25 Irregular Verbs
Introductory Project
You may already have a sense of which common English verbs are regular and which are not. To test yourself, fill in the past tense and past participle of the verbs below. Five are regular verbs and so take -d or -ed in the past tense and past participle. (The item at the top is an example.) Five are irregular verbs and will probably not sound right when you try to add -d or -ed. Write I for irregular in front of these verbs. Also, see if you can write in their irregular verb forms.
Present Past Past Participle
shout ______________ ______________
1. crawl ______________ ______________
2. bring ______________ ______________
3. use ______________ ______________
4. do ______________ ______________
5. give ______________ ______________
6. laugh ______________ ______________
7. go ______________ ______________
8. scare ______________ ______________
9. dress ______________ ______________
10. see ______________ ______________
Answers are on page 728.
A Brief Review of Regular Verbs
Every verb has four principal parts: present, past, past participle, and present participle. These parts can be used to build all the verb tenses (the times shown by a verb).
The past and past participle of a regular verb are formed by adding -d or -ed to the present. The past participle is the form of the verb used with the helping verbs have, has, or had (or some form of be with passive verbs). The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the present. Here are the principal forms of some regular verbs:
Present Past Past Participle Present Participle
crash crashed crashed crashing
shiver shivered shivered shivering
kiss kissed kissed kissing
apologize apologized apologized apologizing
tease teased teased teasing
Most verbs in English are regular.
List of Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs have irregular forms in the past tense and past participle. For example, the past tense of the irregular verb know is knew; the past participle is known.
Almost everyone has some degree of trouble with irregular verbs. When you are unsure about the form of a verb, you can check the following list of irregular verbs. (The present participle is not shown on this list, because it is formed simply by adding -ing to the base form of the verb.) Or you can check a dictionary, which gives the principal parts of irregular verbs.
Present Past Past Participle
arise arose arisen
awake awoke or awaked awoken or awaked
be (am, are, is) was (were) been
become became become
begin began begun
bend bent bent
bite bit bitten
blow blew blown
break broke broken
bring brought brought
build built built
burst burst burst
buy bought bought
catch caught caught
choose chose chosen
come came come
cost cost cost
cut cut cut
do (does) did done
draw drew drawn
drink drank drunk
drive drove driven
eat ate eaten
fall fell fallen
feed fed fed
feel felt felt
fight fought fought
find found found
fly flew flown
freeze froze frozen
get got got or gotten
give gave given
go (goes) went gone
grow grew grown
Present Past Past Participle
have (has) had had
hear heard heard
hide hid hidden
hold held held
hurt hurt hurt
keep kept kept
know knew known
lay laid laid
lead led led
leave left left
lend lent lent
let let let
lie lay lain
lose lost lost
make made made
meet met met
pay paid paid
ride rode ridden
ring rang rung
run ran run
say said said
see saw seen
sell sold sold
send sent sent
shake shook shaken
shrink shrank shrunk
shut shut shut
sing sang sung
sit sat sat
sleep slept slept
speak spoke spoken
spend spent spent
stand stood stood
steal stole stolen
Present Past Past Participle
stick stuck stuck
sting stung stung
swear swore sworn
swim swam swum
take took taken
teach taught taught
tear tore torn
tell told told
think thought thought
wake woke or waked woken or waked
wear wore worn
win won won
write wrote written
Activity 1
Cross out the incorrect verb form in each of the following sentences. Then write the correct form of the verb in the space provided.
Example ________ The little boy drawed on the marble table with permanent ink.
__________ 1. Tomatoes were once thought to be poisonous, and they were growed only as ornamental shrubs.
__________ 2. On the last day of swim class, every student swimmed the whole length of the pool.
__________ 3. My cats have tore little holes in all my good wool sweaters.
__________ 4. The pipes in the bathroom freezed last winter, and they burst when they thawed.
__________ 5 Every time my telephone has rang today, there has been bad news on the line.
__________ 6. Only seven people have ever knowed the formula for Coca-Cola.
__________ 7. Amy blowed up animal-shaped balloons for her son's birthday party.
__________ 8. I shaked the bottle of medicine before I took a teaspoonful of it.
__________ 9. While waiting for the doctor to arrive, I sitted in a plastic chair for over two hours.
__________ 10. The pile of bones on the plate showed how much chicken the family had ate.
Activity 2
For each of the italicized verbs, fill in the three missing forms in the following order:
a Present tense, which takes an -s ending when the subject is he, she, it, or any one person or thing (see pages 401-402)
b Past tense
c Past participle—the form that goes with the helping verb have, has, or had
Example My uncle likes to give away certain things. He (a) __________ old,
threadbare clothes to the Salvation Army. Last year he (b) __________
me a worthless television set whose picture tube was burned out. He
has (c) __________ away stuff that a junk dealer would reject.
