---

English verbs fall into two main categories based on how they form their past simple and past participle: regular and irregular verbs.

We use the past simple to talk about completed actions and the past participle for perfect tenses and passive constructions. We need to know if verbs are regular or irregular for purposes of verb conjugation and tense formation.

• Regular verbs follow certain rules when forming their past simple and past participle forms, and they always end in -ed.
  
  
• Irregular verbs, on the other hand, change in unpredictable ways (e.g., go → went → gone).

The vast majority of verbs in English are regular, which makes the learning process a bit easier for learners. However, many of the most common verbs that we use every day happen to be irregular, so having a good grasp of both types is essential for clear and effective communication.

✏️ Jump to Practice Makes Perfect

---

---

• Regular and Irregular Verbs in Use

  • I enjoyed my trip to Mexico. (enjoy → enjoyed)
  • He dropped his phone. (drop → dropped)
  • The police entered the property to conduct a search. (enter → entered)
  • We cried when Mufasa died in the Lion King. (cry → cried)
  • It rained a lot yesterday. (rain → rained)
    
    
  • I put habanero chili sauce on my pasta yesterday. Big mistake! (put → put)
  • He drove across the USA last summer. (drive → drove)
  • She brought an umbrella, just in case it rains later. (bring → brought)
  • We got this painting in Japan. (get → got)
  • They had a great time at the concert. (have → had)

  ---

  * Regular Verbs / Irregular Verbs

Regular Verbs

Regular verbs make up over 95% of all verbs in the English language. They all follow the same general pattern: Their past simple and past participle forms end with -ed.

Common Regular Verbs

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
walk	walked	walked
work	worked	worked
talk	talked	talked
play	played	played
help	helped	helped
look	looked	looked
want	wanted	wanted
need	needed	needed
ask	asked	asked
call	called	called
open	opened	opened
close	closed	closed
start	started	started
stop	stopped	stopped
turn	turned	turned
move	moved	moved
cook	cooked	cooked
clean	cleaned	cleaned
watch	watched	watched
listen	listened	listened
finish	finished	finished
visit	visited	visited
study	studied	studied
carry	carried	carried
try	tried	tried
worry	worried	worried
plan	planned	planned
shop	shopped	shopped
dance	danced	danced
smile	smiled	smiled

The Basic Rule

In most cases, we simply tack on -ed to verbs in their base form to create the past simple tense and past participle construction, as shown in the table below:

Regular Verbs: The Standard -ed Pattern

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle	Sentence Examples
walk	walked	walked	– She has walked five miles today.
cook	cooked	cooked	– He cooked everything on the BBQ with military precision.
watch	watched	watched	– I have watched that film at least ten times.
clean	cleaned	cleaned	– She has cleaned the carpet three times, but the coffee stain won’t budge.
laugh	laughed	laughed	– We all laughed when dad started using Gen Z slang.
help	helped	helped	– Google helped me to diagnose myself with twelve diseases.

Once we know the base form, we can easily create the past simple and past participle forms for most regular verbs by just adding -ed.

Regular Verbs: Special Spelling Rules

While most regular verbs form their past simple and past participle by simply adding -ed, some require slight spelling adjustments that are important to know.

1) Regular Verbs Ending in -E

When the base form of a regular verb ends with -e, we just add -d.

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle	Sentence Examples
dance	danced	danced	– Everyone danced like nobody was watching.
hope	hoped	hoped	– We hoped for good weather, but alas it was throwing it down!
arrive	arrived	arrived	– My package finally arrived after two weeks of ‘out for delivery’.
bake	baked	baked	– She baked an absolutely delicious cake.

---

2) Regular Verbs Ending in Consonant + -Y

When the base form of a regular verb ends with consonant + -y, change the -y to -i, and then add -ed.

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle	Sentence Examples
try	tried	tried	– I tried my best on the test.
study	studied	studied	– He studied for his exam so much that he forgot how to be social.
worry	worried	worried	– She has worried about the exam for days.
carry	carried	carried	– The delivery driver carried the parcel to the top floor only to realise he was in the wrong building.
hurry	hurried	hurried	– The bee hurried back to its hive.

---

3) Regular Verbs: Doubling the Final Consonant

For short regular verbs (one-syllable) ending in consonant + vowel + consonant, we double the final consonant before adding -ed.

