PHThe word born is usually used as an adjective. We don’t ever change the tense of an adjective. Think about how this would work with a different adjective; “hungry,” for example:
The adjective “born” does come from a verb, though. The verb “born” is already in the past tense, technically. It’s the past tense of the verb “to bear,” which means something like to carry, or support, or help out.
This sounds weird, because nowadays, the word “born” usually refers to the birth (noun version of “bear”) of a person; their exit from the womb. We don’t usually hear the verb “bear,” but we hear “born” all the time. Why is that?
When we were “born,” we were not doing any of the supporting, carrying, or helping out. That’s because born is in the passive voice - technically, we’re being born by our moms - our moms were bearing us (that second phrasing is in the active voice, because it’s talking about the person who’s doing the action).
- present: I am hungry.
- past: I was hungry.
- future: I will be hungry.
The adjective “born” does come from a verb, though. The verb “born” is already in the past tense, technically. It’s the past tense of the verb “to bear,” which means something like to carry, or support, or help out.
This sounds weird, because nowadays, the word “born” usually refers to the birth (noun version of “bear”) of a person; their exit from the womb. We don’t usually hear the verb “bear,” but we hear “born” all the time. Why is that?
When we were “born,” we were not doing any of the supporting, carrying, or helping out. That’s because born is in the passive voice - technically, we’re being born by our moms - our moms were bearing us (that second phrasing is in the active voice, because it’s talking about the person who’s doing the action).
