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Irregular verbs do not make their past tense by adding
- d
or - ed or by changing y to i and adding ed.
Instead,
they make their past forms in several
ways:
| 1. |
|
For some irregular verbs,
the simple and past
forms
are the same. Here are
a few examples:
|
Simple
beat
bet
burst
cost
cut
hit
hurt
let
put
set
|
|
Past
beat
bet
burst
cost
cut
hit
hurt
let
put
set
|
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| 2. |
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For many irregular verbs,
the simple and
past forms
have different vowels.
Here
are a few examples:
|
Simple
arise
become
begin
break
choose
dig
draw
eat
fall
feed
find
fly
forget
freeze
get
give
hide
hold
know
lead
lie
meet
ride
ring
rise
take
tear
weave
|
|
Past
arose
became
began
broke
chose
dug
drew
ate
fell
fed
found
flew
forgot
froze
got
gave
hid
held
knew
led
lay
met
rode
rang
rose
took
tore
wove
|
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| 3. |
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For many irregular verbs,
the simple verb
and the past form have different endings
(and often different vowels):
|
Simple
bend
bring
build
buy
catch
creep
do (does)
feel
have (has)
lose
make
mean
pay
say
seek
sleep
spend
stand
teach
tell
think
|
|
Past
bent
brought
built
bought
caught
crept
did
felt
had
lost
made
meant
paid
said
sought
slept
spent
stood
taught
told
thought
|
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| 4. |
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A few irregular verbs have
more than one
past
form. Here are a few examples:
|
Simple
dream
fit
kneel
leap
light
shine
speed
spit
wake
|
|
Past
dreamed, dreamt
fit, fitted
knelt, kneeled
leaped, leapt
lit, lighted
shone, shined
sped, speeded
spit, spat
woke, waked
|
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| 5. |
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For a few irregular verbs,
one past form
tends
is more common in American
English
and a different one is more common in
British English:
|
Verb
burn
lean
learn
smell
spoil
|
|
American
burned
leaned
learned
smelled
spoiled
|
|
British
burnt
leant
learnt
smelt
spoilt
|
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| 6. |
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The common irregular verb
go has a completely
different past
form:
|
____________________________________________
Special Notes:
1. |
|
The simple
and past forms of read have
the same
spelling, but they are pronounced
differently:
simple: read (pronounced
the same as reed)
past:
read (pronounced the same
as red)
|
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| 2. |
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There are no easy rules to help you
learn the past
forms for irregular
verbs quickly. Unfortunately,
you will
have to memorize them! |
To see an excellent online
collection of irregular verbs
(with past participles
as well as past forms), see this
Irregular
Verb List from Georgia State University.
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