Regular and irregular verbs
Learn how regular verbs add -ed, how irregular verbs change, and study full tables of base, past simple and past participle forms.
In this lesson
Regular verbs form the past simple and the past participle by adding -d or -ed to the base form, as in play, played, played. Irregular verbs do not follow this rule. They change in different ways, as in go, went, gone. Because there is no single rule for irregular verbs, you need to learn their forms by heart.
Key point
Regular verb: base form + -ed (work, worked, worked). Irregular verb: a special form that you must learn (write, wrote, written).
What are the three main forms of a verb?
In English, every verb is either regular or irregular. Each verb has three main forms that learners need to know:
- Base form: the dictionary form, such as cook or drive.
- Past simple: used for finished actions in the past: I cooked dinner yesterday. See our lesson on the simple past tense.
- Past participle: used after have in perfect tenses (She has driven to work) and after be in the passive (The letter was written in English). See our lessons on the present perfect tense and the passive voice.
For regular verbs, the past simple and the past participle are always the same. For irregular verbs, they are sometimes the same and sometimes different.
How do you form regular verbs?
Most regular verbs follow the same pattern: they add -d or -ed to the end of the base form. The spelling changes a little depending on the last letters of the verb.
Add -d when the verb ends in -e
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| dance | danced | danced |
| scare | scared | scared |
| share | shared | shared |
Add -ed to most other verbs
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| cook | cooked | cooked |
| play | played | played |
| want | wanted | wanted |
Verbs ending in a vowel + y: add -ed
If the verb ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) before y, just add -ed.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| delay | delayed | delayed |
| play | played | played |
Verbs ending in a consonant + y: change y to -ied
Some regular verbs end in y with a consonant before it. For these verbs, remove the y and add -ied.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| dry | dried | dried |
| cry | cried | cried |
| try | tried | tried |
Common mistake
She tryed to call me. → She tried to call me.
After a consonant, the y changes to i before -ed.
Double the last consonant in some short verbs
When a short verb ends in one vowel and one consonant, we usually double the consonant before -ed: stop, stopped; grab, grabbed; hug, hugged; trap, trapped; wrap, wrapped. This also happens in longer verbs when the stress is on the last part: admit, admitted; occur, occurred.
Note
In British English, a final l is doubled: travel, travelled. In American English it is usually not: traveled.
Tip
The -ed ending has three sounds. It sounds like /t/ after sounds such as k, p, s, sh and ch (cooked, washed), like /d/ after most other sounds (played, called), and like /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted, added).
How do irregular verbs work?
Irregular verbs form their past simple and past participle in different ways. They do not simply add -ed.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| drive | drove | driven |
| go | went | gone |
| write | wrote | written |
Common patterns in irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have no single rule, but many of them fall into groups. Learning them in groups is easier than learning them one by one.
| Pattern | What happens | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| All three forms are the same | No change | put, put, put; hit, hit, hit; shut, shut, shut |
| Past simple and past participle are the same | One new form | bring, brought, brought; keep, kept, kept; sit, sat, sat |
| All three forms are different | Two new forms | eat, ate, eaten; speak, spoke, spoken; swim, swam, swum |
| Base form and past participle are the same | Only the past simple changes | come, came, come; run, ran, run |
Common mistake
I goed to the market. → I went to the market.
She has wrote a letter. → She has written a letter.
Irregular verbs never take -ed, and after has or have you need the past participle, not the past simple.
Note
Some verbs have two correct forms. British English often uses learnt, dreamt and smelt, while American English usually prefers learned, dreamed and smelled. The past participle of get is got in British English and usually gotten in American English.
