Verbius paused. “Acceptable. Next: .”

Mariana laughed nervously. “That’s the first one in the book.” She took a breath. “I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are. Past: I was, we were. Future: I will be. Present perfect: I have been. Past perfect: I had been. Future perfect: I will have been. Present progressive: I am being. Past progressive: I was being. Present perfect progressive: I have been being…”

Sweating, Mariana recited: “Fly, flew, flown, am flying, was flying, have flown, had flown, will fly, will have flown, will have been flying…”

She passed the exam the next day. And she never, ever made fun of 501 English Verbs.pdf again.

At 2 a.m., the PDF glitched.

“Welcome to the Conjugation Coliseum,” said the V. “I am Verbius. To return home, you must correctly conjugate any three of the 501 verbs in all their forms—past, present, future, perfect, progressive, and perfect progressive.”

“That’s insane,” Mariana whispered.

She opened the PDF. Page one: “To be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been.” Simple. She yawned. By page 30 ( “To catch: caught, catching” ), her eyes glazed. By page 112 ( “To spring: sprang, sprung” ), she was dreaming of irregular past participles dancing the cha-cha.