English verb conjugation is easy compared to many other languages. In the present simple, the verbs forms are all the same, apart from the he/she/it form.
- I play
- you play
- he/she/it plays
- we play
- they play
And the past simple isn’t that much trickier. All you need to do for most verbs is add the ‘ed’ ending to the base form. So “play” becomes “played”, just as “walk” becomes “walked”.
But languages are never that regular and predictable! In English, just like in every language there are exceptions, and so that means plenty of irregular verbs in English.
In this post, you’re going to discover 105 English irregular verbs so that you know their forms and can use them correctly. Let's go!
Irregular Verbs In English
Some verbs, like “to be” are highly irregular in many languages, and English is no exception.
Just look at its present simple forms:
- I am
- You are
- He/she/it is
- We are
- They are
And the past simple and past participle forms of “to be” are just as irregular:
- Past simple: was/were
- Past participle: been
A quick reminder – you use the past simple to talk about finished actions in the past:
- Yesterday, I was at home all day.
You use the past participle to create tenses such as the present perfect or past perfect:
- Have you ever been to Paris? (present perfect = have/has + past participle)
- Before my trip last summer, I had never visited New York before. (past perfect = had + past participle)
You also use the past participle to make the passive forms in English:
- The president has been shot (present perfect passive)
- The victims were transported to the hospital by helicopter (past simple passive)
Speaking of the past simple and past participles, these are the verb forms that tend to be highly irregular. So let’s take a look at them in more detail.
While irregular verbs in English are a bit less exciting than topics such as English slang words or phrasal verbs in English, they're essential for communication.
List Of Over 100 Irregular Verbs In English With Examples
In this list, you’ll discover the 105 most common irregular verbs in English with examples. These verbs are irregular because they don’t take “ed” in the past simple and past participle forms.
As you go through this list, you might notice that some verbs are very easy to remember, because the base form, past simple and past participle are all the same! Examples include verbs like “bet” or “cost”.
In other cases, you’ll notice that the past simple and past participle forms are the same, but the base verb is different. This is the case with verbs like “deal/dealt/dealt” or “hold/held/held”.
Unfortunately though, in some cases, all three verb forms are completely different, such as “begin/began/begun” or “freeze/froze/frozen”.
Look out for these different patterns in the table below. And don’t panic if the number of verbs to learn looks overwhelming. I’ll share some strategies to learn them without memorisation shortly.
| Base verb | Past Simple | Past Participle | Example |
| be | was/were | been | Yesterday, I was at home all day. |
| beat | beat | beaten | The record has never been beaten. |
| become | became | become | When I talked to him about it, he became angry. |
| begin | began | begun | When I arrived, the teacher had already begun the class without me. |
| bend | bent | bent | I bent down and afterwards I was so embarrassed because I ripped my trousers! |
| bet | bet | bet | He bet all his money on the team winning and then lost everything. |
| bite | bit | bitten | Has your dog ever bitten anyone? |
| blow | blew | blown | The wind blew so hard last night that the fence fell down. |
| break | broke | broken | That’s the third time my car has broken down this month! |
| bring | brought | brought | Have you brought something with you to eat at lunchtime? |
| broadcast | broadcast | broadcast | The head of state’s funeral was broadcast live on TV. |
| build | built | built | The castle was built in the 1800s. |
| burst | burst | burst | The little girl started crying when her balloon burst. |
| buy | bought | bought | I’ve never bought this brand of cereal before – I hope it’s good. |
| catch | caught | caught | The police haven’t caught the criminals yet. |
| choose | chose | chosen | Have they chosen a date for their wedding yet? |
| come | came | come | My parents came to our house last night for dinner. |
| cost | cost | cost | Be careful with that vase – it cost a lot of money. |
| cut | cut | cut | Due to austerity, the government has cut public spending. |
| deal | dealt | dealt | She shuffled the cards and then dealt them. |
| dig | dug | dug | They dug a big hole to plant a tree in. |
| do | did | done | Have you done your homework yet? |
| draw | drew | drawn | My daughter drew a beautiful picture yesterday so we put it on the wall. |
| drink | drank | drunk | He’s already drunk three cups of coffee this morning. |
| drive | drove | driven | I drove to work yesterday because there was a bus strike. |
| eat | ate | eaten | We ate at a restaurant last night. |
| fall | fell | fallen | Prices have fallen 10% this quarter. |
| feed | fed | fed | Have you fed the animals yet? |
| feel | felt | felt | Have you ever felt depressed? |
| fight | fought | fought | The battle was fought in this field over 300 years ago. |
| find | found | found | After searching for an hour, I finally found my phone charger. |
| flee | fled | fled | Her family fled their country decades ago due to war. |
| fly | flew | flown | A beautiful bird flew into my garden this morning. |
| forget | forgot | forgotten | It’s not the first time I have forgotten her name. |
| forgive | forgave | forgiven | Has she forgiven him for his mistake yet? |
| freeze | froze | frozen | It was so cold last winter that the lake froze. |
| get | got | got/gotten | After sending over 100 applications, I finally got a job offer. |
