Verbs

Irregular verbs

There are seven groups of irregular verbs.

Group 1: completely irregular verbs

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
be	was/were	been
do	did	done
go	went	gone

Group 2: the write wrote written group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
beat	beat	beaten
bite	bit	bitten
break	broke	broken
choose	chose	chosen
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
forget	forgot	forgotten
give	gave	given
hide	hid	hidden
ride	rode	ridden
shake	shook	shaken
speak	spoke	spoken
steal	stole	stolen
take	took	taken
wake	woke	woken
write	wrote	written

 

Group 3: the fly flew flown group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
blow	blew	blown
draw	drew	drawn
fly	flew	flown
grow	grew	grown
know	knew	known
lie	lay	lain
see	saw	seen
show	showed	shown
tear	tore	torn
throw	threw	thrown
wear	wore	worn

 

Group 4: the come came come group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
become	became	become
come	came	come
run	ran	run

 

Group 5: the begin began begun group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
begin	began	begun
drink	drank	drunk
ring	rang	rung
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
swim	swam	swum

 

Group 6: the get got got group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
bend	bent	bent
bring	brought	brought
burn	burnt	burnt
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
dream	dreamt	dreamt
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
get	got	got
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hold	held	held
keep	kept	kept
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
say	said	said
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
smell	smelt	smelt
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
sweep	swept	swept
swing	swung	swung
teach	taught	taught
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
understand	understood	understood
win	won	won

 

Group 7: the put put put group

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit
hurt	hurt	hurt
let	let	let
put	put	put
read	read	read
set	set	set
shut	shut	shut
spread	spread	spread

 

Common irregular verbs in alphabetical order.

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
be	was/were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
burn	burnt	burnt
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt	dreamt
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
forget	forgot	forgotten
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
smell	smelt	smelt
speak	spoke	spoken
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spent	spent
spread	spread	spread
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

 

These regular and irregular verbs are easy to confuse:

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
fall (drop onto the ground)	fell	fallen
feel (experience an emotion or sensation)	felt	felt
fill (make something full)	filled	filled
find (get back something lost)	found	found
found (start up an organisation or institution)	founded	founded
lay (put down flat)	laid	laid
lie (be down)	lay	lain
lie (say things that are not true)	lied	lied
leave (go away)	left	left
live (inhabit a place)	lived	lived
raise (put up)	raised	raised
rise (go/get up)	rose	risen
strike (hit)	struck	struck
stroke (pass the hand gently over)	stroked	stroked