For example, let’s take the regular verb to drop:

	consonant	vowel	consonant
d	r	o	p

Here, we add another -p consonant and -ed to form the past simple and participle construction of the verb to drop.

• drop → dropped > I dropped my phone in my cup of coffee!

More examples:

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle	Sentence Examples
grab	grabbed	grabbed	– Without hesitation, he grabbed the last slice of pizza.
skip	skipped	skipped	– We skipped lunch today.
slip	slipped	slipped	– I slipped on the ice outside earlier. Thank goodness no one saw!
clap	clapped	clapped	– The passengers clapped for the pilot the moment the wheels touched down after enduring heavy turbulence.

---

Exceptions: One-Syllable Regular Verbs Ending with -X, -Y, or -W

Even when short regular verbs follow the consonant + vowel + consonant pattern, we don’t double the final consonant if it ends in -x, -y, or -w.

For instance:

• play → played > He played football yesterday.
• fix → fixed > I fixed the broken shelf myself.
• flow → flowed > Lava flowed slowly down the side of the volcano.
• stay → stayed > We stayed up all night watching movies.

---

Multi-Syllable Regular Verbs

For regular verbs with more than one-syllable that follow the consonant + vowel + consonant pattern, we double the consonant only if the stress falls on the final syllable. If there is no stress on the final syllable, we just add -ed as normal.

Examples with stress on final syllable:

• refer → referred > The doctor referred me to a specialist.
• prefer → preferred > She preferred tea over coffee for years, then she discovered Colombian coffee.

Examples with no stress on final syllable:

• visit → visited > They visited five countries in two weeks.
• enter → entered > He entered his PIN too many times and his account has been locked.

Irregular Verbs

Regular verbs form their past simple and past participle by ending in -ed (e.g., walk → walked → walked).

Irregular verbs, however, change in various and often unpredictable ways in many cases (e.g., go → went → gone).

This unpredictability makes irregular verbs a little more challenging to learn and means they require individual attention and practice. Fortunately, there are some patterns that make learning them more manageable.

Interestingly, while irregular verbs make up less than 5% of English verbs, they include many of the words we use most often.

Common Irregular Verbs

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
be	was/were	been
have	had	had
do	did	done
say	said	said
get	got	got/gotten
make	made	made
think	thought	thought
tell	told	told
leave	left	left
mean	meant	meant
let	let	let
show	showed	shown
bring	brought	brought
catch	caught	caught
write	wrote	written
eat	ate	eaten
go	went	gone
see	saw	seen
come	came	come
take	took	taken
give	gave	given
know	knew	known
find	found	found
feel	felt	felt
put	put	put
keep	kept	kept
begin	began	begun
hear	heard	heard
buy	bought	bought
teach	taught	taught
break	broke	broken
drink	drank	drunk

Past Simple vs. Past Participle

The past simple is a complete tense on its own. On the other hand, past participles are verb forms that work with auxiliary verbs to create different tenses and constructions.

The past simple tense is used for completed actions in the past. For example:

• I was at the supermarket earlier.
• She wrote an email complaining about the service.

Past participles are used with auxiliary verbs for perfect tenses and passive voice. For example:

• I have been to that supermarket many times. It is my favourite place to shop.
  (present perfect: auxiliary verb have + past participle been)
  
  
• The email was written to complain about the poor service.
  (passive voice: auxiliary verb be [was form] + past participle written)

---

With regular verbs, the past simple and past participle are always the same. With irregular verbs, they are often different.

For instance:

Verb Type	Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
Regular	– talk – walk – play	– talked – walked – played	– talked – walked – played
Irregular	– be – write – go	– was/were – wrote – went	– been – written – gone

Regular Verbs

With regular verbs both forms are identical, so the choice depends on the meaning you want to express.

For example:

✅ – I have walked to the shops. (present perfect – typically past actions affecting the present)
✅ – I walked to the shops yesterday. (past simple – actions completed in the past)

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verb forms are often different, so using the wrong one creates errors.