List of regular verbs
Study this chart to learn more regular verbs. Notice the spelling rules from above: empty, emptied; stop, stopped; bake, baked.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| act | acted | acted |
| accept | accepted | accepted |
| add | added | added |
| admire | admired | admired |
| admit | admitted | admitted |
| advise | advised | advised |
| agree | agreed | agreed |
| announce | announced | announced |
| answer | answered | answered |
| attend | attended | attended |
| avoid | avoided | avoided |
| bake | baked | baked |
| blind | blinded | blinded |
| calculate | calculated | calculated |
| call | called | called |
| cause | caused | caused |
| challenge | challenged | challenged |
| change | changed | changed |
| collect | collected | collected |
| cure | cured | cured |
| damage | damaged | damaged |
| delay | delayed | delayed |
| develop | developed | developed |
| discover | discovered | discovered |
| dry | dried | dried |
| earn | earned | earned |
| empty | emptied | emptied |
| end | ended | ended |
| enjoy | enjoyed | enjoyed |
| escape | escaped | escaped |
| examine | examined | examined |
| exist | existed | existed |
| explain | explained | explained |
| face | faced | faced |
| file | filed | filed |
| flood | flooded | flooded |
| force | forced | forced |
| fry | fried | fried |
| gather | gathered | gathered |
| grab | grabbed | grabbed |
| guide | guided | guided |
| hand | handed | handed |
| happen | happened | happened |
| hug | hugged | hugged |
| hunt | hunted | hunted |
| identify | identified | identified |
| impress | impressed | impressed |
| include | included | included |
| intend | intended | intended |
| invite | invited | invited |
| join | joined | joined |
| joke | joked | joked |
| kill | killed | killed |
| kiss | kissed | kissed |
| laugh | laughed | laughed |
| lie (say something untrue) | lied | lied |
| like | liked | liked |
| love | loved | loved |
| manage | managed | managed |
| melt | melted | melted |
| mix | mixed | mixed |
| mourn | mourned | mourned |
| move | moved | moved |
| name | named | named |
| note | noted | noted |
| notice | noticed | noticed |
| number | numbered | numbered |
| occur | occurred | occurred |
| offer | offered | offered |
| order | ordered | ordered |
| paint | painted | painted |
| phone | phoned | phoned |
| play | played | played |
| pretend | pretended | pretended |
| protect | protected | protected |
| pull | pulled | pulled |
| push | pushed | pushed |
| reach | reached | reached |
| realise | realised | realised |
| record | recorded | recorded |
| reject | rejected | rejected |
| refuse | refused | refused |
| relax | relaxed | relaxed |
| remain | remained | remained |
| remind | reminded | reminded |
| remove | removed | removed |
| scare | scared | scared |
| spoil | spoiled or spoilt | spoiled or spoilt |
| stop | stopped | stopped |
| suffer | suffered | suffered |
| suggest | suggested | suggested |
| suspect | suspected | suspected |
| talk | talked | talked |
| trap | trapped | trapped |
| trust | trusted | trusted |
| try | tried | tried |
| want | wanted | wanted |
| wash | washed | washed |
| waste | wasted | wasted |
| wonder | wondered | wondered |
| wrap | wrapped | wrapped |
| yawn | yawned | yawned |
| zoom | zoomed | zoomed |
List of irregular verbs
Here are common irregular verbs that learners meet at A2 level and above. Say each line aloud, for example “drink, drank, drunk”, to help you remember it.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| arise | arose | arisen |
| awake | awoke | awoken |
| bite | bit | bitten |
| bleed | bled | bled |
| blow | blew | blown |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| creep | crept | crept |
| dig | dug | dug |
| do | did | done |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| dream | dreamt or dreamed | dreamt or dreamed |
| 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 (US English: gotten) |
| grow | grew | grown |
| hang | hung | hung |
| have | had | had |
| hide | hid | hidden |
| hit | hit | hit |
| hold | held | held |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| keep | kept | kept |
| kneel | knelt | knelt |
| know | knew | known |
| lay | laid | laid |
| lead | led | led |
| learn | learnt or learned | learnt or learned |
| leave | left | left |
| lie (rest flat) | lay | lain |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| mean | meant | meant |
| meet | met | met |
| overtake | overtook | overtaken |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| 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 |
| shake | shook | shaken |
| shine | shone | shone |
| shoot | shot | shot |
| show | showed | shown |
| shrink | shrank | shrunk |
| shut | shut | shut |
| sing | sang | sung |
| sink | sank | sunk |
| sit | sat | sat |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| smell | smelt or smelled | smelt or smelled |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spend | spent | spent |
| spread | spread | spread |
| stand | stood | stood |
| steal | stole | stolen |
| strike | struck | struck |
| swear | swore | sworn |
| sweep | swept | swept |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wake | woke | woken |
| wear | wore | worn |
| weep | wept | wept |
| win | won | won |
| write | wrote | written |
Tip
Read looks the same in all three forms, but the sound changes. The base form sounds like “reed”, and the past simple and past participle sound like “red”.
Note
Lie has two meanings. When it means “say something that is not true”, it is regular: lie, lied, lied. When it means “be in a flat position”, it is irregular: lie, lay, lain. Do not confuse it with lay (“put something down”): lay, laid, laid.
For a longer list, see the Cambridge Dictionary table of irregular verbs. You can then use these forms with confidence in lessons such as the past perfect tense.
Summary
- Every verb has a base form, a past simple and a past participle.
- Regular verbs add -d or -ed: dance, danced; cook, cooked.
- A consonant + y changes to -ied: cry, cried.
- Irregular verbs change in different ways and must be learnt: go, went, gone.
- Use the past participle after have and in the passive.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between regular and irregular verbs?
Regular verbs form the past simple and past participle by adding -d or -ed, as in walk, walked, walked. Irregular verbs use special forms, as in see, saw, seen.
How many irregular verbs are there in English?
There are a few hundred irregular verbs, but you only need about a hundred for everyday English. The list on this page covers the most common ones.
Is it “learnt” or “learned”?
Both are correct. Learnt is common in British English, and learned is used in both British and American English.
Why is it “cried” but “played”?
Cry has a consonant before the y, so the y changes to -ied. Play has a vowel before the y, so you just add -ed.
What is the best way to learn irregular verbs?
Learn them in small groups with the same pattern, such as sing, sang, sung and drink, drank, drunk. Then practise them in short sentences of your own.
