One of the biggest challenges English learners face is using verbs correctly.
If you didn't grow up learningEnglish grammar rules, you might be confused about tenses, one particularly difficult verb to learn is "go" and its different variations "goes", "going", "went" and "gone".
Common meanings of the word "Go"
"Go", "goes", "going", "gang" or "gone" are verbs, words that describe an action. "Go" is the main verb while the others are their tenses.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the verb "go" means to travel. It is used to describe the process of moving from one place to another.
It is also used to describe being in motion. For example, when we say "up the stairs," someone is going up the stairs.
You can also use "go" when you want to say you're going. "I have to go" is a common English expression used to say goodbye orTo say goodbye.
Here are the three most common ways native English speakers use the word "go." Pretty easy, right? What confuses a lot of people is when we put the times in.
Most of the time, ir is used in the present tense, so it's happening right now. It can be used with pronouns in the first and second person and in the singular or plural.
first person singular | Voy |
second person singular | And you |
first person plural | We will |
dritte Person Plural | they go |
Walking: future tense
"Go" can also be used when speaking in the future tense. The future tense means that you are describing an action that will take place in the future.
If you visit the store at night say:
I will go to the shop.
Later, when it's Steve's turn to go to the store, you say:
Steve will go to the store.
"Go" in the future tense can also be used with first, second, and third person pronouns, both singular and plural.
first person singular | I will go |
second person singular | You will |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you will |
first person plural | let's go |
dritte Person Plural | they will go |
Go: third person singular, present tense
it's himPresent tense, third person singularof the verb "go".
Since “will” is a present tense verb, you use it when describing an action that is happening. However, since it is the third person singular, you can only use it when describing the actions of another person.
For example, if you are on your way to the store and someone asks what you do, use "go" like this:
I go to the store.
However, if you want to say Steve is going to the store, use "goes" because you're talking about an action someone else is taking.
Steve goes to the store.
You can also use "goes" with third-person singular pronouns.
He/she goes to the store
Go: the present participle
A present participle is a word formed from a verb with the suffix "-ing" appended. A present participle is used as an adjective or in tenses.
So "ir" plus "ing" is "ir". There's really no common example of go being used as an adjective, but it's used in many tenses. We will see below the different times that the "walking" can take
Outgoing: Present Continuous
The present tense means you are describing an action that is in progress or that you are doing.
“Going” here can be used in the first, second and third person and in the singular or plural.
first person singular | I go |
second person singular | you go |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you will |
first person plural | let's go |
dritte Person Plural | they go |
Walking: Continuous past
"Go" is also used inPlusquamperfekt.The past continuous is also known as the past progressive and you use it to describe a continuous action or when you want to say something happened at a specific time in the past.
Going can also be used in the first, second, and third persons, as well as in the singular and plural.
first person singular | Others |
second person singular | You went |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it would go |
first person plural | we went |
dritte Person Plural | they went |
Outgoing: Continuous future
Also known as progressive future,the future continuouslyIt is used when you want to say that something will happen in the future and will last for an expected time.
Going in the future Continuous tense can also be used in the first, second, and third person, singular, and plural.
first person singular | I shall |
second person singular | you go |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it had gone |
first person plural | we will |
dritte Person Plural | they're gone |
goes: perfectly progressive
Isperfect progressive tenseis used to describe actions that:
Repeats for a specified time
continuation in the present
continuation in the future
first person singular | I went |
second person singular | are you gone? |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you left |
first person plural | we went |
dritte Person Plural | you are gone |
go: past perfect
you usethe past perfectwhen you want to talk about an action that happened one or more times before some other time in the past.
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first person singular | I wanted |
second person singular | You went |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it would have gone |
first person plural | we went |
dritte Person Plural | they went |
go: Future perfect
This tense is used when talking about an action that will be completed between now and sometime in the future.
first person singular | i will be gone |
second person singular | you go away |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it would have been I would have gone |
first person plural | we will be gone |
dritte Person Plural | they will be gone |
Go: a conditional verb
Going can also be used as a conditional verb used to form conditional clauses. Conditional clauses describe improbable or hypothetical situations.
When used as a conditional verb, you can use "going" in the present tense or in the perfect tense.
Present:
first person singular | I would go |
second person singular | would go |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you would |
first person plural | we would go |
dritte Person Plural | you would go |
Perfect weather:
first person singular | I would have gone |
second person singular | you would have gone |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it would have gone |
first person plural | we would have gone |
dritte Person Plural | they would have gone |
Was: the past tense
When we want to say that an action took place and ended in the past, we use a past tense verb.
The past tense of "go" is "went". So back to our example about the store. If someone asks you where you've been, you can say:
I went to the store
If you want to say that Steve came out of the store:
Steve went into den Laden
This also works with first, second and third person, singular and plural pronouns.
first person singular | I walked |
second person singular | You went |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you went |
first person plural | He was |
dritte Person Plural | they went |
away: past participle
"Gone" is the past participle of "go". FORpast participleis a word formed from a verb with one of the following suffixes: -ed, -d, -t, -en or -n.
You can use "ido" in the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.
away: Perfect
A present perfect verb refers to an action or state that:
Occurred at an unspecified time in the past
Started in the past and continued to the present
The present perfect is formed by placing have/has in front of the past participle of the verb. So in the case of "was" it's "ha/was".
first person singular | I walked |
second person singular | You're gone |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/you left |
first person plural | we had gone |
dritte Person Plural | they're gone |
gone: past perfect
You can use "ido" in the past tense when you want to talk about something that was completed in the past.
first person singular | I was gone |
second person singular | You're gone |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it had gone |
first person plural | we had gone |
dritte Person Plural | they're gone |
Gone: perfect future
Gone can also be used in the future perfect. The future perfect is used when you are talking about an action that will take place before another action takes place.
