Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular present tense form ending in "-s", a past tense (also called preterite), a past participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in "-ing" that serves as a present participle and gerund. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200 irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb "be" has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.