Each example below has three parts: the original text, a literal gloss describing how every word works, and a natural translation. The glosses use a few shorthand labels so they stay short. Don't worry about memorising them — this is a reference you can come back to. Person and number · 1sg / 2sg / 3sg — first / second / third person singular (I, you, he/she/it) · 1pl / 2pl / 3pl — first / second / third person plural (we, you-all, they) Gender and case · m / f / n — masculine / feminine / neuter · sg / pl — singular / plural · m.sg — combined: masculine singular (and similarly f.pl, n.sg, etc.) · NOM / ACC / GEN / DAT / INS / LOC — grammatical cases (nominative/accusative/genitive/dative/instrumental/locative) — which role the word plays in the sentence Tense and aspect · PRES — present · PRET — preterite (a finished past event) · IMPF — imperfect (an ongoing or habitual past situation) · FUT — future · PERF — perfect (an action completed with present relevance) · PROG — progressive (action in progress, e.g. am eating) · COND — conditional (would…) Mood · IND — indicative (regular statement) · SUBJ — subjunctive (uncertainty, wishes, doubts) · IMP — imperative (commands) · INF — infinitive (dictionary form: to go, to eat) Other · REFL — reflexive (action on oneself: myself, yourself) · PERS — personal a (Spanish only — marks a human direct object) · HON — honorific (extra-polite form, common in Japanese/Korean) · TOP / SUB / OBJ — topic / subject / object markers (Japanese, Korean) · CL — classifier (Chinese, Japanese, Korean — a counter word for nouns) · NEG — negation
English follows a strict Subject + Verb + Object (SVO) order. Unlike many languages, you cannot move words around freely — the position of a word usually tells you its role in the sentence. Time and place expressions normally go at the end of the sentence, or sometimes at the very beginning, but rarely in the middle. Adverbs of manner (how) usually follow the object. Because English has almost no case endings, word order is the main way to know who is doing what to whom. Compare: The dog bites the man vs. The man bites the dog.
English has two articles. The indefinite article a / an (singular only) introduces something for the first time or any one of a kind. Use a before consonant sounds and an before vowel sounds: a book, an apple, a university (sounds like yu-), an hour (silent h). The definite article the refers to something specific or already known. Omit articles with most plurals and uncountable nouns when speaking in general: Dogs are friendly, I like music. Also omit before most proper names, languages, meals, and many places: I speak English, She is at home.
English pronouns change form by role, not by gender (except he/she/it). Subject (before verb): I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Object (after verb or preposition): me, you, him, her, it, us, them. Possessive adjective (before a noun): my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Possessive pronoun (stands alone): mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs. You is the same for singular and plural, formal and informal. It is used for things, animals, and weather. The subject pronoun is almost always required — you cannot drop it as in Spanish or Italian.
English verbs barely change. In the present simple, regular verbs add only -s in the third person singular (he/she/it); all other persons use the base form. to be is the most irregular: I am, you are, he/she/it is, we/you/they are. to have: I/you/we/they have, he/she/it has. to do: I/you/we/they do, he/she/it does. Spelling rules for the -s ending: verbs ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, -o add -es (goes, watches); verbs ending in consonant + y change to -ies (study → studies).
There are two present tenses. The present simple describes habits, routines, facts, and permanent states: Subject + base verb (+ -s for 3rd sing.). Common signals: every day, always, usually, never. The present continuous (or progressive) describes actions happening right now or temporary situations: Subject + am/is/are + verb-ing. Common signals: now, right now, at the moment, today. Some verbs (called stative) are rarely used in the continuous: know, like, want, need, believe, understand. Use the simple instead: I know him (not I am knowing him).
The past simple describes finished actions at a definite past time. Regular verbs add -ed (work → worked, play → played). Many common verbs are irregular and must be memorized (go → went, see → saw, eat → ate, have → had). The form is the same for all persons. Common signals: yesterday, last week, in 2020, ago. The present perfect (have/has + past participle) connects the past with the present: an action with a result now, or an experience without a specific time. Common signals: ever, never, already, yet, just, since, for.
English has no single future tense; it uses auxiliaries. will + base verb is used for predictions, instant decisions, promises, and general future facts: It will rain tomorrow. be going to + base verb is used for plans already decided and for predictions based on present evidence: I am going to study tonight. Both are often interchangeable in everyday speech, but will feels more spontaneous, while going to feels more planned. Negative: will not / won't, am/is/are not going to. The present continuous can also express scheduled future plans: I am meeting John on Friday.
To make a sentence negative, you almost always need an auxiliary verb plus not. With to be, just add not: I am not tired. With most other verbs in the present simple, use do not / does not + base verb: I do not (don't) know, She does not (doesn't) like fish. In the past simple, use did not (didn't) + base verb for all persons: We didn't go. With modal verbs (can, will, should), add not directly: cannot/can't, won't, shouldn't. Note: do not double-negate in standard English — say I don't know anything, not I don't know nothing.
Yes/no questions are formed by putting an auxiliary verb before the subject. With to be: Are you tired? With other verbs in the present, use do/does + subject + base verb: Do you speak English? Does she live here? In the past, use did + subject + base verb: Did they arrive? Wh- questions start with a question word (what, where, when, who, why, how, which) followed by the same auxiliary + subject + verb pattern: Where do you live? When the wh- word is the subject, keep normal order with no auxiliary: Who called?
Most nouns form the plural by adding -s: book → books, car → cars. Nouns ending in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z add -es: bus → buses, box → boxes, watch → watches. Nouns ending in consonant + y change y to -ies: city → cities, baby → babies. Many nouns ending in -f / -fe change to -ves: leaf → leaves, knife → knives. Some common nouns are irregular: man → men, woman → women, child → children, foot → feet, tooth → teeth, mouse → mice, person → people. A few are unchanged: fish, sheep, deer. Uncountable nouns (water, information, advice) have no plural form.
English adjectives never change form — no agreement with gender or number: a tall boy, tall girls, tall trees. Adjectives normally come before the noun they describe: a red car, an interesting book. They can also come after the verb to be and similar linking verbs (seem, look, become, feel): The car is red. When you use several adjectives together, the typical order is: opinion + size + age + shape + colour + origin + material + purpose + noun — e.g. a beautiful small old round red Italian wooden table. In practice, two or three adjectives are usually enough.
Adverbs of frequency tell how often something happens: always (100%), usually, often, sometimes, rarely / seldom, never (0%). Their position is fixed: they go before the main verb but after the verb to be and after auxiliary verbs. I always drink tea. She is always late. They have never been to Japan. Longer time expressions like every day, once a week, twice a month, from time to time usually go at the end (or beginning) of the sentence: I go running every day. Do not put one-word frequency adverbs at the end of the sentence in standard English.
Three features shape much of English grammar. (1) Auxiliary verbs: do/does/did, have/has/had, be (am/is/are/was/were) are used to build questions, negatives, and compound tenses. They carry the tense and the not, so the main verb stays in its base form: Did you see?, She hasn't arrived. (2) No grammatical gender: nouns are neutral; only he/she/it mark a real-world distinction (people vs. things). Adjectives and articles don't change. (3) Modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would) are followed by the **base verb without *to***: I can swim, You should rest, She must go. They have no -s in the third person.