Irregular Verbs - English Grammar Guide

Irregular Verbs and Past Participles

Many of the most common verbs used in English have irregular forms when they are used in past tenses. The list below shows the past forms of the most common irregular verbs in the English language. Each entry in the list includes the verb infinitive, the past form (preterit), and the past participle.

You will notice that some verbs have more than one past form. The verb 'to burn' can be written as 'burnt' or 'burned' and there are several verbs which have the same form. The past form ending with 't' (burnt) is usually the original form, and the form ending with 'ed' (burned) is the accepted modern alternative. Both forms are now considered to be correct.

Verb	Past	Past Participle
can	could	been able
may	might
to abide	abode	abode
to arise	arose	arisen
to awake	awoke	awoken
to be	was - were	been
to bear	bore	borne
to beat	beat	beaten
to become	became	become
to befall	befell	befallen
to begin	began	begun
to bend	bent	bent
to bet	bet	bet
to bid	bid	bid
to bind	bound	bound
to bite	bit	bitten
to bleed	bled	bled
to blow	blew	blown
to break	broke	broken
to breed	bred	bred
to bring	brought	brought
to build	built	built
to burn	burned - burnt	burned - burnt
to burst	burst	burst
to buy	bought	bought
to cast	cast	cast
to catch	caught	caught
to choose	chose	chosen
to cleave	cleaved - cleft	cleaved - cleft
to cling	clung	clung
to come	came	come
to cost	cost	cost
to creep	crept	crept
to cut	cut	cut
to deal	dealt	dealt
to dig	dug	dug
to do	did	done
to draw	drew	drawn
to dream	dreamed - dreamt	dreamed - dreamt
to drink	drank	drunk
to drive	drove	driven
to dwell	dwelled - dwelt	dwelled - dwelt
to eat	ate	eaten
to fall	fell	fallen
to feed	fed	fed
to fight	fought	fought
to find	found	found
to flee	fled	fled
to fling	flung	flung
to fly	flew	flown
to forbid	forbade	forbidden
to forget	forgot	forgotten
to forsake	forsook	forsaken
to freeze	froze	frozen
to get	got	got - gotten
to gild	gild	gild
to give	gave	given
to go	went	gone
to grind	ground	ground
to grow	grew	grown
to hang	hung - hanged (for execution)	hung - hanged (for execution)
to have	had	had
to hear	heard	heard
to hide	hid	hidden
to hit	hit	hit
to hold	held	held
to hurt	hurt	hurt
to keep	kept	kept
to kneel	knelt - kneeled	knelt - kneeled
to know	knew	known
to lay	laid	laid
to lead	led	led
to lean	leaned - leant	leaned - leant
to leap	leaped - leapt	leaped - leapt
to learn	learned - learnt	learned - learnt
to leave	left	left
to lend	lend	lend
to let	let	let
to lie	lay	lain
to light	lit	lit
to lose	lost	lost
to make	made	made
to mean	meant	meant
to meet	met	met
to mow	mowed	mown
to pay	paid	paid
to put	put	put
to quit	quit	quit
to read	read	read
to rid	rid	rid
to ride	rode	ridden
to ring	rang	rung
to rise	rose	risen
to run	ran	run
to saw	sawed	sawn
to say	said	said
to see	saw	seen
to seek	sought	sought
to sell	sold	sold
to send	sent	sent
to set	set	set
to sew	sewed	sewn
to shake	shook	shaken
to shear	sheared	shorn
to shed	shed	shed
to shine	shone	shone
to shoe	shod	shod
to shoot	shot	shot
to show	showed	shown
to shrink	shrank	shrunk
to shut	shut	shut
to sing	sang	sung
to sink	sank	sunk
to sit	sat	sat
to slay	slew	slain
to sleep	slept	slept
to slide	slid	slid
to sling	slung	slung
to slink	slunk	slunk
to slit	slit	slit
to smell	smelled - smelt	smelled - smelt
to smite	smote	smitten
to sow	sowed	sown
to speak	spoke	spoken
to speed	sped	sped
to spell	spelled	spelled
to spend	spent	spent
to spill	spilled - spilt	spilled - spilt
to spin	spun	spun
to spit	spat	spat
to split	spilt	split
to spoil	spoiled - spoilt	spoiled - spoilt
to spread	spread	spread
to spring	sprang	sprung
to stand	stood	stood
to steal	stole	stolen
to stick	stuck	stuck
to sting	stung	stung
to stink	stank	stunk
to stride	strode	stridden
to strike	struck	stricken
to string	strung	strung
to strive	strove	striven
to swear	swore	sworn
to sweep	swept	swept
to swell	swelled	swollen
to swim	swam	swum
to swing	swung	swung
to take	took	taken
to teach	taught	taught
to tear	tore	torn
to tell	told	told
to think	thought	thought
to thrive	thrived	thrived
to throw	threw	thrown
to thrust	thrust	thrust
to tread	trod	trodden
to undo	undid	undone
to unwind	unwound	unwound
to wake	woke	woken
to wear	wore	worn
to weave	wove - weaved	woven
to weep	wept	wept
to win	won	won
to wind	wound	wound
to withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
to wring	wrung	wrung
to write	wrote	written

Irregular Verbs and Past Participles

Irregular Verbs and Past Participles

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