Verb Tenses - Past Tense

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HOW TO FORM IT: Verbs can be regular or irregular. For regular verbs, take the base of the verb (walk, jump, etc) and add -ed or -d. For irregular verbs, there is no single rule to follow. Unfortunately, that means you'll have to memorize the correct past tense and part particle for these irregular verbs.

Some irregular verbs are the same for present, past and the past participle (example: cost - cost - cost). Others require a vowel change (grind - ground - ground). Others involve a consonant and a vowel change (creep - crept - crept). Note that sometimes the past tense and past participle will be the same (example: bring - brought - brought) and sometimes it will be different (drive - drove - driven). When studying irregular verbs, be sure to memorize the past tense and the past participle.

Use the irregular verb chart below to help you study the most common irregular verbs. You can also check out the irregular verbs Language Wheels offered by Language Success Press. These are paper wheels that you spin to practice various forms of the irregular verbs.

THE BIG PICTURE: Use the past tense for:

1. An action or a series of actions started and finished in the past. Example: Susan did her homework and then went to her friend Nancy's house.
2. A duration that started and finished in the past. Example: Kim attended Harvard for three years.

Irregular Verbs - Handy Chart

Most Common Irregular Verbs

Present Tense	Past Tense	Past Participle
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
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
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
do	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
flee	fled	fled
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
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
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
meet	met	met
mistake	mistook	mistaken
oversleep	overslept	overslept
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
split	split	split
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	stricken
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
write	wrote	written