base form

IPA/ˈbeɪs fɔːm/
IPA/ˈbeɪs fɔːrm/

base form — noun

1. The simplest version of a word, carrying no grammatical ending like -s, -ed, or

1.名詞B1
釋義

The simplest version of a word, carrying no grammatical ending like -s, -ed, or -ing. In English grammar teaching, this plain word shape serves as the dictionary entry form and as the starting point for adding tense or plural endings.

例句

Students must learn the base form of each irregular verb before studying its past tense.

collocation: base form of [verb]

Lakshmi looked up the base form 'write' in her dictionary to find its meaning.

base form shown in dictionary entries

同義詞
  • plain form

    common alternative used by language teachers, especially for verbs

  • dictionary form

    emphasises that this is the form found as the main entry in dictionaries

  • root form

    highlights the idea that grammatical endings grow from this form

反義詞
  • inflected form

    a word with one or more grammatical endings added (e.g. 'walks', 'walked')

  • derived form

    a word created by adding affixes that change meaning or part of speech

文法句型

base form + of + [word]

用法筆記

English verbs have only one base form per lexical verb, unlike languages where the verb changes for every person. This makes the base form the essential starting point for all verb conjugation. In dictionaries, the base form is the entry word shown in bold.

常見錯誤

❌The base form of "went" is "goed".
✅The base form of "went" is "go", because "go" is the irregular root without any ending.
💡The base form is the dictionary-entry form, not a form produced by a rule.