In English grammar, a finite verb is a form of a verb that:
- shows agreement with a subject and
- is marked for tense.
If there is just one verb in a sentence, it is finite. (Put another way, a finite verb can stand by itself in a sentence.) Finite verbs are sometimes called tensed verbs.
A finite clause is a word group whose central element is a finite verb
Examples and Observations
The reason finite verbs are so important is their unique ability to be used as the only verb in the sentence, whereas all the others have to depend on some other word, so finite verbs really stand out.
Examples of Finite Verbs
In the following sentences, the finite verbs are in bold italics.
We rob banks.
I ate his liver with some beans and a bottle of Coca Cola
A boy’s best friend is his mother.
We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!
You know how to whistle, don’t you? You just put your lips together and . . . blow.
Get busy living, or get busy dying
The Finite Forms
I drive a car. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][1st person, singular, present tense]
He drives a car. [3rd person, singular. present tense]
I/He drove a car. [1st and 3rd person, singular, past tense]
These three forms of the verb do not require additional helping verbs to express their meanings
Five Ways to Identify Finite Verbs
Finite verbs can be recognized by their form and their position in the sentence. Here are some of the things to look for when you are trying to identify the finite verbs in a sentence:
1. Most finite verbs can take an -ed or a -d at the end of the word to indicate time in the past: cough, coughed; celebrate, celebrated. A hundred or so finite verbs do not have these endings. Examples are write, sink, think, put, cut, bite, buy etc
2. Nearly all finite verbs take an -s at the end of the word to indicate the present when the subject of the verb is third-person singular: cough, he coughs; celebrate, she celebrates. The exceptions are auxiliary verbs like can and must. Remember that nouns can also end in -s. Thus the dog races can refer to a spectator sport or to a fast-moving third-person singular dog.
3. Finite verbs are often groups of words that include such auxiliary verbs as can, must, have, and be: can be suffering, must eat, will have gone.
4. Finite verbs usually follow their subjects: He coughs. The documents had compromised him. They will have gone.
5. Finite verbs surround their subjects when some forms of a question are asked: Is he coughing? Did they celebrate?
Source: about.com
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