What is an irregular verb?

An irregular verb does not form its past simple or past participle by adding -ed. Instead it changes in its own way: go becomes went and gone, sing becomes sang and sung, put stays put in all three forms. There are around 200 in common use, and they include almost all of the most frequent verbs in English, such as be, have, do, say, get, make, and take.

How many irregular verbs are there in English?

Roughly 200 are in everyday use, with another 100 or so that are rare, archaic, or found only in compounds (forsake, beget, slay). Fortunately they cluster into patterns: about a third have identical past and participle forms (keep, kept, kept), and a large group ends the participle in -en or -n (write, written; know, known). The 25 in the table above cover most of what you will hear in a day.

What are the three forms of an irregular verb?

The base form, the past simple, and the past participle: take, took, taken. The base form is used for the present and after do, does, did, and modals (I take, did you take?). The past simple stands alone in the past (I took it). The past participle follows have, has, or had and the verb be in the passive: I have taken it, and it was taken.

What is the fastest way to learn irregular verbs?

Learn them in sound families rather than alphabetically, because the brain stores the pattern once and applies it: sing, sang, sung goes with ring, rang, rung and drink, drank, drunk; bring, brought goes with think, thought and buy, bought. Then practise the participle in real sentences with have, because that is where errors happen: I have taken, she has written. The twenty-five most common verbs account for most of what you will hear in a day.

Is it learned or learnt, and got or gotten?

Both spellings of each are correct; the choice depends on variety. British English prefers learnt, burnt, dreamt, and spelt and uses got as the participle of get: I've got a new job. American English prefers learned, burned, dreamed, and spelled and uses gotten for the participle in most meanings: I've gotten a new job. Pick one variety and keep it consistent within a text.

English grammar · Beginner

Irregular Verbs: Patterns, the 25 Most Common, and How to Learn Them

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

Irregular verbs are verbs whose past simple and past participle are not made by adding -ed. Instead they change their vowel (sing, sang, sung), change their ending (keep, kept, kept), stay the same in every form (put, put, put), or do something unique (go, went, gone). There are about 200 in everyday use, and they include the most frequent verbs in English, so they have to be learned as three-part sets.

I saw the film yesterday, but I haven't seen the sequel.

see has two different past forms: saw and seen

What it is

A regular verb makes both its past simple and its past participle by adding -ed: work, worked, worked. An irregular verb breaks that rule in at least one of the two forms, and there is no way to predict the result from the base form alone: you have to know that go becomes went and gone, that keep becomes kept, and that put never changes at all. What makes them unavoidable is frequency. The dozen most common verbs in English (be, have, do, say, go, get, make, know, think, take, see, come) are all irregular, so every conversation uses them.

She took the early train and has taken it every day since. (Take is irregular: take, took, taken. The past simple stands alone; the participle follows has.)

How to spot it

You cannot spot an irregular verb from its base form, but you can spot the two places where the irregular form is needed: the past simple standing on its own (I saw, she went) and the past participle after have, has, had, or be (I have seen, it was taken). A dictionary lists the three forms together; if only the base form is given, the verb is regular.

We went to the coast last weekend. (went: past simple standing alone)
Have you ever been to Scotland? (been: participle after have)
The window was broken by the wind. (broken: participle in the passive)
It cost ten pounds. (cost: same form as the base, past simple here)

Irregularity affects only the past simple and past participle. The -s form (goes), the -ing form (going), and the infinitive (to go) follow the normal rules for every verb.

Irregular Verbs Quick Reference

The 25 most common irregular verbs: base form, past simple, past participle

Base	Past simple	Past participle	Pattern
be	was / were	been	unique
have	had	had	past = participle
do	did	done	unique
say	said	said	past = participle
go	went	gone	unique
get	got	got (US also gotten)	past = participle
make	made	made	past = participle
know	knew	known	-n participle
think	thought	thought	-ght
take	took	taken	-en participle
see	saw	seen	-n participle
come	came	come	participle = base
give	gave	given	-en participle
find	found	found	past = participle
tell	told	told	past = participle
leave	left	left	-t ending
feel	felt	felt	-t ending
put	put	put	all three the same
bring	brought	brought	-ght
begin	began	begun	vowel change i, a, u
keep	kept	kept	-t ending
write	wrote	written	-en participle
eat	ate	eaten	-en participle
read	read	read	all three the same in spelling; past pronounced red
buy	bought	bought	-ght