1. I like to freeze Hershey bars. A Hershey bar (a) ___________________ in half
an hour. Once I (b) ___________________ a bottle of Pepsi. I put it in the
freezer to chill and then forgot about it. Later I opened the freezer and
discovered that it had (c) ___________________ and exploded.
2. Natalie speaks French. She (a) ___________________ German too. Her grand-
mother (b) ___________________ both languages and taught them to her. Since
she was a baby, Natalie has (c) ___________________ them both as well as she speaks English.
3. An acquaintance of mine is a shoplifter, although he knows it's wrong to steal.
He (a) ___________________ candy bars from supermarkets. Last month he
(b) ___________________ a Sony Walkman and was caught by a detective. He
has (c)___________________ pants and shirts by wearing several layers of clothes out of a store.
4. I go to parties a lot. Often Camille (a) ___________________ with me.
She (b) _______________ with me just last week. I have (c) _______________ to parties every Friday for the past month.
5. My brother likes to throw things. Sometimes he (a) ___________________
socks into his bureau drawer. In high school he (b) ___________________
footballs while quarterbacking the team. And he has (c) ___________________ Frisbees in our backyard for as long as I can remember.
6. I would like to see a UFO. I spend hours looking at the night sky, hoping
to (a) ______________ one. A neighbor of ours claims he (b) _______________
one last month. But he says he has (c) ______________ the Abominable Snowman, too.
7. I often lie down for a few minutes after a hard day's work. Sometimes my cat
(a) ___________________ down near me. Yesterday was Saturday, so I (b)
___________________ in bed all morning. I probably would have (c)
___________________ in bed all afternoon, but I wanted to get some planting done in my vegetable garden.
8 I do not understand the assignment. It simply (a) __________________ not make sense to me. I was surprised to learn that Shirley (b) _________________ understand it. In fact, she had already (c) __________________ the assignment.
9. I often find it hard to begin writing a paper. The assignment that I must do
(a) ___________________ to worry me while I'm watching television, but I seldom turn off the set. Once I waited until the late movie had ended before
I (b) ___________________ to write. If I had (c) ___________________ earlier, I would have gotten a decent night's sleep.
10. Martha likes to eat. She (a)___________________ as continuously as some
people smoke. Once she (b) ___________________ a large pack of cookies in
half an hour. Even if she has (c) ___________________ a heavy meal, she often starts munching snacks right afterward.
Review Test 1
Underline the correct verb in the parentheses.
1. As I began my speech, my hands (shaked, shook) so badly I nearly dropped my notes.
2. Chico came into the gym and (began, begun) to practice on the parallel bars.
3. Over half the class has (taken, took) this course on a pass-fail basis.
4. Even though my father (teached, taught) me how to play baseball, I never enjoyed any part of the game.
5. Because I had (lended, lent) him money, I had a natural concern about what he did with it.
6. The drugstore clerk (gave, gived) him the wrong change.
7. Lola (brang, brought) a sweatshirt with her, for she knew the mountains got cold at night.
8. My sister (was, be) at school when a stranger came asking for her at our home.
9. The mechanic (did, done) an expensive valve job on my engine without getting my permission.
10. The basketball team has (broke, broken) the school record for most losses in one year.
11. Someone (leaved, left) his or her books in the classroom.
12. That jacket was (tore, torn) during the football game.
13. If I hadn't (threw, thrown) away the receipt, I could have gotten my money back.
14. I would have (become, became) very angry if you had not intervened.
15. As the flowerpot (fell, falled) from the windowsill, the little boy yelled, “Bombs away!”
Review Test 2
Write short sentences that use the form requested for the following irregular verbs.
Example Past of grow
1. Past of know
2. Past participle of take
3. Past of give
4. Past participle of write
5. Past of bring
6. Past participle of speak
7. Past of begin
8. Past of go
9. Past participle of see
10. Past of drive