| give | gave | given | My aunt gave me money for my birthday instead of a present. |
| go | went | gone | We went to Spain on holiday last year. |
| grow | grew | grown | Wow! You have grown so much since the last time I saw you. |
| hang | hung | hung | Have you hung my painting on the wall yet? |
| have | had | had | We had a good time at the party last night. |
| hear | heard | heard | Have you heard the news? |
| hide | hid | hidden | Where have you hidden the money? |
| hit | hit | hit | I fainted yesterday and hit my head on the edge of the table. |
| hold | held | held | She held the door to the apartment building open for her neighbour. |
| hurt | hurt | hurt | I hurt my knee playing rugby when I was younger and it’s still painful now. |
| keep | kept | kept | She kept their secret for all those years. |
| know | knew | known | If I had known the truth, I wouldn’t have come. |
| lay | laid | laid | The weather was good last week so they laid the foundations of the house. |
| lead | led | led | The HR manager led me into a meeting room for the interview. |
| leave | left | left | After she left, I realised she had forgotten her keys. |
| lend | lent | lent | I lent him some money two months ago and he still hasn’t paid me back. |
| let | let | let | My parents never let me go to parties when I was younger. |
| lie | lay | lain | I lay awake all night last night, worrying about different things. |
| light | lit | lit | We lit a fire in the garden and cooked marshmallows on it. |
| lose | lost | lost | Our team has lost eight matches so far this season. |
| make | made | made | She made a fortune when she was younger and now she doesn’t have to work. |
| mean | meant | meant | I meant what I said yesterday. |
| meet | met | met | Have you two met before? |
| pay | paid | paid | Have you paid this month’s electricity bill? |
| put | put | put | I’m sure I put the money on the table last night – where has it gone? |
| read | read | read | Have you read any good books recently? |
| ride | rode | ridden | Have you ever ridden a horse? |
| ring | rang | rung | I rang the doorbell but nobody was in. |
| rise | rose | risen | Interest rates have risen to 3% this month. |
| run | ran | run | How many marathons have you run? |
| say | said | said | She said goodbye, walked out of the door and we never heard from here again. |
| see | saw | seen | Have you seen the latest Tarantino movie? |
| sell | sold | sold | She sold her car last week. |
| send | sent | sent | Have you sent your mother a birthday card? |
| shake | shook | shaken | The earthquake shook the buildings in the city, but none of them collapsed. |
| shine | shone | shone | The sun shone brightly all day yesterday. |
| shoot | shot | shot | Have you heard? The president has been shot. |
| show | showed | shown/showed | My parents were disappointed when I showed them my school report. |
| shrink | shrank | shrunk | When I washed my new T-shirt in the machine, it shrank! |
| shut | shut | shut | We were making a lot of noise, so she shut the door and went into another room for some peace and quiet. |
| sing | sang | sung | My family sang “Happy Birthday” to me on my birthday. |
| sink | sank | sunk | The Titanic sank in the Atlantic. |
| sit | sat | sat | He sat beside me on the couch and put his arm around me. |
| sleep | slept | slept | I’ve hardly slept all week. |
| speak | spoke | spoken | My parents got divorced when I was 10 and haven’t spoken to each other in years. |
| spend | spent | spent | They spent the money they won on the lottery within two years. |
| split | split | split | We split the bill at the restaurant last night. |
| spread | spread | spread | The virus is spread through physical contact. |
| stand | stood | stood | When she entered the room, everyone stood up. |
| steal | stole | stolen | Hundreds of bicycles are stolen every year in this city. |
| stick | stuck | stuck | I stuck the pieces back together with some superglue. |
| sting | stung | stung | She was stung by a bee. |
| stink | stank | stunk | I forgot to take out the bin before going on holiday and when I got back the house stank. |
| strike | struck | struck | He was struck by lightning twice but he survived! |
| swear | swore | sworn | You swore you would never tell anyone! |
| swim | swam | swum | I swam in the sea every day when I lived by the beach. |
| swing | swung | swung | I swung the bat but completely missed the ball! |
| take | took | taken | We took the train to Paris instead of the plane. |
| teach | taught | taught | Children aren’t taught good manners any more. |
| tear | tore | torn | Several pages have been torn out of this book. |
| tell | told | told | He told her the truth in the end. |
| think | thought | thought | I haven’t thought much about your proposition. |
| throw | threw | thrown | Why haven’t you thrown all this mess away yet? |
| understand | understood | understood | You haven’t understood a word I’ve said, have you? |
| wake | woke | woken | They came back late at night and woke the baby. |
| wear | wore | worn | I haven’t worn this dress for ages. |
| win | won | won | Their team won the championship last season. |
| write | wrote | written | She has written several best-selling books on the topic. |
How To Learn Irregular Verbs In English
While this list is a great starting point, you’re not going to be able to learn, remember and use irregular verbs just by memorising it. Even if that’s what the grammar villain tells you to do.
In fact, the best way to learn grammar is not to learn rules, but to immerse yourself in the language. Here at StoryLearning, you immerse yourself in English by reading short stories in English.
As you read, you’ll see the most common irregular verbs in English over and over again. So you’ll learn them naturally, without having to memorise them.
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
