Irregular Verbs

Chapter Opener

56

lie or lay?

Irregular Verbs

Verbs are considered regular if the past and past participle — which you use to construct various tenses — are formed by simply adding -d or -ed to the base of the verb. Below are several regular verbs.

Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
smile smiled smiled
accept accepted accepted
manage managed managed

Unfortunately, the most common verbs in English are irregular. The following chart lists some of them. When in doubt about the proper form of a verb, check a dictionary.

Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
be was, were been
become became become
break broke broken
buy bought bought
choose chose chosen
come came come
dive dived, dove dived
do did done
drink drank drunk
drive drove driven
eat ate eaten
get got gotten
give gave given
go went gone
have had had
lay (to put or place) laid laid
lie (to recline) lay lain
ride rode ridden
ring rang, rung rung
rise rose risen
see saw seen
set set set
shine shone, shined shone, shined
sing sang, sung sung
sink sank, sunk sunk
speak spoke spoken
swear swore sworn
throw threw thrown
wake woke, waked woken, waked
write wrote written