Don’t Get Tripped Up By Irregular Verbs
If you give your verbs a workout with sequences that travel forward and back in time, you’ll need to keep in mind that some verbs, including many of the most common ones, have irregular past tenses and past participles.
As noted in the verb charts, the past and perfect tenses of regular verbs are easy to create:
I seen the show on television.
I saw the show on television.
I have seen the show on television.
It had broke.
It broke.
It had broken.
It costed plenty.
It cost plenty.
Here are some common irregular verbs that can give writers trouble, along with the forms for their past tense and past participle.
| Base form of verb | Past tense | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| arise | arose | arisen |
| be | was, were | been |
| become | became | become |
| begin | began | begun |
| bend | bent | bent |
| bite | bit | bitten, bit |
| blow | blew | blown |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| build | built | built |
| burst | burst | burst |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| cost | cost | cost |
| dive | dived, dove | dived |
| do | did | done |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| fight | fought | fought |
| fly | flew | flown |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
| get | got | gotten, got |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| grow | grew | grown |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| hide | hid | hidden |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| lay (= place [something] on a surface) | laid | laid |
| lead | led | led |
| let | let | let |
| lie (= rest) | lay | lain |
| prove | proved | proven, proved |
| read | read | read |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| ring | rang | rung |
| rise | rose | risen |
| run | ran | run |
| see | saw | seen |
| send | sent | sent |
| set (= place [something] on a surface) | set | set |
| shake | shook | shaken |
| shoot | shot | shot |
| shrink | shrank | shrunk |
| sing | sang | sung |
| sink | sank | sunk |
| sit (= take a seat) | sat | sat |
| slay | slew | slain |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spring | sprang | sprung |
| stand | stood | stood |
| steal | stole | stolen |
| sting | stung | stung |
| strike | struck | struck, stricken |
| swear | swore | sworn |
| swim | swam | swum |
| swing | swung | swung |
| take | took | taken |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| wake | woke, waked | waked, woken |
| wear | wore | worn |
| write | wrote | written |
If you aren’t sure of the past tense or past participle for a verb, check the base form of the verb in a dictionary. If no irregular forms are given in the entry, the verb is regular.