Irregular Verbs

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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 thirty 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 you must simply work towards memorizing the words. Here are a few examples of irregular verbs:

Thomas swam in the lake every summer afternoon.
I had forgotten my lunch appointment, so I got to the restaurant thirty minutes late.
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.

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