Regular and Irregular verbs

Regular and Irregular verbs

Regular verbs are verbs that follow specific patterns of formation required to change verbs into the present and past tenses and to also form participles.

VERB	PRESENT	PAST	PRESENT PARTICIPLE	PAST PARTICIPLE
thank	thanks	thanked	thanking	thanked
look	looks	looked	looking	looked
lick	licks	licked	licking	licked
trick	tricks	tricked	tricking	tricked

Most regular verbs  only need an ‘s‘ to be added to the end of the verb to form the first person singular

take + s = takes  ⁄  travel + s = travels  ⁄   fight + s = fights

Some verbs end in vowels such as o. To form the first person singular , you need to add ‘es‘ to the end of the verb

ho + es = hoes  ⁄  go + es = goes

h

Some verbs end in a consonant plus a letter  ‘ y ‘. In this case the letter  ‘ y ‘ must be replaced with an ‘ i ‘  before adding  ‘ es ‘ to the word.

fly → fli  → flies   ⁄   try → tri  → tries      carry → carri  → carries

When verbs end in y but have a vowel before the ‘ y ‘  just add an s .

day + s = days     stay + s = stays

d

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the standard rules and for this reason, they must be memorised. See below for a list of common irregular verbs.

Verb	PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE	PAST PARTICIPLE	PRESENT PARTICIPLE
be	is	was	been	being
become	becomes	became	become	becoming
begin	brings	brought	brought	bringing
bring	breaks	broke	broken	breaking
buy	buys	bought	bought	buying
catch	catches	caught	caught	catching
come	comes	came	come	coming
dig	digs	dug	dug	digging
do	does	did	done	doing
drink	drinks	drank	drunk	drinking
eat	eats	ate	eaten	eating
fall	falls	fell	fallen	falling
feel	feels	felt	felt	feeling
find	finds	found	found	finding
get	gets	got	got	getting
go	goes	went	gone	going
grow	grows	grew	grown	growing
have	has	had	had	having
hit	hits	hit	hit	hitting
keep	keeps	kept	kept	keeping
know	knows	knew	known	knowing
lay	lays	laid	laid	laying
lead	leads	led	led	leading
leave	leaves	left	left	leaving
lie	lies	lay	lain	lying
lose	loses	lost	lost	losing
make	makes	made	made	making
meet	meets	met	met	meeting
put	puts	put	put	putting
read	reads	read	read	reading
ride	rides	rode	ridden	riding
ring	rings	rang	rung	ringing
rise	rises	rose	risen	rising
run	runs	ran	run	running
say	says	said	said	saying
see	sees	saw	seen	seeing
sell	sells	sold	sold	selling
set	sets	set	set	setting
sing	sings	sang	sung	singing
sit	sits	sat	sat	sitting
stand	stands	stood	stood	standing
stick	sticks	stuck	stuck	sticking
take	takes	took	taken	taking
teach	teaches	taught	taught	teaching
think	thinks	thought	thought	thinking
understand	understands	understood	understood	understanding
uphold	upholds	upheld	upheld	upholding
upset	upsets	upset	upset	upsetting
wake	wakes	woke	woken	waking
wear	wears	wore	wore	wearing
weave	weaves	weaved / wove	wove	woven / weaved
wed	weds	wedded / wed	wedded / wed	N/A
win	wins	won	won	winning
wind	winds	wound	wound	winding
write	writes	written	wrote	writing