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Irregular verbs do not make their past tense by adding
- d or - ed or by changing y to i and adding ed. Instead,
they make their past forms in several ways:
| 1. |
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For some irregular verbs, the simple and past
forms are the same. Here are a few examples:
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Simple
beat
bet
burst
cost
cut
hit
hurt
let
put
set
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Past
beat
bet
burst
cost
cut
hit
hurt
let
put
set
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| 2. |
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For many irregular verbs, the simple and
past forms have different vowels. Here
are a few examples:
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Simple
arise
become
begin
break
choose
dig
draw
eat
fall
feed
find
fly
forget
freeze
get
give
hide
hold
know
lead
lie
meet
ride
ring
rise
take
tear
weave
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Past
arose
became
began
broke
chose
dug
drew
ate
fell
fed
found
flew
forgot
froze
got
gave
hid
held
knew
led
lay
met
rode
rang
rose
took
tore
wove
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| 3. |
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For many irregular verbs, the simple verb
and the past form have different endings
(and often different vowels):
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Simple
bend
bring
build
buy
catch
creep
do (does)
feel
have (has)
lose
make
mean
pay
say
seek
sleep
spend
stand
teach
tell
think
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Past
bent
brought
built
bought
caught
crept
did
felt
had
lost
made
meant
paid
said
sought
slept
spent
stood
taught
told
thought
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| 4. |
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A few irregular verbs have more than one
past form. Here are a few examples:
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Simple
dream
fit
kneel
leap
light
shine
speed
spit
wake
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Past
dreamed, dreamt
fit, fitted
knelt, kneeled
leaped, leapt
lit, lighted
shone, shined
sped, speeded
spit, spat
woke, waked
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| 5. |
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For a few irregular verbs, one past form
tends is more common in American English
and a different one is more common in
British English:
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Verb
burn
lean
learn
smell
spoil
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American
burned
leaned
learned
smelled
spoiled
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British
burnt
leant
learnt
smelt
spoilt
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| 6. |
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The common irregular verb go has a completely
different past form:
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Special Notes:
1. |
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The simple and past forms of read have the same
spelling, but they are pronounced differently:
simple: read (pronounced the same as reed)
past: read (pronounced the same as red)
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| 2. |
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There are no easy rules to help you learn the past
forms for irregular verbs quickly. Unfortunately,
you will have to memorize them! |
To see an excellent online collection of irregular verbs
(with past participles as well as past forms), see this
Irregular Verb List from Georgia State University.
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