Irregular Verbs List with Examples

Quick Answer: Irregular verbs do not add -ed to make the past simple and past participle; they change form instead, as in go, went, gone and eat, ate, eaten. The fastest way to learn them is by pattern group (cut, cut, cut or sing, sang, sung), starting with the ten most frequent: be, have, do, say, get, make, go, know, take and see.

Key takeaways

• Every verb has three forms: base (go), past simple (went) and past participle (gone).
• The past simple is used alone (I saw it); the participle needs have or be (I have seen it, it was seen).
• Some verbs keep one form for all three: cut, put, let, hit, set, cost, hurt, shut.
• After did, didn't and did you, always use the base form: Did you go? not Did you went?
• Learn, dream, burn and spell are regular in American English (learned) and can be irregular in British English (learnt).
• In American English, get usually has the participle gotten (has gotten better); British English uses got.

Regular verbs add -ed for both past forms (work, worked, worked). The most frequent verbs, however, are irregular, so you meet them from your first weeks of English and need them by A2 level.

The three forms

Every verb has three key forms:

1. Base form: used in the present and after to, will, can and did. (go)
2. Past simple: for finished past actions. (went)
3. Past participle: for perfect tenses and the passive. (gone)

• I go to work by bus.
• I went to work by bus yesterday.
• I have gone to work by bus all week.

The 10 most important irregular verbs

Base	Past simple	Past participle	Example
be	was, were	been	I was tired. I have been busy.
have	had	had	We had lunch.
do	did	done	Have you done your homework?
say	said	said	She said hello.
get	got	got (UK), gotten (US)	I got a message.
make	made	made	He made a cake.
go	went	gone	They went home.
know	knew	known	I knew the answer.
take	took	taken	Who has taken my pen?
see	saw	seen	I saw her yesterday.

Group 1: all three forms are the same

These are the easiest.

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

• Yesterday I cut my finger.
• The tickets cost a lot last year.

Group 2: past simple and participle are the same

Base	Past	Participle
buy	bought	bought
bring	brought	brought
think	thought	thought
teach	taught	taught
catch	caught	caught
feel	felt	felt
keep	kept	kept
sleep	slept	slept
leave	left	left
meet	met	met
send	sent	sent
spend	spent	spent
build	built	built
lose	lost	lost
pay	paid	paid
sell	sold	sold
tell	told	told
find	found	found
hold	held	held
stand	stood	stood
understand	understood	understood
sit	sat	sat
win	won	won

Notice the -ought and -aught group: buy, bring, think, teach, catch. They all end in the same sound.

Group 3: vowel change i, a, u

Base	Past	Participle
begin	began	begun
drink	drank	drunk
ring	rang	rung
sing	sang	sung
swim	swam	swum
sink	sank	sunk

• The concert began at eight.
• Have you ever sung in public?

Group 4: participle ends in -n or -en

Base	Past	Participle
break	broke	broken
choose	chose	chosen
speak	spoke	spoken
steal	stole	stolen
wake	woke	woken
forget	forgot	forgotten
get	got	gotten (US)
give	gave	given
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
drive	drove	driven
write	wrote	written
ride	rode	ridden
rise	rose	risen
hide	hid	hidden
bite	bit	bitten

Group 5: -ew and -own

Base	Past	Participle
know	knew	known
grow	grew	grown
throw	threw	thrown
blow	blew	blown
fly	flew	flown
draw	drew	drawn

Group 6: other common irregulars

Base	Past	Participle
come	came	come
become	became	become
run	ran	run
wear	wore	worn
tear	tore	torn
read	read	read
hear	heard	heard
mean	meant	meant
lie (rest)	lay	lain
lay (put)	laid	laid

Read looks the same in all three forms but sounds different: base sounds like reed, past and participle sound like red.

British and American differences

Some verbs have both an irregular and a regular form.

Verb	British	American
learn	learnt or learned	learned
dream	dreamt or dreamed	dreamed
burn	burnt or burned	burned
spell	spelt or spelled	spelled
get (participle)	got	gotten (but have got for possession)

Both are correct. In American English, dreamt and burnt also exist but are less common, and burnt is normal as an adjective in both varieties (burnt toast). Choose one variety and be consistent. See British vs American English.

Common mistakes

• Using the participle as the past simple. Wrong: I seen it. Right: I saw it. Or: I have seen it.
• Adding -ed to irregular verbs. Wrong: I goed, I buyed. Right: I went, I bought.
• Using the past after did. Wrong: Did you went? Right: Did you go?
• Mixing brought and bought. Brought is from bring. Bought is from buy.
• Mixing lie and lay. I lay down yesterday (past of lie). I laid the book on the table (past of lay).
• Using the past simple after have. Wrong: I have went. Right: I have gone. Wrong: She has wrote. Right: She has written.
• Mixing rose and raised. The sun rose (rise has no object). She raised her hand (raise is regular and needs an object).

How to learn irregular verbs

1. Learn by group, not alphabetically. Patterns make memory easier.
2. Say them out loud as a rhythm: sing, sang, sung.
3. Write one sentence for each verb about your own life.
4. Review often. Use spaced repetition to review ten verbs a day.
5. Read and listen. Stories are written in the past, so reading reinforces the forms naturally.

For the full rules of the past, see past simple tense, and for participles in use, read about the present perfect tense.

Practice quiz

Write the correct form: past simple in 1 to 3, past participle in 4 to 6.

1. Yesterday I (buy) a new phone.
2. She (teach) English for ten years before she retired.
3. We (eat) at a great restaurant last night.
4. He has (write) three books.
5. Have you ever (fly) in a helicopter?
6. The window was (break) by the wind.

Answers: 1 bought, 2 taught, 3 ate, 4 written, 5 flown, 6 broken.

Practice every day

The free LearnLingo A2 course practices the most common irregular verbs in real sentences, so you learn them by using them.

People Also Ask

What is an irregular verb?

An irregular verb does not form its past simple and past participle with -ed. For example, go becomes went and gone, not goed.

How many irregular verbs are there in English?

There are a few hundred irregular verbs in total, but learners need far fewer. A list of about 100 of the most common ones is enough for most everyday English.

What is the best way to learn irregular verbs?

Learn them in groups that share a pattern, such as sing, sang, sung and ring, rang, rung. Say them out loud and use each one in a short sentence.

Is it learned or learnt?

Both are correct. American English usually uses learned, while British English uses both learned and learnt. The same applies to burned and burnt, and dreamed and dreamt.

Related Reading

• Past Simple Tense: Rules, Irregular Verbs and Examples
• The Present Perfect Tense, Explained Simply
• All English Tenses: An Overview
• Spaced Repetition: Remember Words for Good