Irregular verbs

There are a number of irregular verbs in English; they are irregular in the simple past form and, or the past participle. Rather than learning each verb separately, many of the verbs can be put into a group of verbs that change their form in a similar way. If you are in any doubt about a verb, whether it is irregular or not, or the exact form that an irregular verb takes, your dictionary is a good reference. Many dictionaries contain a supplement listing many irregular verbs alphabetically; they all indicate in the main listing if a verb is irregular, and if so the form(s) it takes.

Note:
V = vowel
C = consonant

Group I Verbs

The verb name, the simple past and past participle forms are all different.
The past participle forms ends in n.
Vowel change in simple past and past participle

	Change	Verb Name	→	Simple Past	→	Past Participle
1A	i → a → u	begin	→	began	→	begun
1B	o/a → e	blow	→	blew	→	blown
1C	double vowel → o	break	→	broke	→	broken
1D	vowel → o (past)	drive	→	drove	→	driven
1E	a → oo (past)	take	→	took	→	taken

Group I verbs

1A	1B	1C	1D	1E
i → a → u	o/a → e	VV → o	VV → o (past)	a → oo (past)
begin	blow	bear	arise	forsake
drink	draw	break	drive	mistake
forbid	grow	choose	ride*	shake
ring	know	freeze	rise	take/undertake
shrink	throw	speak	stride
sing		steal	tread
sink		swear	write
spring		tear
stink		wear
swim		weave

* spelling of past participle is 'ridden.'

Other Group I Verbs

Verb Name	→	Simple Past	→	Past Participle
be	→	was/were	→	been
bite	→	bit	→	bitten
do	→	did	→	done
eat	→	ate	→	eaten
fall	→	fell	→	fallen
fly	→	flew	→	flown
get/forget	→	got/forgot	→	gotten/forgotten
give/forgive	→	gave/forgave	→	given/forgiven
go	→	went	→	gone
hide	→	hid	→	hidden
lie	→	lay	→	lain
see	→	saw	→	seen
swell	→	swelled	→	swollen
wake	→	woke	→	woken

Group II Verbs

The simple past and past participle forms are the same.

	Change	Verb Name	→	Simple Past/Past Participle
II A	ee/ea → e/ea* + d	feed	→	fed
II B	e → o + l d	sell	→	sold
	ay → ai + d	say	→	said
	i → ou + nd	find	→	found
II C	ee/ea → e + (C) + t	keep	→	kept
II D	i/a → u + (n) + g/k	sting	→	stung
II E	Final 'd' → 't'	send	→	sent

*spelling may not change but vowel sound does change

Group II Verbs

II A	II B			II C	II D	II E
ee/ea → e/ea* + d	e → o + l d	ay → ai + d	i ® ou + nd	ee/ea → e + (C) + t	i/a → u + (n) + g/k	Final 'd' → 't'
flee	sell	lay	bind	creep	cling	bend
bleed	tell	pay	find	feel	dig	build
breed		say	grind	keep	fling	lend
feed			wind	kneel	hang*	send
hear				leave**	stick	spend
lead				meet	sting
read***				sleep	strike
speed				sweep	string
				weep	swing
					wring

*Hang has the meaning "to fasten or attach from above." In the other meaning of hang, "to hang a person", it is a regular verb.

** spelling, 'leave' changes to 'left.'

*** pronunciation changes from 'ea' to 'e' (long e to short e) even though the spelling remains the same.

Other Group II Verbs

Verb name	→ VV + ght	Past/past participle*	Verb name	→ d	Past/past participle	Verb name	→ d o/u	Past/past participle
bring	→	brought	have	→	had	shine	→	shone
buy	→	bought	hold	→	held	spin	→	spun
catch	→	caught	make	→	made	win	→	won
fight	→	fought	prove	→	proved**
seek	→	sought	slide	→	slid
teach	→	taught	stand	→	stood
think	→	thought
Others
deal	→	dealt
light	→	lit
lose	→	lost
mean	→	meant
shoot	→	shot
sit	→	sat

*au/ou spelling, but same pronunciation

** Proven is also acceptable for the past participle

Group III Verbs

The simple past is different from the other verb forms; the past participle is the same as the infinitive.

Verb Name	→	Simple Past	→	Past Participle
become	→	became	→	become
come	→	came	→	cone
run	→	ran	→	run

Group IV Verbs

The verb form stays the same in the infinitive, simple past and past participle.

Verb Name	Simple Past	Past Participle
bet	bet	bet

Other Group IV Verbs

bid	hurt	shut
burst	let	slit
cast	put	split
cost	quit	spread
cut	rid	thrust
fit	set	upset
hit	shed

Group V Verbs

The simple past is the same as the verb name; the past participle is different.

Verb Name	Simple Past	Past Participle
beat	beat	beaten

Updated September 11, 2023 by Digital & Web Operations, University Relations (web_services@athabascau.ca)