For example, if you want to say that you are going to the store while Steve is at school:
I'll be in the store by the time Steve gets home from school.
The future perfect of "go" is formed by taking the past participle "gone" and adding "will" or "should" and "have" before it.
Then one could also say:
I'll be in the store by the time Steve gets home from school.
first person singular | i will be gone |
second person singular | you will be gone |
dritte Person Singular | he/she/it will be gone |
first person plural | we will be gone |
dritte Person Plural | they will be gone |
Diploma
If you really want to learn to use these verbs differently and more correctly, you need to practice them in everyday speech. After all, practice makes perfect.
The best way to practice and memorize the rules for using "go," "goes," "going," "went," or "gone" is by engaging in a conversation with a native English speaker online at the use to work. Tutor. Your tutor can provide real-time corrections to verb usage, pronunciation and accent. This helps ensure that when you need to use these words in a conversation, you can confidently "go" to the right word.
FAQs
What is the correct verb go or goes? ›
| present tense | |
|---|---|
| I/you/we/they | go |
| he/she/it | goes |
| present participle | going |
| past tense | went |
For example, if you are on your way to the store and someone asks you what you are doing, you use “go”, like so: I go to the store. However, if you want to say that Steve is about to go to the store, you use “goes” because you're talking about an action that someone else is taking. Steve goes to the store.
What are the 3 verbs for go? ›| V1 Base Form (Infinitive): | To Go |
|---|---|
| V2 Past Simple: | Went |
| V3 Past Participle: | Gone/Been |
| V4 3rd Person Singular: | Goes |
| V5 Present Participle/Gerund: | Going |
Went is the past tense of go. Gone is the past participle of go.
What is the perfect tense of go? ›Goes Sentence Examples
I hope your meeting goes well. She goes with me. Let me know if anything goes wrong. That goes up in the hills.
The simple present tense of 'go' is either 'go' or 'goes' and can be used in the following ways: They/you/we/I go down the lane. He/she/it goes down the lane.
What is the past simple of the verb to go? ›Past Tense of “Go”: “Went”
Go is an irregular verb, and its past tense is went. I went to the mall yesterday.
It is very common to use a gerund after the verb "go". Remember that we form a gerund by adding "-ing" to the end of a verb (playing, eating, drinking, etc.). We use "go + gerund" to talk about hobbies or activities.
What are the 2 verb forms of go? ›What is the V2 and V3 form of go? + The V2 and V3 form of go is “went“ and “gone”.
What is the first verb of go? ›
What are the three forms of the verb go? The 1st form of the verb is 'go, goes, 2nd went, and third gone'. All these three forms of the verb are used in the present, past, and past perfect sentences.
What is a simple sentence for go? ›[M] [T] I go for a walk every other day. [M] [T] I go to the movies once a month. [M] [T] I go to work every day by train. [M] [T] I will go to New York next week.
Is go a proper sentence? ›'Go. ' is a complete sentence. A sentence must have at least one clause that expresses a complete thought. You might have learned that it should have a subject and a verb in order to be complete.
Is gone a simple past tense? ›All the talk of past perfect and pluperfect tenses can be overwhelming, so remember this: the simple past takes simply “went.” But if you're talking about something that happened before another action (past perfect), you need “had” and the past participle “gone.”
What is the tense of the verb will have gone? ›| Infinitive | Future Perfect | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| to be* | will have been | will not have been |
| to go | will have gone | will not have gone |
| to take | will have taken | will not have taken |
| to see | will have seen | will not have seen |
For example, if you want to use go in the present perfect tense, you say, “I have gone.”
What is the future tense of the verb go? ›I will go, we will go. You shall go. He, she, it, they shall go.
What are the rules for perfect tense? ›In order to form the present perfect tense, we use the word have or has followed by the past participle of the verb. For regular verbs, the past participle is a form of the verb that ends in -ed, -d, or -t. For example, the past participle of cook is cooked and so the present perfect tense would be have/has cooked.
What type of verb is go? ›The verb go is an irregular verb in the English language (see English irregular verbs). It has a wide range of uses; its basic meaning is "to move from one place to another". Apart from the copular verb be, the verb go is the only English verb to have a suppletive past tense, namely went.
What is the past simple form of the verb go to school? ›Past tense : He went to school. Here, go changes to went.
Why is the past tense of go went? ›
English speakers adopted “went,” the past tense of “wend,” because they apparently felt that “go” didn't have a satisfactory past tense of its own. In Old English the verb gān (“go”) had a past tense that didn't come from its own stem. The past tense was completely unrelated: ēode (in Middle English, it was yode).
What is the third form of gone? ›3 forms: go-went-gone.
What are the 4 go verbs in the present tense? ›...
1. Hacer Go Verbs
- Rehacer – to redo.
- Deshacer – to undo.
- Contrahacer – to counterfeit.
- Satisfacer – to satisfy.
The verb went, the past tense of the irregular verb go, is an action verb when used like this.
What is the example of goes? ›She puts the book down and goes to sleep.
Does he go to school or he goes to school? ›he goes to school vs he go to school
The correct third-person singular form of "go" is "he goes," not "he go" ("go" is used with "I," "you," "we," and "they").