Irregular Verbs in English and Their Usage
Every sentence in English must have a verb for it to become complete. Mostly the irregularity of the verb is about its past tense or its past participle. You can also understand how to put verbs into their participles and past participles by classifying them into regular or irregular from.
When studying regular verbs in English is quite easy this is because you simply add -ed for both the past tense and the past participle. On the other hand, irregular verbs require to be studied and maybe memorised individually. There are several irregular verbs in English but there are commonly used irregular verbs. They include:
| infinitive | Simple past tense | Past participle |
| have | had | had |
| be | Was/were | been |
| Go | went | gone |
| hear | heard | heard |
| Hide | hid | hid |
| hit | hit | hit |
These are just but examples of the commonly used irregular verbs in English.
What is an irregular verb?
For us to understand what an irregular verb is we first have to know the definition of irregular. Irregular means contrary or which does not follow the rules or the usual form. An irregular verb is a verb whose past tense does not follow the usual form of conjugation. Given an irregular verb ‘be’ it shows different forms such as he is, I am, you are which are different from the regular verbs such as laugh which carry the form I laugh, you laugh, he laughs.
There are several examples of irregular verbs. For example, sing, go. Their irregular past tense verbs take the form sang and went which are completely different from the regular verbs, which have an -ed or -d ending. For example, cooked, worked etc. there are verb tenses that have irregular forms. Forms of irregular verbs occur in simple present and simple past and also past participles.
List of irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have different forms. we shall take look at the different forms of irregular verbs with their different forms of tenses.
Examples of verbs in English, their past tense and past participles.
Irregular verbs
| Infinitive form | Past tense | Past participle |
| awake | Awoke/awaked | Awoken/awaked |
| alight | Alighted/alit | Alighted/alit |
| arise | arose | arisen |
| build | built | built |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| begin | began | begun |
| beat | beat | Beaten/beat |
| become | became | become |
| be | Was/were | been |
| bend | bent | bent |
| bite | bit | bitten |
| bleed | bled | bled |
| burn | Burnt/burned | Burnt/burned |
| burst | burst | burst |
| Creep | crept | crept |
| cost | cost | cost |
| crow | crowed | Crew/crowed |
| come | came | come |
| can | could | |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| catch | caught | caught |
| cast | cast | cast |
| cut | cut | cut |
| dwell | Dwelt/dwelled | Dwelt/dwelled |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| do | did | done |
| drive | drove | driven |
| deal | dealt | dealt |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| dug | dug | dug |
| dream | Dreamt/dreamed | Dreamt/dreamed |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| find | found | found |
| feel | felt | felt |
| fly | flew | flown |
| fight | fought | fought |
| flee | fled | fled |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| fling | flung | flung |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
| grow | grew | grown |
| go | went | gone |
| grind | ground | ground |
| gnaw | gnawed | Gnawed/gnawn |
| grip | Gripped/gript | Gripped/gript |
| geld | Gelt/gelded | Gelt/gelded |
| get | got | Got/gotten |
| give | gave | given |
| hear | heard | heard |
| have | had | had |
| hang | hung | hung |
| hide | hid | hidden |
| hit | hit | hit |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| hold | held | held |
| know | knew | known |
| knit | Knitted/knit | Knitted/knit |
| keep | kept | kept |
| kneel | Knelt/kneeled | Knelt/kneeled |
| lead | led | led |
| lay | laid | laid |
| lean | Leant/leaned | Leant/leaned |
| leap | Leapt/leaped | Leapt/leaped |
| learn | Learnt/learned | Learnt/learned |
| leave | left | left |
| let | let | let |
| lie | lay | lain |
| may | might | |
| make | made | made |
| melt | melted | Molten/melted |
| mean | meant | meant |
| meet | met | met |
| pen | Pent/penned | Pent/penned |
| put | put | put |
| prove | proved | Proven/proved |
| plead | Pled/pleaded | Pled/pleaded |
| pay | paid | paid |
| quit | Quit/quitted | Quit/quitted |
| rid | Rid/ridded | Rid/ridded |
| read | read | read |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| ring | rang | rung |
| rise | rose | risen |
| run | ran | run |
| sell | sold | sold |
| send | sent | sent |
| shoot | shot | shot |
| shrink | Shrank/shrunk | shrunk |
| sing | sang | sung |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| smell | Smelt/smelled | Smelt/smelled |
| spend | spent | spent |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| thrust | thrust | thrust |
| teach | taught | taught |
| think | thought | thought |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wake | Woke/waked | Woken/waked |
| weep | wept | wept |
| wet | Wet/wetted | Wet/wetted |
| win | won | won |
| wind | wound | wound |
| write | wrote | written |
There are verbs which do not change their form with tense this include:
- Bet
- Bust
- Burst
- Bid
- Cast
- Cut
- Hit
- Hurt
- Let
- Put
- Quit
- Read
- Shed
- Set
- Slit
- Spilt
- Spread
- Thrust
- Upset
Some irregular verbs may not change form or may add an -ed
- Fit- fit/ fitted
- Wed-wed/wedded
- Wet- wet/wetted
- Sweat-sweat/sweated
- Rid-rid/ridded
- Input-input/inputted
Examples in sentences
It is good to understand how different irregular verbs are used in a sentence. You can easily understand this by looking at different examples in sentences. Learning through examples is the best way of learning because it sticks into your mind.
