What Is an Irregular Verb? | List, Examples & Definition
With regular verbs, we form the simple past and past participle by adding “-ed” (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”).
Irregular verbs do not follow the regular rule of adding “-ed” or “-d” to form the simple past or the past participle forms.
My cat has caught a mouse.
We sang happy birthday, and then he blew out the candles and cut the cake.
What is an irregular verb?
Most English verbs are regular verbs, which we change to the simple past and past participle forms by adding “-ed” (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”). They sometimes change spelling in other ways, such as “try” becoming “tried.”
Although most verbs are regular, there are hundreds of irregular verbs that do not follow the regular rule of adding “-ed” or “-d” to form the simple past or the past participle forms. They can change in a variety of ways or not change at all.
My brother swam with me yesterday.
My brother has swum with me every day this week.
I will choose a movie.
I chose a movie.
I have chosen a movie.
I will cut the cake.
I cut the cake an hour ago.
I have cut the cake already.
The past participle form of a verb has a few uses:
- It’s used with a form of “have” in perfect verb tenses (e.g., “I have eaten already”).
- It’s used for the passive voice (e.g., “the cake was eaten within minutes”).
- It can be used as an adjective to modify a noun (e.g., “he threw away the half-eaten sandwich”).
Regular vs irregular verbs
Regular verbs are always the same in both the simple past and past participle forms, while the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs can be (but aren’t always) different.
He asked too much of me.
He has asked too much of me.
I will do as you ask.
I did as you asked.
I have done as you asked.
I will send the message.
I sent the message.
I have sent the message.
Some verbs have both a regular and an irregular form (e.g., “burn” can become “burned” or “burnt”). Generally, the regular form is more common in American English and the irregular form is more common in British English. Some other examples include “spelled” or “spelt,” “dreamed” or “dreamt,” and “learned” or “learnt.”
Irregular verbs list
Irregular verbs can change in similar ways (e.g., “keep” becomes “kept,” and “sleep” becomes “slept”), but there are no easy patterns or formulas that will help you learn every conjugation. The only way to learn them is through repetition, practice, and familiarity.
Below is a list of some common irregular verbs in their base, past, and past participle forms. We also have a more comprehensive irregular verbs list available for you to download.
| Base form | Simple past | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| be (is, am, are) | was/were | been |
| begin | began | begun |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| come | came | come |
| do | did | done |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| feel | felt | felt |
| fly | flew | flown |
| get | got | got |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| grow | grew | grown |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| make | made | made |
| pay | paid | paid |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| sing | sang | sung |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| stand | stood | stood |
| take | took | taken |
| write | wrote | written |
Irregular verbs exercises
Test your understanding of irregular verbs with these exercise questions.
Frequently asked questions about irregular verbs
- What are some irregular past tense verbs?
-
Irregular verbs don’t follow the regular rules for forming the simple past tense and the past participle form. While regular verbs need the addition of “-ed” (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”), irregular verbs can change in a variety of ways or not change at all.
Here are some examples of irregular verbs in the simple past and past participle forms:
Base form Simple past Past participle be (is, am, are) was/were been do did done eat ate eaten go went gone sing sang sung - What’s the difference between regular and irregular verbs?
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We change regular verbs to the simple past and past participle forms by adding “-ed” (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”). For example, “talk” becomes “talked” and “dance” becomes “danced.”
Some regular verbs change their spelling in other ways, such as doubling the final letter or replacing “-y” with “-ied,” but they still follow predictable patterns. Regular verbs are always the same in their past and past participle forms.
Irregular verbs don’t follow the regular rule of adding “-ed” or “-d” to form the simple past and the past participle forms. They can change in a variety of ways or not change at all, and their simple past and past participle forms can be (but aren’t always) different.
For example, “go” becomes “went” in the simple past but is “gone” as a past participle, while “hit” is the same in all three forms.
