A finite verb shows tense (so if it is in the past, present, future), and is linked to a person (e.g. I, we) and also to number (singular or plural).

Look at these sentences:

  • The boy played the piano yesterday. In this sentence “played” shows tense (past), is linked to a person or subject (the boy played) and number (singular – boy).

    • Another way of saying this is that a finite verb must be able to stand on its own with a subject (a noun at the beginning of the sentence). So if you are not sure that if a verb is a finite verb, see if it can stand alone after a subject:
    eg playing, to swim
    The girl playing – not a complete sentence, so playing is not a finite verb.
    The boy to swim – not a complete sentence, so to swim is not a finite verb.

    Sentences can have different forms of verb in one sentence:

  • The children want to play the piano.
    In this sentence, “want” is the finite verb because it shows tense (present), person or subject (children) and number (plural – children). But “to play” is not a finite verb because it doesn’t show tense, person or number – it is not an action that is happening. (Notice that the sentence is not saying that the children are playing piano – they want to play the piano.) When a verb has ‘to’ in front of it we call it in the infinitive: to play, to swim etc.