best – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of best

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to best
Participle: bested
Gerund: besting

Cognates

-

Indicative

Present

Ibest
youbest
he;she;itbests
webest
youbest
theybest

Perfect

Ihave bested
youhave bested
he;she;ithas bested
wehave bested
youhave bested
theyhave bested

Past

Ibested
youbested
he;she;itbested
webested
youbested
theybested

Pluperfect

Ihad bested
youhad bested
he;she;ithad bested
wehad bested
youhad bested
theyhad bested

Future

Iwill best
youwill best
he;she;itwill best
wewill best
youwill best
theywill best

Future Perfect

Iwill have bested
youwill have bested
he;she;itwill have bested
wewill have bested
youwill have bested
theywill have bested

Subjunctive

Present

Ibest
youbest
he;she;itbest
webest
youbest
theybest

Perfect

Ihave bested
youhave bested
he;she;ithave bested
wehave bested
youhave bested
theyhave bested

Imperfect

Ibested
youbested
he;she;itbested
webested
youbested
theybested

Pluperfect

Ihad bested
youhad bested
he;she;ithad bested
wehad bested
youhad bested
theyhad bested

Conditional

Present

Iwould best
youwould best
he;she;itwould best
wewould best
youwould best
theywould best

Perfect

Iwould have bested
youwould have bested
he;she;itwould have bested
wewould have bested
youwould have bested
theywould have bested

Imperative

youbest
weLet's best
youbest

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Iam besting
youare besting
he;she;itis besting
weare besting
youare besting
theyare besting

Perfect

Ihave been besting
youhave been besting
he;she;ithas been besting
wehave been besting
youhave been besting
theyhave been besting

Past

Iwas besting
youwere besting
he;she;itwas besting
wewere besting
youwere besting
theywere besting

Pluperfect

Ihad been besting
youhad been besting
he;she;ithad been besting
wehad been besting
youhad been besting
theyhad been besting

Future

Iwill be besting
youwill be besting
he;she;itwill be besting
wewill be besting
youwill be besting
theywill be besting

Future Perfect

Iwill have been besting
youwill have been besting
he;she;itwill have been besting
wewill have been besting
youwill have been besting
theywill have been besting

Conditional

Present

Iwould be besting
youwould be besting
he;she;itwould be besting
wewould be besting
youwould be besting
theywould be besting

Perfect

Iwould have been besting
youwould have been besting
he;she;itwould have been besting
wewould have been besting
youwould have been besting
theywould have been besting

Other

Verbs conjugated like 'best'

abandon, abduct, abear, aberr, abject, abord, abort, abound, abraid, abray, abrook, abscind, abscond, absist, absorb, abstain, abstract, accend, accent, accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)

Verbs similar to 'best'

beast, beat, belt, beset, besit, besot, bet, bost, bust, jest,

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E., reduced by assimilation of -t- from earlier O.E. betst, originally superlative of bot "remedy, reparation," the root word now only surviving in to boot, though its comparative, better, and superlative, best, transferred to good (and in some cases well). From P.Gmc. root *bat-, with comp. *batizon and superl. *batistaz. The verb "to get the better of" is from 1863. Best-seller is from 1889; best friend was in Chaucer (c.1374). Best girl is first attested 1887 in a Texas context; best man is 1814, originally Scottish, replacing groomsman.
2. From Middle English best, beste, from Old English bezt, betest, from Proto-Germanic *batistaz.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Scots best (“best”), Cimbrian peste, péste (“best”), Dutch best (“best”), German beste (“best”), Yiddish בעסט (best, “best”), Danish bedst (“best”), Faroese bestur (“best”), Icelandic bestur, beztur (“best”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk best (“best”), Swedish bäst (“best”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐍄𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (batists, “best”). See: Scots 'best'.

Sample Sentences

  • The Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship Kronprinz Wilhelm left New York on May 3 [1904], at 3.10 p.m. and reached Plymouth Sound on May 9 at 8 a.m. This was then a very fast crossing of the Atlantic, but it was not the record. The same ship had held the "Blue Riband" in 1902, but had been slightly bested by the Kaiser Wilhelm II, a larger vessel of the same line, in 1903, and that stood as the record until the Cunard Line secured the honours in 1909 with the Mauretania and held them for an unbroken period of 20 years. [1944 July and August, Charles E. Lee, “The "City of Truro"”, in Railway Magazine, pages 201–202:]
  • "You did not win because I was sloppy. You bested me, Uncle. I've never seen you fight like that before.” [2010, T. William Phillips, Restless Heart, page 16:]