An irregular verb does not make its past forms with -ed. Go becomes went, not goed. See becomes saw and seen. These verbs are old, and they are the most common verbs in the language, so you cannot avoid them.
Every verb has three forms: the base form (go), the past simple (went) and the past participle (gone). The past participle is the form you need after have and has, and in the passive voice.
You do not need to memorise a list of 200 verbs in alphabetical order. Most irregular verbs fall into groups, and one group has the same form everywhere. This page shows the groups and drills the forms in real sentences.
The rule
Three forms, three jobs
- Base form: the dictionary form. Use it for the present, after did and after to. "I go", "Did you go?", "I want to go".
- Past simple: one finished moment in the past. "I went home at six."
- Past participle: use it after have or has and after be. "I have gone home", "The window was broken".
- Never use the past simple form after have: "I have went" is wrong.
Group 1: the same in all three forms
- cut, cut, cut; put, put, put; hit, hit, hit; let, let, let; shut, shut, shut; cost, cost, cost.
- "I put the keys on the table" and "I have put the keys on the table" use the same form.
- These verbs never take -ed. "Putted" is not a word.
Group 2: same past simple and past participle
- buy, bought, bought; bring, brought, brought; think, thought, thought.
- teach, taught, taught; catch, caught, caught.
- keep, kept, kept; feel, felt, felt; sleep, slept, slept; meet, met, met.
- Once you know the middle form, you know the third form too.
Group 3: three different forms
- go, went, gone; do, did, done; see, saw, seen.
- eat, ate, eaten; write, wrote, written; drink, drank, drunk.
- take, took, taken; give, gave, given; speak, spoke, spoken.
- These are the verbs learners get wrong most often, so learn them inside whole phrases: "have done", "have seen", "have taken".
A few verbs change a vowel and nothing else
- sing, sang, sung; ring, rang, rung; swim, swam, swum; begin, began, begun.
- win, won, won; sit, sat, sat; run, ran, run; come, came, come.
- Read is special: the spelling stays read, but the sound changes from "reed" to "red" in the past.
Examples
- Break, broke, broken. She broke the glass, so the glass is broken.The past participle does the work in the result sentence.
- Buy, bought, bought. I bought a coat, and I have bought three coats this year.The middle form and the third form are the same.
- Go, went, gone. He went home early, and now he has gone home.Never say "has went".
- Do, did, done. I did the dishes, and the dishes are done.Done often describes a finished state.
- Eat, ate, eaten. We ate at noon, and we have eaten already.Eaten is the form after have.
- Write, wrote, written. She wrote the letter, and the letter was written by her.The passive voice uses the same participle.
- Take, took, taken. I took the last seat, and someone has taken my seat.Compare took and taken in one story.
- Drive, drove, driven. He drove all night, and he has driven all night.Drove is only for the past simple.
- Put, put, put. I put the keys here, and I have put the keys here.One form covers all three jobs.
- Be, was or were, been. I was late, and I have been late twice this week.Be has two past forms: was for one person, were for many.
Common mistakes
- Wrong: I have went to the shop. Right: I have gone to the shop.
- After have or has, use the past participle (gone), not the past simple (went).
- Wrong: She teached us English. Right: She taught us English.
- Teach is irregular: teach, taught, taught.
- Wrong: He readed the book last month. Right: He read the book last month.
- Read keeps the same spelling in the past. Only the sound changes to "red".
- Wrong: I have saw that film. Right: I have seen that film.
- The past participle of see is seen. Saw is only the past simple.
- Wrong: They brang the food to the party. Right: They brought the food to the party.
- "Brang" is not a word in standard English. Use brought in the past simple and the past participle.
Practice drill
Answer all 20 questions. Each answer is marked at once, and the rule is explained under the question.
I ___ the news last night.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. heard Hear is irregular: hear, heard, heard. Last night needs the past simple: heard.
Have you ___ my keys anywhere?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. seen After have, use the past participle of see, which is seen.
She ___ me a beautiful song at the party.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. sang The past simple of sing is sang. Sing, sang, sung.
We have ___ to that restaurant twice.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. gone After have, use the participle gone. "Have went" is a common mistake.
He ___ the ball over the wall.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. threw The past simple of throw is threw. The participle thrown comes after have or be.
They have ___ the kitchen window.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. broken After have, use the participle broken: have broken.
I ___ a new phone last week.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. bought Last week is finished time, so use the past simple bought. Buy, bought, bought.
She has ___ English for ten years.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. taught Teach is irregular: teach, taught, taught. After has, use taught.
She has ___ three books this year.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. written After has, use the past participle written. Write, wrote, written.
Someone has ___ my umbrella by mistake.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. taken After has, use the past participle taken: have taken, has taken.
He ___ his mother a postcard from Rome.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. sent Send is irregular: send, sent, sent. The past simple is sent, and it needs no -ed.
I have ___ a cold all week.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. had The past participle of have is had: have had. All week is an open period, so the present perfect fits.
The children ___ in the garden all afternoon.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. ran The past simple of run is ran. Run, ran, run.
Have you ___ your bed yet?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. made Make is irregular: make, made, made. After have, use made.
She ___ me the truth at last.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. told Tell is irregular: tell, told, told. The past simple is told.
The bell has ___ three times.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. rung After has, use the past participle rung. Ring, rang, rung.
We ___ a great film on Friday.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. saw On Friday is finished time, so use the past simple saw. Saw is never used after have.
He has ___ his leg twice.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. broken After has, use the past participle broken: has broken.
I ___ my homework before dinner.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. did The past simple of do is did. Done is the participle, used after have or be.
They have ___ each other since 2018.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. known After have, use the past participle known. Know, knew, known.
Questions learners ask
How many irregular verbs do I need to learn?
English has about 200 irregular verbs in common use, but the top 30 do most of the work. Learn the high-frequency verbs first: be, have, do, go, say, get, make, take, come, see, know, give, find, think, tell, put, read, write, eat and drink.
Why is the past of "read" spelled the same?
Old English changed the sound of the vowel inside the word instead of adding an ending. The spelling stopped showing that change. Write read in every form and say "reed" for the present and "red" for the past.
Are British and American irregular forms different?
A few are. British English often uses learnt, dreamt and spelt, while American English prefers learned, dreamed and spelled. Both are understood everywhere. American English also uses gotten as the participle of get, where British English uses got.
More grammar topics
Phrasal verbs
Verb plus particle, three types, and the pronoun rule that learners break most often.
Phrasal verbs with get
One small verb, a score of meanings: the get phrasal verbs learners meet every day.
Conditional sentences (type 1, 2 and 3)
If plus the right verb pattern: real, unreal and impossible situations, with the comma rule.
Take the free A1 to C2 level test to find your starting point.