Past Tense of Draw | Definition, Explanation & Examples
The simple past tense form of draw is drew, and the past participle is drawn.
Draw is an irregular verb with a number of different meanings. One of the most common meanings is “make a picture of” (e.g., “Elise drew the west facade of Notre Dame from memory”).
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Make a picture of | The portraits Eric drew were breathtaking. |
| Move or pull | Brent drew his chair closer to the fire because he was cold. |
| Open or close | Sylvia drew the drapes to let the sun in. |
| Deploy a weapon | The masked attacker drew a fearsome-looking knife. |
| Breathe | Sonia paused, drew a deep breath, and started her routine. |
| Cause to bleed | The knife wasn’t sharp, but it still drew blood. |
Past tense of draw
The simple past tense form of draw is drew. As an irregular verb, draw doesn’t add “-ed” to form the past tenses. You will sometimes encounter “drawed,” but this is not recognized as standard English.
My nephew was bored at the restaurant, so I drew some cartoons for him to color in.
Keira went with her mom when she drew the money out of the bank.
Past participle of draw
The past participle of draw is drawn. It is used to form the perfect tenses (e.g., “Helpers will be drawn from the pool of volunteers”) and the passive voice (e.g., “The crowd had been drawn by the clever social media campaign before the event”).
Cindy was so pleased that she had drawn her friends’ attention to the TV series because they all loved it.
The numbers were drawn at random from a hat.
Drawed
You might encounter the word “drawed” used informally or as part of a dialect. It’s not recognized by dictionaries as being correct in standard English, so it should be avoided.
The correct simple past tense of draw is drew, and the past participle is drawn.
- Kat drawed the next two cards hoping for a good hand.
- Kat drew the next two cards hoping for a good hand.
- Graeme had drawed this scene many times, but he never grew tired of it.
- Graeme had drawn this scene many times, but he never grew tired of it.
Frequently asked questions about the past tense of draw
- Is drawed a word?
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You might encounter drawed, especially in spoken English dialects, but it isn’t recognized by most dictionaries as standard English.
The simple past tense form of the irregular verb draw is drew (e.g., “James sighed in dismay as he drew the two and seven of spades”), and the past participle is drawn (e.g., “The officer couldn’t see in the windows, as someone had drawn the blinds”).
You can ensure you’re using the correct past tense of draw with the QuillBot Grammar Checker.
- Is it drew or drawed?
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The simple past tense form of the verb draw is drew, not “drawed.” The past participle is drawn. This is because it is an irregular verb and doesn’t follow the normal pattern of regular verbs.
You can easily check whether you’re using the correct past tense of draw with the QuillBot Grammar Checker.
