Heads Up English | ESL Lessons

Irregular Verbs

User Rating:

/ 20

Details: Parent Category: Beginner Skill Builders; Category: Beginner Skill Builders: Grammar; Written by Chris Cotter

What are irregular verbs?
Most verbs in the English language take -ed to form the past tense and the past participle forms. For example:

I worked in New York for many years.
I have worked in New York for many years.

Some verbs are irregular, which means they don't follow the usual -ed pattern. In fact, irregular verbs are more a matter of vocabulary memorization than grammar, and so students must simply work towards memorizing the words. Here are a few examples of irregular verbs:

X Thomas swimmed in the lake every summer afternoon.
O Thomas swam in the lake every summer afternoon.

X I had forgetted my lunch appointment, so I getted to the restaurant thirty minutes late.
O I had forgotten my lunch appointment, so I got to the restaurant thirty minutes late.

X Our teacher teached us about irregular verbs yesterday.
O Our teacher taught us about irregular verbs yesterday.

Here's a list of many irregular verbs. The ones marked with the following symbol ( ο ) are more often used, and should perhaps first be studied.

Download the lesson:

plain form		past tense	past participle
	awake	awoke	awoken
ο	be	was / were	been
	beat	beat	beat
o	become	became	become
o	begin	began	begun
	bend	bent	bent
	bite	bit	bitten
	bleed	bled	bled
	blow	blew	blown
o	break	broke	broken
o	bring	brought	brought
	broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
	build	built	built
	burn	burnt / burned	burnt / burned
o	buy	bought	bought
o	catch	caught	caught
o	choose	chose	chosen
o	come	came	come
o	cost	cost	cost
	creep	crept	crept
o	cut	cut	cut
	deal	dealt	dealt
	dive	dived / dove	dived
	dig	dug	dug
o	do	did	done
	draw	drew	drawn
	dream	dreamt / dreamed	dreamt / dreamed
o	drink	drank	drunk
o	drive	drove	driven
o	eat	ate	eaten
	fall	fell	fallen
	feed	fed	fed
	fight	fought	fought
	find	found	found
o	fly	flew	flown
	forbid	forbade	forbidden
o	forget	forgot	forgotten
	freeze	froze	frozen
o	get	got	got / gotten
o	give	gave	given
o	go	went	gone / been
	grow	grew	grown
	hang	hung	hung
o	have	had	had
o	hear	heard	heard
	hide	hid	hidden
o	hit	hit	hit
	hold	held	held
	hurt	hurt	hurt
	keep	kept	kept
	kneel	knelt	knelt
o	know	knew	known
	lay	laid	laid
	lead	led	led
o	learn	leanrt / leanred	learnt / learned
o	leave	left	left
	lend	lent	lent
o	let	let	let
	lie	lay	lain
	light	lit / lighted	lit / lighted
	lose	lost	lost
o	make	made	made
	mean	meant	meant
o	meet	met	met
	mistake	mistook	mistaken
o	pay	paid	paid
	prove	proved	proved / proven
o	put	put	put
o	read	read	read
	rid	rid	rid
o	ride	rode	ridden
	ring	rang	rung
	rise	rose	risen
o	run	ran	run
o	say	said	said
o	see	saw	seen
o	sell	sold	sold
o	send	sent	sent
	set	set	set
	shake	shook	shaken
	shine	shone	shone
	shoot	shot	shot
o	show	showed	shown
	shrink	shrank	shrunk
	shut	shut	shut
o	sing	sang	sung
	sink	sank	sunk
o	sit	sat	sat
o	sleep	slept	slept
o	smell	smelt / smelled	smelt / smelled
o	speak	spoke	spoken
	speed	sped	sped
o	spell	spelt / spelled	spelt / spelled
o	spend	spent	spent
	spill	spilt / spilled	split / spilled
	spin	span	spun
	spit	spat	spat
	split	split	split
	spoil	spolit / spoiled	spolit / spoiled
o	stand	stood	stood
	steal	stole	stolen
	stick	stuck	stuck
	stink	stank	stunk
	strike	struck	struck
	sweep	swept	swept
	swing	swung	swung
o	swim	swam	swum
o	take	took	taken
o	teach	taught	taught
	tear	tore	torn
o	tell	told	told
o	think	thought	thought
	throw	thrown	thrown
o	understand	understood	understood
o	wake	woke	woken
o	wear	worn	worn
o	win	won	won
	wind	wound	wound
	wring	wrung	wrung
o	write	wrote	written
	wring	wrung	wrung