Finite Verb

A finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs. Finite verbs can form independent clauses, which can stand on their own as complete sentences.The finite forms of a verb are the forms where the verb shows tense, person or number. Non-finite verb forms have no person or number, but some types can show tense.
• Finite verb forms include: I go, she goes, he went
• Non-finite verb forms include: to go, going, gone

Finite verbs
A finite verb (sometimes called main verbs) is a verb that has a subject, this means that it can be the main verb in a sentence. It shows tense (past / present etc) or number (singular / plural).
For example:-
I live in Germany. (I is the subject - live describes what the subject does - live is a finite verb).

Non-Finite Verbs
A non-finite verb has no subject, tense or number. The only non-finite verb forms are the infinitive (indicated by to), the gerund or the participle.
For example:-
I travelled to Germany to improve my German. (To improve is in the infinitive form).


"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.

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?
(Ronald C. Foote, Cedric Gale, and Benjamin W. Griffith, Essentials of English. Barron's, 2000)