All verbs in the English language have an infinitive form (the base form you find in the dictionary). To express the past tense and past participle, the ending of the infinitive form has to change. For most verbs, to create the past tense and past participles, we add "ed" or "d" to the end of the verb. But what about the verbs that do not follow this rule? These are known as irregular verbs, and there are around 200 of them in the English language!
Irregular Verbs Meaning
Irregular verbs refer to verbs that do not follow the expected conjugation pattern for the past tense and the past participle. Instead, each irregular verb is slightly different and has its own unique past tense form and past participles.
Conjugation pattern refers to how we create different forms of a verb to express different tenses and aspects. We often conjugate verbs by adding a suffix to the end of the word. For example, the regular way to create the past tense is to add "ed" or "d" to the end of a verb.
An example of an irregular verb is as follows:
Take the sentence, "I am eating lunch." In the past tense, this sentence would be "I ate lunch," and the past participle would be "I had eaten lunch."
You would not say, "I eated lunch" or "I had eated lunch" as this is grammatically incorrect.
The verb "to eat" is just one example of many different irregular verbs.
Fig. 1 - Both 'to eat' and 'to drink' are irregular verbs.
Check out the four types of irregular verbs below:
Types of Irregular Verbs
There are four types of irregular verbs, which are as follows:
1, Verbs with the same infinitive, past simple, and past participle form, e.g.,
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To let | let"I let you win." | let"I had let you win." |
2. Verbs with the same past simple and past participle form, e.g.,
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To catch | caught"He caught a fish." | caught"He had caught a fish." |
3. Verbs with the same infinitive and past participle form, e.g.,
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To become | became"She became a ballet dancer." | become"She had become a ballet dancer." |
4. Verbs with different infinitive, past simple, and past participle forms, e.g.,
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To be | was/were"I was eating / they were eating." | been"I had been eating / they had been eating." |
Irregular Verb Examples
Below are some examples of the different types of irregular verbs, including their infinitive, past simple, and past participle forms.
Let's start with the verbs that have the same infinitive form, past simple, and past participle:
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To bet | Bet | Bet |
| To bid | Bid | Bid |
| To burst | Burst | Burst |
| To cast | Cast | Cast |
| To cost | Cost | Cost |
| To cut | Cut | Cut |
| To hit | Hit | Hit |
| To hurt | Hurt | Hurt |
| To let | Let | Let |
| To put | Put | Put |
| To quit | Quit | Quit |
| To set | Set | Set |
| To shed | Shed | Shed |
| To shut | Shut | Shut |
| To split | Split | Split |
| To spread | Spread | Spread |
| To upset | Upset | Upset |
Moving on to the verbs that have the same past simple and past participle:
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To bring | Brought | Brought |
| To buy | Bought | Bought |
| To catch | Caught | Caught |
| To feel | Felt | Felt |
| To find | Found | Found |
| To get | Got | Got |
| To have | Had | Had |
| To hear | Heard | Heard |
| To keep | Kept | Kept |
| To leave | Left | Left |
| To lose | Lost | Lost |
| To make | Made | Made |
| To say | Said | Said |
| To sell | Sold | Sold |
| To send | Sent | Sent |
| To teach | Taught | Taught |
| To think | Thought | Thought |
| To win | Won | Won |
Now the verbs that have the same infinitive form and past participle:
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To become | Became | Become |
| To come | Came | Come |
| To run | Ran | Run |
Lastly, the verbs that have different infinitive, past simple, and past participle forms:
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To be | Was/were | Been |
| To begin | Began | Begun |
| To break | Broke | Broken |
| To choose | Chose | Chosen |
| To do | Did | Done |
| To drink | Drank | Drunk |
| To drive | Drove | Driven |
| To eat | Ate | Eaten |
| To fall | Fell | Fallen |
| To fly | Flew | Flown |
| To give | Gave | Given |
| To go | Went | Gone |
| To know | Knew | Known |
| To ride | Rode | Ridden |
| To see | Saw | Seen |
| To speak | Spoke | Spoken |
| To swim | Swam | Swum |
| To take | Took | Taken |
| To wake | Woke | Woken |
| To write | Wrote | Written |
Irregular Verb List English
Below is a list of some more irregular verbs. As you read through these, think about which type of irregular verb each word is.
abide
alight
arise
bend
bind
bust
dig
draw
flee
fling
input
knit
read
rise
slit
spit
thrust
tread
understand
unwind
wear
weave
wind
withdraw
withhold
withstand
wring
Irregular Verb Tenses
Although only the past tense and past participle have been mentioned above, irregular verbs can be used in any tense - just like regular verbs. For example, we know that the past (simple) tense of "to eat" is "ate," and the past participle is "eaten." But what about all the other tenses and aspects? Check them out below:
Infinitive form: to eat
Present simple: eat/eats
Present progressive: am/are eating
Present perfect: have eaten
Present perfect progressive: have/has been eating
Past simple: ate
Past progressive: was/were eating
Past perfect: had eaten
Past perfect progressive: had been eating
Future simple: will/shall eat
Future progressive: will/shall be eating
Future perfect: will/shall have eaten
Future perfect progressive: will/shall have been eating
Irregular Verb Forms
Irregular verbs do not form the past tense or past participle by adding "ed" or "d" to the end of the verb. Irregular verbs are one of the most difficult parts of English grammar because they do not rely on a set rule. This often makes it difficult for English speakers (especially non-native speakers) to learn. So how can you learn the irregular verb forms if they all differ?
There may only be one way to learn them... Memorizing. This is often done through repetition but can be achieved in various different ways, depending on how you learn best. Below are some ways you could memorize irregular verb forms:
Write out the verbs (e.g., make a list or a table)
Recite the verbs aloud
Try and use the verbs in your daily life (both written and spoken communication)
Make up a catchy song (this may seem cheesy, but it can be an effective way to remember things!)
Teach someone else
Associate the verbs with visuals
Regular and Irregular Verbs
Unlike irregular verbs, regular verbs follow a standard pattern for the past tense and past participles. To make the past tense or past participle with a regular verb, the suffix "ed" or "d" is added to the end of the verb. For example, the past tense of "dance" is "danced," and the past participle is also "danced."
Fig. 2 - Both 'to jog' and 'to sprint' are regular verbs, whereas 'to run' is irregular.
Check out some more examples of regular verbs below:
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| To argue | Argued | Argued |
| To complete | Completed | Completed |
| To help | Helped | Helped |
| To kick | Kicked | Kicked |
| To smile | Smiled | Smiled |
| To want | Wanted | Wanted |
As you can see, each regular verb ends in "ed" when expressing the past tense and past participle.
Irregular Verbs - Key takeaways
- Irregular verbs refer to verbs that do not follow the expected conjugation pattern for the past tense and the past participle.
- Each irregular verb is slightly different and has its own unique past tense form and past participles.
- There are four types of irregular verbs:
- Same infinitive, past simple, and past participle forms
- Same past simple and past participle forms
- Same infinitive and past participle forms
- Different infinitive, past simple, and past participle.
- There are around 200 irregular verbs in the English language.
- Unlike irregular verbs, regular verbs follow a standard pattern for the past simple and past participle (i.e., add "ed" or "d" to the end of the verb).
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