Just like other verbs in English, irregular verbs can be used in forming sentences. Both the regular and irregular verb can be used in one sentence. Continuous study of irregular verbs, and looking at examples in sentences in all tenses will help learns understand irregular verb form. We shall look at the different form of tenses. Example in sentences include:
Be/ been/was/were
Its has been long since i last saw Brian.
Mary was in London for ten years.
They were held in custody for two days.
We shall be at the auditions next month.
Become / became / become
Paul has become an incredible footballer.
What became of her after she left town?
I will become the best teacher in the years to come.
Begin/ began /begun
Begin with the maths assignment first then you will finish with science.
She began taking drugs when she was twenty.
Teaching haven’t begun yet.
Buy / bought/ bought
My dad bought a new car last month.
We usually buy tomatoes at the local market.
they’ve bought more clothes this year than last year.
Catch / caught / caught
Catch the ball now!
They caught the rat with a rat trap.
They thief was caught stealing on camera.
Cut/ cut / cut
How many trees have you cut yet?
I cut the meat yesterday.
Mary never cuts her nails.
Drink / drank /drunk
They will drink juice when they get to town.
Mary drank all the milk in the kitchen.
Have you drunk the water?
Drive / drove / driven
You should drive carefully next time.
They drove for hours before getting to the next city.
Have you ever driven a lorry?
Eat/ ate /eaten
You should eat your food before it gets cold.
She ate the sandwich which you left at the table.
Have the kids eaten their food?
Find /found / found
We shall find you a new ball.
The found the stolen car by the road.
They found her lying at the abandoned boat.
Give / gave / given
Give him the book now.
They were given an assignment.
She gave tom the book to read.
Have / had/ had
I had a lot to eat for dinner.
I’ve had enough of her.
I have a new phone.
Keep/ kept / kept
I will keep the house.
The baby kept crying for hours.
Have you kept your money in a safe deposit box?
Leave / left / left
Leave me alone or else i will call the police.
She left the office disappointed.
She’s left alone now.
Make / made / made
I will make something special for him.
They made her dance the whole night.
They have made a whole new discovery.
Pay / paid / paid
You should have paid them to avoid the drama.
Pay the cashier we leave this place.
They had paid the hotel last week.
Quit / quit / quit
They quit at the last minute.
You should have quit that habit a long time ago.
They had quit earlier than expected.
Read / read / read
Read for the exams early.
They read the novel yesterday.
You should have read the note by now.
Send / sent / sent
Send me the document via e-mail.
They sent the students home to get their parents.
He should have sent the document by now.
Teach / taught / taught
Teach your children how they should grow and they will not depart form it.
She taught me when i was in junior high.
They were taught how to read and write.
Weep / wept/ wept
She wept the entire evening.
Jesus wept at the cross.
I will weep if you go away.
It is good to understand irregular verbs in English because it helps you to improve your proficiency. Regular verbs are commonly used in construction of sentences. A sentence cannot make sense without a verb. You are going to have a good command in English once you master all the irregular verbs and regular verbs.
Having gone through the above examples am certain that you now understand what is irregular verbs and how they are used in sentences.