Common Irregular Verbs Examples in English

The main irregular patterns, each with the three forms named in the note:

Same in All Three Forms

I put the letter on your desk this morning.: put is past simple here; the time phrase tells you
The repair cost more than the car was worth.: cost, cost, cost
She cut her finger chopping onions.: cut: past simple, same as the base form
I've read that book twice.: read: spelt like the base form, pronounced red
They let us leave early.: let, let, let

Because these verbs look the same in the present and past, the time expression or another verb in the sentence tells you which tense it is. Others in this group: hit, hurt, shut, set, spread.

Vowel Change: Three Different Forms

She sang beautifully last night.: sing, sang, sung: past simple
The film began at eight.: begin, began, begun
Who drank my coffee?: drink, drank, drunk
We swam across the lake last summer.: swim, swam, swum
Has anyone rung the doorbell?: ring, rang, rung: the participle after has

This i, a, u group is the most regular of the irregulars: the past takes a, the participle takes u.

Participles Ending in -en or -n

I've taken the dog out already.: take, took, taken
Have you written to your grandmother yet?: write, wrote, written
He spoke to the manager, who had spoken to the owner.: speak, spoke, spoken: both past forms in one sentence
Someone has broken the window.: break, broke, broken
Have you ever eaten snails?: eat, ate, eaten

The -en participle is the one that appears after have, has, had, and in the passive: was broken, has been taken.

-t and -ght Endings

I slept badly and felt terrible all day.: sleep, slept; feel, felt
We left early and spent the afternoon at the beach.: leave, left; spend, spent
She has taught here since 2015.: teach, taught, taught
Who bought all these biscuits?: buy, bought, bought
The cat caught a mouse.: catch, caught, not catched

In this group the past simple and past participle are identical, so once you know kept or bought you know both forms.

How Irregular Verbs Work

What irregular means, where each form is used, and how to learn them efficiently.

Irregular Means the Past Is Not Made With -ed

A regular verb has one job: add -ed for both the past simple and the past participle (work, worked, worked). An irregular verb refuses that pattern in at least one of the two forms. Everything else about the verb is regular: the -s in the present (she goes), the -ing form (going), and the infinitive all follow the normal rules.

walk, walked, walked / go, went, gone

regular set on the left, irregular set on the right

Irregular = no -ed in the past.

Three Forms, Three Jobs

The base form is used for the present, the infinitive, and after do and modals. The past simple stands on its own as the past tense. The past participle never stands alone: it follows have, has, or had in the perfect tenses and be in the passive. Confusing the second and third forms (has went, was took) is the most common irregular verb error.

I write every day. I wrote yesterday. I have written a lot.

base, past simple, participle after have

Second form alone; third form after have or be.

The Past Simple Has One Form for Every Subject

Apart from be (I was, you were), an irregular past simple does not change with the subject: I went, she went, they went. The same is true of the participle. So there are never more than three forms to learn per verb, and often only two.

She took the bus and they took the train.

took is the same for she and they

No -s, no agreement, in the past.

Learn Them in Groups, Not Alphabetically

Irregular verbs fall into families with the same sound pattern: the i, a, u family (sing, ring, drink, begin, swim), the -ought and -aught family (bring, buy, think, fight, catch, teach), the -ew and -own family (know, grow, throw, blow), the -t family (keep, sleep, feel, leave, meet). Learning a family together is far faster than learning the verbs as isolated items.

know, knew, known / grow, grew, grown / throw, threw, thrown

one pattern, three verbs

Same sound, same pattern.

Regular in One Variety, Irregular in Another

A few verbs have two accepted past forms. British English prefers burnt, learnt, dreamt, and spelt; American English prefers burned, learned, dreamed, and spelled. Both are correct; choose one variety and stay with it. Gotten as the participle of get is American; British English uses got.

I learnt to swim at six. / I learned to swim at six.

both standard; the first is British, the second American

Two forms, two varieties, both right.

Common Mistakes with Irregular Verbs

Incorrect: She has went to the shops.

Correct: She has gone to the shops.

Went is the past simple and can only stand alone (She went to the shops). After has, have, or had you need the third form, gone. Go is the verb where the two forms are most different, which makes the error common.

