Group 1 All three forms of the verb are the same Base Form bet cost cut hit

t hurt let put shut bet cost cut hit hurt let put shut Simple Past Past Participle bet cost cut hit hurt let put shut

Group 2 The 2nd and 3rd forms of the verb are the same Base Form lose lost Simple Past Past Participle lost shot got lit sat kept

shoot shot get light sit got lit sat

keep kept

sleep slept slept feel felt felt left met brought bought

leave left meet met

bring brought buy bought

fight foughtfought think thought catch caught teach taught sell tell pay sold told paid sold told paid thought caught taught

make made made stand stood stood understand understood understood lend lent lent sent

send sent

spend spent spent build built find built

found found had

have had

hear heard heard hold read say held held read (pronounced red)

read (pronounced red) said said

Group 3 All three forms of the verb are different Base Form Simple Past Past Participle

drive drove driven ride rode ridden

rise

rose

risen

write wrote written bite hide bit hid bitten hidden

break broke broken choose chose chosen

speak spoke spoken wake woke woken blow blew blown grow grew grown know knew known fly flew flown

draw drew drawn show showed wear wore worn tear tore torn shown

begin began begun drink drank drunk swim swam swum ring sing eat fall rang rung sang sung ate fell eaten fallen

forget forgot forgotten give see gave given saw seen

take

took

taken

Quiz English Test on this material Test your understanding of the English resource by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.

Did you ________ Jack when you were in high school?

know knew known

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Related Common Irregular Verbs Past Tense Regular Verb Pronunciation

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Blog Learn English Grammar How to Study Irregular Verbs

How to Study Irregular Verbs Table Most verbs in English are regular verbs, meaning that they add the ed ending to form both the simple past and the past participle forms, which are identical, such as play-played-played. However, there is a considerable number of irregular verbs (about 450, but only about 200 are in common use) that form their simple past and past participle forms with a vowel change, such as in see-saw-seen (see table below). Some irregular verbs do not change form at all (let-let-let). Irregular verbs originate mostly from Old English, while any new verb coined in later periods tends to be regular. Still, the ten most used verbs in English are irregular.

Another distinction is between weak and strong verbs. In weak verbs, the simple past and past participle forms are identical, bearing a d or t ending (buy-boughtbought). In strong verbs the simple past and past participle are usually distinct, with the past participle having an en ending (speak-spoke-spoken). The classification of verbs to weak and strong in Modern English is less important for learners, so you can suffice with the regular-irregular distinction. A user-friendly way to study English irregular verbs:

Regardless of the linguistic distinctions and classifications, which tend to be too complicated for learners, we suggest that you use the following tables, clustering together irregular verbs with similar change patterns in small groups. This kind of clustering aids your memory, which will strengthen with practice. Read through the tables and make note of the verbs you find useful for your purposes. You could also read the table headings if it helps you, or simply focus on the verbs themselves. You may consider creating flash cards with the different groups and study them, as explained on our vocabulary strategies pages. Remember that for looking up irregulars verbs after you have learned them, you have an alphabetical list in any dictionary for easy referencing.

You may notice that in some verb parts there are two correct forms. A general rule of thumb here is that the regular verb option (with ed, no vowel change) is more commonly used in American English, whereas the irregular option (vowel change) is

still in use in British English. Moreover, there may also be finer nuances in meaning pertaining to the usage of the former or the latter. In any case, consult your dictionary if you are not sure about the exact usage.

The following irregular verb tables are sorted according to V1,V2, and V3 forms. Here is a quick reminder for these verb forms:

Uses of the 3 main verb forms: V1=base form Present Simple I write in English every day.

Future Simple

I will write an English essay tomorrow. V2=Past Simple V3=Past participle passive forms passive adjective I have already written my English paper. Past Simple only! perfect tenses Yesterday, I wrote 2 poems in English.

