is functioning as the main verb in the perfect or continuous tenses. For example:
- “I have been unwell lately.” (present perfect tense)
- “You are being silly.” (present continuous tense)