For example:

Past Participles:
❌ – She written an email. (past participles cannot be used alone)
✅ – She has written an email. (present perfect construction: auxiliary verb have + past participle written)

Past Simple:
❌ – She has wrote an email. (past simple forms can’t be used after auxiliary verbs)
✅ – She wrote an email yesterday. (past simple works on its own)

Irregular Verb Patterns

While irregular verbs do not follow the regular -ed pattern, they do fall into some recognisable groups that make learning them slightly easier.

1) All Forms Are The Same

Some irregular verbs keep the same form for their base, past simple, and past participle constructions:

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit
put	put	put
let	let	let
shut	shut	shut
cost	cost	cost
hurt	hurt	hurt
set	set	set

2) Two Forms Are The Same

Many irregular verbs have identical past simple and past participle forms:

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
bring	brought	brought
think	thought	thought
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
teach	taught	taught
feel	felt	felt
keep	kept	kept
sleep	slept	slept

3) Three Different Forms

Some irregular verbs change completely for each form:

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
go	went	gone
see	saw	seen
eat	ate	eaten
write	wrote	written
break	broke	broken
speak	spoke	spoken
drive	drove	driven
take	took	taken

Practice Makes Perfect: Regular & Irregular Verbs

Put your knowledge of regular and irregular verbs to the test here in our interactive practice section.

Exercise 1: Regular or Irregular?

Determine whether each verb below is regular or irregular.

1. walk
   
   
2. go
   
   
3. bring
   
   
4. finish
   
   
5. think
   
   
6. play
   
   
7. break
   
   
8. visit
   
   
9. eat
   
   
10. dance
    
    
11. keep
    
    
12. study

Exercise 1: Answers [Click]

1. Regular: walk → walked → walked
   
   
2. Irregular: go → went → gone
   
   
3. Irregular: bring → brought → brought
   
   
4. Regular: finish → finished → finished
   
   
5. Irregular: think → thought → thought
   
   
6. Regular: play → played → played
   
   
7. Irregular: break → broke → broken
   
   
8. Regular: visit → visited → visited
   
   
9. Irregular: eat → ate → eaten
   
   
10. Regular: dance → danced → danced
    
    
11. Irregular: keep → kept → kept
    
    
12. Regular: study → studied → studied

---

Exercise 2: Past Simple and Past Participle

Exercise 2: Answers [Click]

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
cook	cooked	cooked
go	went	gone
write	wrote	written
try	tried	tried
break	broke	broken
drop	dropped	dropped
bring	brought	brought
dance	danced	danced
feel	felt	felt
plan	planned	planned

---

Exercise 3: Spot and Correct the Error

Each sentence contains a mistake with a regular or irregular verb form. Find it and correct it.

1. Apparently, he has wrote the book in just four weeks.
   
   
2. I have buyed my dad the same present for three years. He hasn’t noticed yet.
   
   
3. They have went to Goa at least a dozen times.
   
   
4. He droped his drink and the whole restaurant cheered, as is tradition in England.
   
   
5. The goalkeeper catched every single shot in the match.
   
   
6. She studyed for her exams religiously for weeks. It’s no wonder she aced them.
   
   
7. I have never ate oysters in my life and I don’t plan on starting now.
   
   
8. They thinked about moving abroad for years before they finally did it.
   
   
9. He cutted the cake with military precision.
   
   
10. He arriveed at the interview ten minutes late and somehow still got the job.

Exercise 3: Answers [Click]

1. Apparently, he has written the book in just four weeks.
   > write is irregular: write → wrote [past simple] → written [past participle], used with has
   
   
2. I have bought my dad the same present for three years. He hasn’t noticed yet.
   > buy is irregular: buy → bought [past simple] → bought [past participle], used with have
   
   
3. They have gone to Goa at least a dozen times.
   > go is irregular: go → went [past simple] → gone [past participle], used with have
   
   
4. He dropped his drink and the whole restaurant cheered, as is tradition in England.
   > drop doubles the final consonant: drop → dropped
   
   
5. The goalkeeper caught every single shot in the match.
   > catch is irregular: catch → caught [past simple] → caught [past participle]
   
   
6. She studied for her exams religiously for weeks. It’s no wonder she aced them.
   > study ends in consonant + -y – change -y to -i, add -ed: study → studied
   
   
7. I have never eaten oysters in my life and I don’t plan on starting now.
   > eat is irregular: eat → ate [past simple] → eaten [past participle], used with have
   
   
8. They thought about moving abroad for years before they finally did it.
   > think is irregular: think → thought [past simple] → thought [past participle]
   
   
9. He cut the cake with military precision.
   > cut is irregular – all three forms are the same: cut → cut [past simple] → cut [past participle]
   
   
10. He arrived at the interview ten minutes late and somehow still got the job.
    > arrive ends in -e – just add -d, not -ed: arrive → arrived

---

Exercise 4: Regular & Irregular Verbs in Context

Fill in each blank with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

Some verbs are regular, some are irregular.

