What Are Irregular Verbs? (with Examples)

Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb is one that does not form its simple past tense or its past participle by adding "-ed" or "-d" to the base form. Irregular verbs contrast with regular verbs, which form the simple past tense and past participle by adding "-ed" or "-d."

Regular Verb	Simple Past Test	Past Participle
jump	jumped	has jumped
Irregular Verb	Simple Past Test	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen

(There are spelling rules to consider when forming the simple past tense or past participle of a regular verb.)

Irregular Verbs Test

Use the buttons to form the past tense and then the participle of the irregular verb shown.

Irregular Verb

Past Tense	Past Participle

Irregular Verbs Are Very Common

It is somewhat ironic that the most regularly used verbs in English are irregular. They are:

Base Form	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
be	was/were	has been
come	came	has come
get	got	has got () gotten ()
go	went	has gone
know	knew	has known
make	made	has made
say	said	has said
see	saw	has seen
take	took	has taken
think	thought	has thought

With an irregular verb, the past form and past participle are often different (but not always). For example:

Irregular Verb	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
To begin	began	has begun
To break	broke	has broken
To buy	bought	has bought

Irregular Verbs Versus Regular Verbs

Now, compare those irregular forms with those of regular verbs, which just add "-ed" or "-d":

Regular Verb	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
To cook	cooked	has cooked
To play	played	has played
To dance	danced	has danced

The Most Common Irregular Verbs in English

Listed below are the most common irregular verbs in English:

Irregular Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
be	was/were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
bend	bent	bent
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
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
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got () gotten ()
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
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
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
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
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
spread	spread	spread
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	struck
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
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
write	wrote	written

Verbs with Irregular and Regular Forms

The following verbs can be regular or irregular:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
burn	burned OR burnt	burned OR burnt
dream	dreamed OR dreamt	dreamed OR dreamt
learn	learned OR learnt	learned OR learnt
hang	hung also hanged	hung also hanged
smell	smelled OR smelt	smelled OR smelt
spell	spelled OR spelt	spelled OR spelt

The second form (e.g. learnt, dreamt) is more common in British English.

Irregular Verbs That Don't Change

Some irregular verbs do not change their forms for the simple past tense and the past participle:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
bet	bet	bet
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit
hurt	hurt	hurt
let	let	let
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
set	set	set
shut	shut	shut
spread	spread	spread

Irregular Verbs Can Be Strong or Weak Verbs

An irregular verb can be either a weak verb (when its past forms end "�d" or "-t") or a strong verb. Here are some examples of strong and weak irregular verbs:

Base Form	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle	comment
grow	grew	has grown	irregular verb (strong)
freeze	froze	has frozen	irregular verb (strong)
tell	told	has told	irregular verb (weak)
shoot	shot	has shot	irregular verb (weak)

Infographic Explaining Strong, Weak, Regular, and Irregular Verbs

The terms "irregular verb" and "strong verb" are not synonyms (i.e., they do not mean the same). Similarly, the terms "regular verb" and "weak verb" are not synonyms.

Here is a Venn diagram that explains how verbs are classified:
weak, strong, regular, and irregular verbs

weak, strong, regular, and irregular verbs

Why Should I Care about Irregular Verbs?

Somewhat counter-intuitively, the most common verbs in English are irregular. So, if you're learning or teaching English, you must embrace them. There's no real trick to learning how to use irregular verbs. You just have to learn them. The truth is that you won't master English without studying them.

Good luck!

Key Point

Irregular verbs are a pain, but you must learn them. Flash cards are a good option.

Interactive Exercise

Here are three randomly selected questions from a larger exercise, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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