The Principal Parts of a verb are the different ways it is spelled in different tenses.
There are, strictly speaking, 5 principal parts of English Verbs.
- Base Form,
- 3rd Person Singular Form,
- Past Simple Form,
- Past Participle,
- Present Participle.
These are the only forms, or spellings, which a verb can take. With these five spellings, you can use the verb in any tense just by changing the auxiliary verbs.
Learning to form the Principal Parts of regular verbs will greatly improve your ability to speak English. Once you learn a new regular verb, you can immediately start using it in all the different tenses. You will also be able to use a verb just by seeing its Vocabulary Entry.
Knowing about the Principal Parts will help you with irregular verbs as well because you’ll be able to understand the Vocabulary entries.