Language/English/Grammar/Irregular-Verbs

Verbs in English are irregular if they don't have an usual "ed" ending (such as "studied") in the past tense and/or the past participle forms.

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Irregular Verb List

Here is a list of the most common and contemporary irregular verbs in English. Note that there are often differences between British (Br) and American (Am) English. These are marked.

Sometimes, it is relative usage. For example, the simple past and past participle of of "learn" - "learnt" - is the usual form for the majority of British English speakers whereas "learned" is used by most American English speakers, less than one third use "learnt".

Sometimes, the regular form of a verb has one meaning whereas its irregular form has another.

Also, usage of irregular verbs can even depend on which region you are from in Britain, the US, Australia, Canada and other English-speaking countries. Native English speakers often love to argue with each other about which irregular form is the correct one - even when they are from the same country!

Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoke (Br - informal) awoken (formal) awaken (Am - informal)
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	borne / born
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
beget	begat (Br) begot (Am)	begot (Br) begotten (Am)
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid / bade	bid / bidden
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burnt (Br) burned (Am)	burnt (Br) burned (Am)
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
can	could	could
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
chide	chid / chode	chid / chidden
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
clothe	clad / clothed	clad / clothed
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived	dived (Br) dove (Am)
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt (Br) dreamed (Am)	dreamt (Br) dreamed (Am)
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelt (Br) dwelled (Am)	dwelt (Br) dwelled (Am)
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forecast	forecast	forecast
foresee	foresaw	foreseen
forget	forgot	forgot (Br) forgotten (Am)
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (Br) gotten (Am)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground (Br) grounded (Am)
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung / hanged	hung / hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt (Br) knelled (Am)	knelt (Br) kneeled (Am)
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leant (Br) leaned (Am)	leant (Br) leaned (Am)
leap	leapt (Br) leaped (Am)	leapt (Br) leaped (Am)
learn	learnt (Br) learned (Am)	learnt (Br) learned (Am)
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit (Br) lighted (Am)	lit (Br) lighted (Am)
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mow	mowed	mown (Br) mowned (Am)
offset	offset	offset
overcome	overcame	overcome
partake	partook	partaken
pay	paid	paid
plead	pled (informal) pleaded (formal)	pled (informal) pleaded (formal)
preset	preset	preset
prove	proved	proven (Br) proved (Am)
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
relay	relaid	relaid
rend	rent	rent
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	saw (Br) sawed (Am)	sawn (Br) sawed (Am)
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone	shone
shoe	shod (Br) shoed (Am)	shod (Br) shoed (Am)
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank (Br) sunk (Am)	sunk (Br) sunken (Am)
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
slink	slunk / slinked	slunk / slinked
slit	slit	slit
smell	smelt (Br) smelled (Am)	smelt (Br) smelled (Am)
sow	sowed	sown (Br) sowed (Am)
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt (Br) spilled (Am)	spilt (Br) spilled (Am)
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat / spit	spat / spit
split	split	split
spoil	spoilt (Br) spoiled (Am)	spoilt (Br) spoiled (Am)
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank	stunk
strew	strewed	strewn (Br) strewed (Am)
strike	struck	struck
strive	strove (Br) strived (Am)	striven (Br) strived (Am)
swear	swore	sworn
sweat	sweat (Br) sweated (Am)	sweat (Br) sweated (Am)
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swollen (Br) swelled (Am)
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod (Br) treaded (Am)	trodden (Br) treaded (Am)
typeset	typeset	typeset
undergo	underwent	undergone
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
wed	wed (Br) wedded (Am)	wed (Br) wedded (Am)
weep	wept	wept
wet	wet (Br) wetted (Am)	wet (Br) wetted (Am)
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

We've seen many of the irregular verbs, now let's see some sentences using them:

Example Sentences Using Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs, on the other hand, need to be studied individually. These example sentences in all tenses will help students learn irregular verb forms in context. Click on one of the irregular verbs listed below for example sentences of irregular verbs in all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms.

To help you choose the verb you need, each verb includes three example sentences to get you started.

be / was / were / been

Tom was in New York yesterday.
I've been at home for a long time.
She'll be at the party next weekend.

beat  / beat / beaten

We beat the home team yesterday.
I've never beaten David at chess.
Do you think you could beat him?

become  / became / become

Jason has become an excellent doctor.
I'll become your friend if you move here.
The situation became difficult last week.

begin  / began / begun

The play hasn't begun yet.
I began to understand the problem yesterday.
She'll begin to explain in a moment what happened.

bend  / bent / bent

He bent the branch until it broke.
The flag poll often bends in the wind.
I've bent the nail when I hit it with a hammer. 

break / broke / broken

My boy has broken three windows this week!
I broke that window last week.
Glass often breaks if you drop it. 

buy  / bought / bought

Janice bought a new watch last week.
I usually buy my vegetables in the morning.
He's bought more than ten cars in his life. 

come  / came / come

We came home earlier yesterday.
He comes to class on time every day.
We've come across that song before. 

cut / cut / cut

How many pieces have you cut?
I cut my finger on a piece of broken glass yesterday.
That boy never cuts his own steak.

draw / drew / drawn

She drew a beautiful picture in class. Jackie has drawn a few clowns this week.
The magician will now draw a card from the pack. 

drink / drank / drunk

I was so thirsty I drank two bottles of water.
Have you drunk any water yet?
I'll drink something when I get there. 

drive / drove / driven

Have you ever driven across the US?
I drove to the basketball game to see my son play.
He's going to drive to the airport this evening. 

eat / ate / eaten

We ate lunch early today.
Have you eaten already?
Where did you eat dinner last year in Spain?

find / found / found

Have you found him yet?
I found an old book on that table over there.
I'll find him, don't worry!

fly / flew / flown

Cheryl flew to Brazil last month. Have you ever flown around the world?
He's going to learn to fly when he grows up.

Practice Resources

https://quizlet.com/164041806/irregular-verbs-english-irregular-verbs-flash-cards/

https://www.memrise.com/course/100903/learn-english-irregular-verbs/

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1042687651

Related Lessons

• REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
• Adverbs of Manner
• Confusion between Adjectives and Adverbs
• Subjunctive mood
• INFINITIVES
• Questions
• Mood vs Tense
• After all
• Abstract nouns and concrete nouns
• More on Omission