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  3. What Is a Regular Verb? | List, Examples & Definition

What Is a Regular Verb? | List, Examples & Definition

Published on June 28, 2024 by Sophie Shores, MA. Revised on October 14, 2024.

With regular verbs, we form the simple past and past participle forms by adding “-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”). Regular verbs can sometimes change their spelling in other ways (e.g., “try” becomes “tried”).

Regular verbs examples
I will clean the kitchen.
I cleaned the kitchen yesterday.

I will cook dinner.
I have cooked dinner every night this week.

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What is a regular verb?

Regular verbs follow specific conjugation rules when forming the simple past tense and the past participle forms.

We use the simple past tense to describe actions and events that were completed in the past (e.g., “I adopted a kitten last year”).

The past participle form of a verb has a few uses. For example, it’s used in perfect verb tenses (e.g., “I have adopted a kitten”), the passive voice (e.g., “the kitten was adopted”), and as an adjective to modify a noun (e.g., “the adopted kitten”).

For most regular verbs, you simply need to add “-ed” to the base verb (or just add “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”) to form both the simple past and past participle forms.

Some regular verbs can change their spelling in other ways, but they still follow predictable patterns.

Base form Simple past and past participle ending Example
Short verbs (one syllable) ending with a consonant-vowel-consonant Double the final letter and add “-ed” chop → chopped
drag → dragged
Longer verbs (more than one syllable) that end with a consonant-vowel-consonant and have a stressed final syllable Double the final letter and add “-ed” permit → permitted
admit → admitted
Ends in a consonant + y Remove the “y” and add “-ied” identify → identified
empty → emptied
Ends in “-e” Add “d” chase → chased
frame → framed
All other endings Add “-ed” delay → delayed
assist → assisted
Note
If the verb ends in “w,” “x,” or “y,” don’t double the final letter (e.g., “flow” becomes “flowed”).

If the final syllable is not stressed, don’t double the final letter (e.g., “deliver” becomes “delivered”).

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Regular vs irregular verbs

Although most verbs in English are regular, there are many irregular verbs that don’t follow the regular conjugation rules (e.g., “go” becomes “went” and “gone”).

Irregular verbs can change in a variety of ways to form the simple past and past participle forms, and some don’t change at all (e.g., “hit” and “cut”).

While regular verbs are always the same in both the simple past and past participle forms, the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs can be (but aren’t always) different.

Examples: Regular and irregular verbs
He will ask too much of me.
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.

Note
Some verbs have both a regular and an irregular form (e.g., “burn” can become “burned” or “burnt,” and “learn” can become “learned” or “learnt”). Generally, the regular form is more common in American English and the irregular form is more common in British English.

Regular verbs list

Here is a list of some common regular verbs in their base, past, and past participle forms. The simple past and past participle forms of regular verbs are always the same.

We also have a longer regular verbs list available for you to download.

Regular verbs list

Base form Simple past Past participle
agree agreed agreed
call called called
cry cried cried
dance danced danced
enjoy enjoyed enjoyed
hate hated hated
jump jumped jumped
laugh laughed laughed
listen listened listened
love loved loved
move moved moved
need needed needed
play played played
start started started
stop stopped stopped
talk talked talked
want wanted wanted

Frequently asked questions about regular verbs

What are regular verbs?

Regular verbs follow specific conjugation rules.

For most regular verbs, you simply need to add “-ed” to the base verb (or just add “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”) to form both the past and past participle forms.

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.

What’s the difference between regular and irregular verbs?

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.

What are some examples of regular verbs?

Here are some examples of common regular verbs:

  • cry – cried – cried
  • dance – danced – danced
  • jump – jumped – jumped
  • laugh – laughed – laughed
  • love – loved – loved
  • play – played – played
  • stop – stopped – stopped
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Sophie Shores, MA

Sophie has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Publishing, and a passion for great writing. She’s taught English overseas and has experience editing both business and academic writing.