This novel was written by Charles Dickens. This story is well-written. Category 1: irregular ending with no vowel change, V2=V3 group 1: d ending changes to t, ent changes to end bend build lend send spend creep feed feel bent built lent sent spent crept fed felt fed felt bent built lent sent spent crept

keep kneel meet sleep sweep weep *leave

kept

kept knelt \ kneeled

knelt \ kneeled met slept swept wept left met slept swept wept left

group 2: the verbs have and make have \ has make had had made

made

group 3: regular (V2, V3) in US English, irregular in UK English learn burn dwell smell spell spill spoil dream lean learned \ learnt burned \ burnt dwelled \ dwelt smelled \ smelt spelled \ spelt spilled \ spilt spoiled \ spoilt learned \ learnt burned \ burnt dwelled \ dwelt smelled \ smelt spelled \ spelt spilled \ spilt spoiled \ spoilt dreamed \ dreamt

dreamed \ dreamt leaned \ leant

leaned \ leant

group 4: ay ending changes to aid *said is pronounced /sed/ lay

(the table, clothes, eggs) pay say paid *said *said laid laid

paid

(/sed/) (/sed/)

group 6: different pronunciation of the same vowel d or t ending deal leap mean read hear dealt leapt dealt leapt meant read (/red/)

meant

read (/red/) heard

heard

group 7: ell turns to old sell tell sold told sold told

group 8: vowel change with ought (or *aught) ending d or t ending bring buy fight seek think brought bought fought sought thought brought bought fought sought thought

*catch *teach

caught taught

caught taught

Category 3: Verbs with the same form V1=V2=V3

group 9: Verbs that do not change d or t ending bet bet bet bid bid

bid (to offer) broadcast broadcasted broadcasted burst cost cut fit burst cost cut fit

broadcast \ broadcast \

burst cost

cut

(was the right size) fitted (tailored, changed size) (was the right size) fitted (tailored, changed size) hit hurt let put hit hurt let put hit hurt let put fit

set shut

set shut

set shut spread

spread quit

spread quit quit

Category 4: Vowel change, V3 ending with (e)n group 10: V2 and V3 with long /o / sound break choose freeze speak steal awake wake weave broke chose froze spoke stole broken chosen frozen spoken stolen awoken \ awaked

awoke \ awaked woke \ waked wove woven

woken \ waked

group 11: V2 long o sound, V3 shirt /i/ sound arise rise *ride drive *write arose rose rode drove wrote arisen risen *ridden driven *written

group 12: The following verbs: *bite *hide bit hid *bitten *hidden

eat give

ate gave

eaten given forgiven forbidden

forgive forbid * * bid

forgave forbad(e)

( to command, farewell) * forget get shake take see beat fall lie ( down to rest) lay got forgot

bade

*bidden

*forgotten

* gotten (AmE) \ got (BrE) shaken taken seen beaten fallen

shook took saw beat fell

lain

Pay attention! Do not confuse lie (tell a lie, regular), lie (down to rest, irregular), and lay (the table, irregular).

*lie (tell a lie) lie (down to rest) lay (the table, eggs) laid laid lay lain lied lied

group 13: the ear-ore-orn pattern bear swear tear wear bore born sworn

swore tore wore torn

worn

group 14: V1 with ow, V2 with ew, V3 with own blow blew blown

grow

grew

grown

know

knew

known

throw

threw

thrown

fly draw

flew drew

flown *drawn

Category 5: regular V2, regular or irregular V3 group 15 show sow mow swell sew *shine showed sowed mowed swelled sewed showed \ shown sowed \ sown mowed \ mown swelled \ swollen sewed \ sewn

(the shoes) *shine (brightly)

shined

shined

shone

shone

Category 6: vowel change, no ending, V2=V3 group 16: vowel change pattern, no ending dig stick spin sting strike swing *hang (a man) *hang (a picture) slide light shoot slid hung slid lighted \ lit hung hanged hanged dug stuck spun stung struck swung dug stuck spun stung struck swung

lighted \ lit shot shot

group 17: vowel change pattern i - ou - ou bind find grind wind bound found ground wound bound found ground wound

group 18: vowel change ee - e - e bleed feed flee *lead *speed bled fed fled led bled fed fled led speeded \ sped

speeded \ sped

Category 7: The craziest verbs! group 19: vowel change pattern i - a - u begin drink ring shrink sing sink spin spring swim began drank rang begun drunk rung shrunk

shrank sang sank

sung sunk spun sprung swum

span \ spun sprang swam

group 20: vowel change, V1=V3 come become run ran came come become

became run

group 21: miscellaneous the verb to be

am is are was were go *dive (jumped head first) *dive (scuba-diving) do can may hold stand did dived dived dove dived been went gone was

done

could might held stood held stood understood sat babysat won lost babysat understood

understand sit sat

babysit win lose

won lost

Summary