Irregular verbs in English

We covered regular verbs in the previous unit, unit 66. So, today we are going to move forward and learn all about irregular verbs and how to use them correctly in English.

Irregular verbs do not end in-ed when forming the past simple and the past participle.

For example:

Eat – ate – eaten

Go – went – gone

The only way to remember all of the forms of irregular verbs is by memorizing them and writing them down as often as possible. There are however some irregular verbs which stay the same in all of the verb forms, present simple, past simple and past participle. They are the easiest to learn, and so, it’s recommended to start with them.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Burst – burst – burst

Let – let – let

Cost – cost – cost

Cut – cut – cut

Hit – hit – hit

Hurt – hurt -hurt

Put – put – put

Quit – quit – quit

Read – read – read (the past simple and past participle although written the same,  are pronounced as “red” )

Now let’s take a look at the next irregular verb forms, which are also easy to learn. In this group of irregular verbs, the past simple and past participle are the same, and only the present form is different.

Get – got – got

Leave – left – left

Buy – bought – bought

Bend – bent – bent

Catch – caught – caught

Dig – dug – dug

Find – found – found

Pay – paid – paid

Finally, we also a have third group of irregular verbs, where all of them are different in each form, the present simple, past simple and the past participle form. They are easy to learn if you write them down and say them out loud in groups.

Be – was/were – been

Take – took – taken

Speak – spoke – spoken

Eat – ate – eaten

Beat – beat -beaten

Freeze – froze – frozen

Begin – began – begun

Choose – chose – chosen

Although we have learned many new irregular verbs today, keep in mind there are many more. You can find a list of more irregular verbs by checking out the grammar section of unit 67 of our complete course!