Last weekend, we (1) ____________ (try) our hand at camping for the first time. We (2) ____________ (think) it would be a nice break away from the city, a chance to get some fresh country air and destress.

We (3) ____________ (arrive) at the campsite and (4) ____________ (empty) everything out of the car. Pieces of tent and camping stove parts (5) ____________ (cover) the ground in every direction. It was warm and sunny, so before anything, we (6) ____________ (decide) to have a sunbathe.

By the time we (7) ____________ (turn) our attention to the tent, the light was already fading. Nothing (8) ____________ (fit) together the way it was supposed to.

Then something (9) ____________ (rustle) in the trees. We (10) ____________ (work) faster. The tent (11) ____________ (refuse) to cooperate. The rustling (12) ____________ (get) closer. We (13) ____________ (work) faster still. Then a twig (14) ____________ (snap) somewhere in the darkness.

That was enough. We (15) ____________ (drop) everything and (16) ____________ (run) back to the car and locked the doors. The food, the drink, the half-built tent – all left outside. We (17) ____________ (not dare) go back out. There was something out there, and we were convinced it (18) ____________ (be) a bear.

It (19) ____________ (not occur) to us until morning that there are no bears in England.

Exercise 4: Answers [Click]

1. tried
   > try ends in consonant + -y: change -y to -i, add -ed: try → tried
   
   
2. thought
   > think is irregular: think → thought [past simple] → thought [past participle]
   
   
3. arrived
   > arrive ends in -e: just add -d: arrive → arrived
   
   
4. emptied
   > empty ends in consonant + -y: change -y to -i, add -ed: empty → emptied
   
   
5. covered
   > cover is regular: cover → covered
   
   
6. decided
   > decide ends in -e: just add -d: decide → decided
   
   
7. turned
   > turn is regular: turn → turned
   
   
8. fit
   > fit is irregular: all three forms are the same: fit → fit [past simple] → fit [past participle]
   
   
9. rustled
   > rustle ends in -e: just add -d: rustle → rustled
   
   
10. worked
    > work is regular: work → worked
    
    
11. refused
    > refuse ends in -e: just add -d: refuse → refused
    
    
12. got
    > get is irregular: get → got [past simple] → got [past participle]
    
    
13. worked
    > work is regular: work → worked
    
    
14. snapped
    > snap doubles the final consonant: snap → snapped
    
    
15. dropped
    > drop doubles the final consonant: drop → dropped
    
    
16. ran
    > run is irregular: run → ran [past simple] → run [past participle]
    
    
17. didn’t dare
    > dare is regular: dare → didn’t dare (past simple negative)
    
    
18. was
    > be is irregular: be → was/were [past simple] → been [past participle]
    
    
19. didn’t occur
    > occur doubles the final consonant: occur → didn’t occur (past simple negative)

Full Text:

Last weekend, we tried our hand at camping for the first time. We thought it would be a nice break away from the city, a chance to get some fresh country air and destress.

We arrived at the campsite and emptied everything out of the car. Pieces of tent and camping stove parts covered the ground in every direction. It was warm and sunny, so before anything, we decided to have a sunbathe.

By the time we turned our attention to the tent, the light was already fading. Nothing fit together the way it was supposed to.

Then something rustled in the trees. We worked faster. The tent refused to cooperate. The rustling got closer. We worked faster still. Then a twig snapped somewhere in the darkness.

That was enough. We dropped everything and ran back to the car and locked the doors. The food, the drink, the half-built tent – all left outside. We didn’t dare go back out. There was something out there, and we were convinced it was a bear.

It didn’t occur to us until morning that there are no bears in England.

---

---

• ShareCopied to clipboard

Next: Verb Transitivity & Objects >