to protect — English conjugation

Frequency#329Regular

Indicative

Present (Simple Present) Regular

The simple present describes habitual actions, general truths, and states. It is the most basic tense in English. For most verbs, add -s or -es for the third person singular (he, she, it).

She speaks three languages.

PronounEnglish
Iprotect
youprotect
he/she/itprotects
weprotect
you (pl.)protect
theyprotect

Past (Simple Past) Regular

The simple past describes completed actions at a specific time in the past. Regular verbs add -ed. There are around 200 common irregular verbs with unique past forms that must be learned individually.

She spoke to the manager yesterday.

PronounEnglish
Iprotected
youprotected
he/she/itprotected
weprotected
you (pl.)protected
theyprotected

Present continuous (Present Continuous) Regular

The present continuous describes actions happening right now or temporary situations. Formed with am/is/are + verb-ing. Also used for definite future arrangements.

She is speaking to a client at the moment.

PronounEnglish
Iam protecting
youare protecting
he/she/itis protecting
weare protecting
you (pl.)are protecting
theyare protecting

Past continuous (Past Continuous) Regular

The past continuous describes actions that were in progress at a specific moment in the past, often interrupted by another event. Formed with was/were + verb-ing.

She was speaking when the fire alarm went off.

PronounEnglish
Iwas protecting
youwere protecting
he/she/itwas protecting
wewere protecting
you (pl.)were protecting
theywere protecting

Present perfect (Present Perfect) Regular

The present perfect connects the past to the present. It describes experiences, recent events, or situations that started in the past and continue now. Formed with have/has + past participle.

She has spoken at over fifty conferences.

PronounEnglish
Ihave protected
youhave protected
he/she/ithas protected
wehave protected
you (pl.)have protected
theyhave protected

Past perfect (Past Perfect) Regular

The past perfect describes an action completed before another past event — the past of the past. Formed with had + past participle. Always implies a reference point in the past.

She had spoken to him before the meeting started.

PronounEnglish
Ihad protected
youhad protected
he/she/ithad protected
wehad protected
you (pl.)had protected
theyhad protected

Future (will) (Future Simple) Regular

The future simple expresses predictions, spontaneous decisions, and promises. Formed with will + base infinitive. The contracted form will not = won't is very common in spoken English.

She will speak at the conference tomorrow.

PronounEnglish
Iwill protect
youwill protect
he/she/itwill protect
wewill protect
you (pl.)will protect
theywill protect

Future continuous (Future Continuous) Regular

The future continuous describes an action that will be in progress at a specific future moment. Formed with will be + verb-ing. Often used to describe planned or expected ongoing actions.

This time tomorrow she will be speaking to the board.

PronounEnglish
Iwill be protecting
youwill be protecting
he/she/itwill be protecting
wewill be protecting
you (pl.)will be protecting
theywill be protecting

Future perfect (Future Perfect) Regular

The future perfect describes an action that will be completed before a specific point in the future. Formed with will have + past participle. Common with time expressions like by then, by the time.

By Friday she will have spoken to all the clients.

PronounEnglish
Iwill have protected
youwill have protected
he/she/itwill have protected
wewill have protected
you (pl.)will have protected
theywill have protected

Subjunctive

Conditional (would) (Conditional) Regular

The conditional describes hypothetical situations and their results. Formed with would + base infinitive. Used in if-clauses, polite requests, and reported speech about future events.

She would speak more if she had the chance.

PronounEnglish
Iwould protect
youwould protect
he/she/itwould protect
wewould protect
you (pl.)would protect
theywould protect