Incorrect: The dog catched the ball.

Correct: The dog caught the ball.

Catch belongs to the -aught family with teach (taught). Children learning English as a first language make the same error, because the regular -ed rule is the default; the irregular form has to be memorised.

Incorrect: I have drank too much coffee today.

Correct: I have drunk too much coffee today.

Drink follows the i, a, u pattern: drank is the past simple, drunk the participle. After have, only the participle is possible. The same mix-up happens with began and begun, sang and sung.

Incorrect: He didn't went to work yesterday.

Correct: He didn't go to work yesterday.

Did already carries the past tense, so the main verb returns to its base form in negatives and questions. This rule applies to regular and irregular verbs alike: didn't go, didn't work, did you see?

Confusable Pairs

A few irregular verbs share forms with other verbs or have two past forms with different meanings.

Lie and lay

Lie (recline, with no object) is irregular: lie, lay, lain. Lay (put something down, with an object) is also irregular: lay, laid, laid. Lie meaning tell an untruth is regular: lie, lied, lied.

I lay on the sofa all afternoon.: lie (recline): lie, lay, lain
She laid the baby in the cot.: lay (put down, takes an object): lay, laid, laid
He lied about his age.: lie (tell an untruth) is regular: lie, lied, lied

The past of lie (lay) looks exactly like the base form of lay, which is why even native speakers mix them.

One verb, two pasts, two meanings

When a verb has both a regular and an irregular past form, the two often belong to different meanings.

We hung the picture in the hall. The man was hanged in 1850.: hung for objects, hanged for the execution
The sun shone all day. He shined his shoes.: shone for giving light; shined for polishing, mainly American
She lit the candles. / a lighted candle: lit is the usual verb form; lighted survives mainly as an adjective

When a verb has two past forms, check whether the meanings differ before treating them as free variants.

Quick Check: Irregular Verbs

Write the missing form of the irregular verb.

1. I ___ (see) a great film last night.

Answer: saw

past simple stands alone

2. Have you ever ___ (eat) sushi?

Answer: eaten

participle after have

3. She ___ (buy) a new phone last week and has already ___ (break) it.

Answer: bought, broken

past simple, then participle after has

4. The children ___ (swim) in the lake every day of the holiday.

Answer: swam

swim, swam, swum

5. I've ___ (read) that book three times.

Answer: read

spelt like the base form, pronounced red

6. Who ___ (teach) you to drive?

Answer: taught

subject question: no did, so the past form stays

Irregular Verbs FAQs

What is an irregular verb?: An irregular verb does not form its past simple or past participle by adding -ed. Instead it changes in its own way: go becomes went and gone, sing becomes sang and sung, put stays put in all three forms. There are around 200 in common use, and they include almost all of the most frequent verbs in English, such as be, have, do, say, get, make, and take.
How many irregular verbs are there in English?: Roughly 200 are in everyday use, with another 100 or so that are rare, archaic, or found only in compounds (forsake, beget, slay). Fortunately they cluster into patterns: about a third have identical past and participle forms (keep, kept, kept), and a large group ends the participle in -en or -n (write, written; know, known). The 25 in the table above cover most of what you will hear in a day.
What are the three forms of an irregular verb?: The base form, the past simple, and the past participle: take, took, taken. The base form is used for the present and after do, does, did, and modals (I take, did you take?). The past simple stands alone in the past (I took it). The past participle follows have, has, or had and the verb be in the passive: I have taken it, and it was taken.
What is the fastest way to learn irregular verbs?: Learn them in sound families rather than alphabetically, because the brain stores the pattern once and applies it: sing, sang, sung goes with ring, rang, rung and drink, drank, drunk; bring, brought goes with think, thought and buy, bought. Then practise the participle in real sentences with have, because that is where errors happen: I have taken, she has written. The twenty-five most common verbs account for most of what you will hear in a day.
Is it learned or learnt, and got or gotten?: Both spellings of each are correct; the choice depends on variety. British English prefers learnt, burnt, dreamt, and spelt and uses got as the participle of get: I've got a new job. American English prefers learned, burned, dreamed, and spelled and uses gotten for the participle in most meanings: I've gotten a new job. Pick one variety and keep it consistent within a text.