English irregular verbs > Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs do not follow the standard patterns of conjugation. Many of the most important verbs in English are irregular in the simple past and past participle forms.
For example: ‘learn – learnt’. (We still add ‘ing’ when we use the gerund, and add ‘to’ when turning it into).
English irregular verbs must be learned by heart.
Split verbs to the groups
Here are some of the most common patterns.
All three forms of the verb are the same
For example:
Verb | Past | Past Participle | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cut | Cut | Cut | |||
Cost | Cost | Cost | |||
Hurt | Hurt | Hurt |
The 2nd and 3rd forms of the verb are the same
For example:
Verb | Past | Past Participle | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Keep | Kept | Kept | |||
Leave | Left | Left | |||
Sell | Sold | Sold |
All three forms of the verb are different
For example:
Verb | Past | Past Participle | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drive | Drove | Driven | |||
Speak | Spoke | Spoken | |||
Break | Broke | Broken |
To find the correct form, you can use an online database of the irregular verbs.
For example: irregular verb READ