Before we look at the form of the irregular verbs, let’s do a very quick revision of regular verbs:
Form of regular verbs
To form the past simple and past participle, we add “ed” to the base form:
Base form: work
Past form: worked
Past participle: worked
That’s easy! Now let’s look at the irregular verbs in English. We’ll start with the verb “be” because it’s a special case.
Verb “be”
The verb “be” is a special case because its form changes depending on the subject:
Base form: be
Present simple:
I am
you are
he is
she is
it is
we are
you are
they are
Past form:
I was
you were
he was
she was
it was
we were
you were
they were
Past participle: been
Form of other irregular verbs
In English, there are many irregular verbs. By definition, irregular verbs do not follow any logical rules. In this section, you will learn over 40 irregular verbs. For the correct pronunciation of each verb, watch the video at the end of this lesson, below the table.
| Base form | Past form | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| cost | cost | cost |
| cut | cut | cut |
| do | did | done |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| feel | felt | felt |
| find | found | found |
| get | got | got (British English) gotten (American English) |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| have | had | had |
| hold | held | held |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| leave | left | left |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| meet | met | met |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| sell | sold | sold |
| send | sent | sent |
| sit | sat | sat |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spend | spent | spent |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wear | wore | worn |
| win | won | won |
| write | wrote | written |
More English lessons
IELTS preparation
IELTS help and advice
English speaking practice with a native English speaker
The verb “to BE” – English irregular verbs
Present perfect verb tense in English
English video lessons on our YouTube channel.
English lesson on YouTube
In this video, you will learn the correct pronunciation of all of these irregular verbs as well as some example sentences:
