Irregular Verbs in English

Irregular verbs are verbs whose past forms do not follow the regular “-ed” ending pattern. Instead, they change in unpredictable ways. Learning irregular verbs is essential for mastering English grammar, especially for speaking and writing in the past tense and perfect tenses.

What Are Irregular Verbs?

Definition:
Irregular verbs do not form their past tense and past participle by simply adding “-ed” to the base form. Their forms must be memorized because they do not follow standard rules.

English has roughly 200 irregular verbs, but only about 70-80 appear frequently in everyday speech and writing. The most common verbs in English — be, have, do, say, go, take, come, see, get, make — are all irregular.

Patterns of Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs divide into five clear patterns based on how their three forms (base, past simple, past participle) relate:

Pattern AAA — All Three Forms Identical

These are the easiest to learn because you only need one form for all tenses. You cannot add “ing” to the verb itself.

Usage Note: With AAA verbs, the context determines the tense. “I cut my finger yesterday” (past) vs “I cut my finger often” (present).

Pattern AAB — Past Different, Participle Same as Base

Only a few verbs follow this pattern. The past participle uses the base form, but the past simple differs.

Pattern ABB — Past and Participle Identical

This is the largest group of irregular verbs. The past simple and past participle share the same form, but both differ from the base.

Usage Note — get in British vs American English:

• British: get — got — got (“I’ve got a cold.”)
• American: get — got — gotten (“I’ve gotten better at this.”)

Usage Note — read: read is spelled the same in all forms but pronounced differently: base /riːd/, past/participle /red/. This is the only English verb with this property.

Pattern ABC — All Three Forms Different

These verbs require memorizing three distinct forms. They are among the most commonly tested in English exams.

Usage Note — lie vs lay: “Lie” (recline) is intransitive: lie — lay — lain (“I lay down for a nap”). Do not confuse with “lay” (place), which is transitive and regular: lay — laid — laid (“She laid the book on the table”).

Pattern ABA — Past Different, Participle Same as Base

Only three common verbs follow this pattern. The past participle matches the base form.

These overlap with the AAB pattern above — they can be classified either way.

Verbs with Both Regular and Irregular Forms

Some verbs accept both regular and irregular forms, often with regional preferences.

Usage Note: British English prefers the irregular forms (burnt, dreamt, learnt). American English strongly prefers the regular forms (burned, dreamed, learned). Both forms are correct in either dialect, but choose based on your audience.

British vs American Differences

Beyond the regular/irregular split above, some verbs differ completely:

Tips for Memorizing Irregular Verbs

1. Learn by pattern, not by list. Group verbs by their pattern (ABB, ABC, AAA) instead of memorizing a random list. Your brain remembers patterns better than isolated facts.

2. Use spaced repetition. Review verbs at increasing intervals: after 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month. Apps like Anki automate this process.

3. Create sentence pairs. Write one sentence per verb in past simple and one in present perfect:

• “I eat sushi. → I ate sushi yesterday. → I have eaten sushi before.”
• “She sings well. → She sang at the concert. → She has sung that song many times.”

4. Focus on high-frequency verbs first. Master the 20 most common irregular verbs before moving to less frequent ones. The top 10 irregular verbs account for over 50% of irregular verb usage in English.

5. Use physical flashcards. Write the base form on one side and the past/participle on the other. Test yourself aloud — saying the words helps retention.

6. Read and listen actively. When reading or watching English content, pause when you encounter an irregular verb. Notice its form and the tense used. This reinforces natural usage patterns.

Top 20 Most Frequent Irregular Verbs

Master these first — they cover the majority of irregular verb usage:

1. be — was/were — been
2. have — had — had
3. do — did — done
4. say — said — said
5. go — went — gone
6. get — got — got/gotten
7. make — made — made
8. know — knew — known
9. take — took — taken
10. see — saw — seen
11. come — came — come
12. think — thought — thought
13. give — gave — given
14. find — found — found
15. tell — told — told
16. become — became — become
17. leave — left — left
18. feel — felt — felt
19. put — put — put
20. bring — brought — brought

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Complete the Table

Fill in the missing forms:

Exercise 2: Choose the Correct Form

1. Yesterday I (go / went) to the supermarket.
2. She has (never eat / never eaten) Thai food.
3. We (see / saw) a great movie last night.
4. He has (write / written) three reports this week.
5. They (come / came) to the meeting late this morning.
6. I have (never fly / never flown) in a helicopter.
7. She (teach / taught) me how to cook pasta.
8. We have (already speak / already spoken) to the manager.
9. The wind (blow / blew) the fence down last night.
10. I have (forget / forgotten) my password again.

Exercise 3: Sentence Rewriting

Rewrite each sentence in the past simple and present perfect:

1. I break my phone.
   • Past: __________________
   • Present Perfect: __________________
2. She sings at the club.
   • Past: __________________
   • Present Perfect: __________________
3. They build a house.
   • Past: __________________
   • Present Perfect: __________________
4. He drives to work.
   • Past: __________________
   • Present Perfect: __________________
5. We swim in the lake.
   • Past: __________________
   • Present Perfect: __________________

Exercise 4: Correct the Mistakes

Each sentence contains an incorrect verb form. Fix it:

1. She have went to the store yesterday.
2. I have wrote three emails this morning.
3. He swimmed across the river last summer.
4. They have buyed a new television.
5. We have saw that movie already.
6. She teached English in Japan for two years.
7. I have never drived a sports car.
8. He has ate all the cookies.

Answer Key

Exercise 1: begin — began — begun | break — broke — broken | bring — brought — brought | choose — chose — chosen | drink — drank — drunk | fly — flew — flown | forget — forgot — forgotten | hide — hid — hidden | know — knew — known | ring — rang — rung | speak — spoke — spoken | swim — swam — swum | take — took — taken | wear — wore — worn | write — wrote — written

Exercise 2:

1. went, 2. never eaten, 3. saw, 4. written, 5. came, 6. never flown, 7. taught, 8. already spoken, 9. blew, 10. forgotten

Exercise 3:

1. Past: I broke my phone. Present Perfect: I have broken my phone.
2. Past: She sang at the club. Present Perfect: She has sung at the club.
3. Past: They built a house. Present Perfect: They have built a house.
4. Past: He drove to work. Present Perfect: He has driven to work.
5. Past: We swam in the lake. Present Perfect: We have swum in the lake.

Exercise 4:

1. She went to the store yesterday. (remove “have”)
2. I have written three emails this morning.
3. He swam across the river last summer.
4. They have bought a new television.
5. We have seen that movie already.
6. She taught English in Japan for two years.
7. I have never driven a sports car.
8. He has eaten all the cookies.

Resources

• Cambridge Dictionary: Irregular Verbs List
• British Council: Irregular Verbs
• Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries: Irregular Verbs
• EF Education: Irregular Verbs List
• Anki Spaced Repetition App