Regular and irregular verbs

OCTOBER 4, 2016 -

An English verb can be regular or irregular. Regular verbs form their past and past
participle forms by adding –ed.
Examples are given below.

Walk – walked – walked

Dance – danced – danced
Paint – painted – painted
Work – worked – worked

Irregular verbs form their past and past participle forms in different ways.

There are mainly three types of irregular verbs.

Verbs in which all the three forms are the same (e.g. put – put – put)
Verbs in which two of the three forms are the same (e.g. sit – sat – sat)
Verbs in which all three forms are different (e.g. drink – drank – drunk)

Some verbs can be both regular and irregular. Examples are:

Burn – burnt – burnt (irregular)

Burn – burned – burned (regular)

Dream – dreamt – dreamt (irregular)

Dream – dreamed – dreamed (regular)

Lean – lent – lent (irregular)

Lean – leaned – leaned (regular)

Learn – learnt – learnt (irregular)

Learn – learned – learned (regular)
Leap – leapt – leapt (irregular)

Leap – leaped – leaped (regular)

Smell – smelt – smelt (irregular)

Smell – smelled – smelled (regular)

Spill – spilt – spilt (irregular)

Spill – spilled – spilled (regular)

Spoil – spoilt – spoilt (irregular)

Spoil – spoiled – spoiled (regular)

Complete the following sentences using the past or past participle form of the verb
given in the brackets.

1. It has been ages since I last ……………… him. (see)

2. The old man has ……………….. better days (see)

3. The cat ………………. all the milk. (drink)

 How to Learn Regular and Irregular English
Verbs
18/10/2017 By Mary Milne

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In order to use many verb tenses in English, you need to know the past forms of the verbs. All
verbs have a base form or ‘infinitive’ (for example, look, make, play). The majority of verbs,
called ‘Regular verbs’, follow the same pattern and create the past simple and the past
participle using the same word ending, -ed. There are, however, verbs that have different
endings, and these are called ‘Irregular verbs.’ At Wall Street English you learn the regular
and irregular verbs gradually throughout your course, which makes them easier to learn and
remember. Here is a “how to learn regular and irregular verbs” with examples and also some
tips on how to remember them.

An Overview of Verb Forms

Every verb in English can have a base form, an -ing form, a past simple form and a past
participle.

We use the base form for:

 the present simple tense. For example “They live in Rome.”

 the infinitive. For example, “I want to learn English.”

We use the -ing form (or the gerund) for:

 continuous tenses, like the present continuous. For example. “He’s working”
 verbs as nouns. For example, “Swimming is good for you.”

And we use the past participle for:

 perfect tenses, like the present perfect. For example, “I’ve finished”
 the passive form. For example, ”It was made in Japan”
 adjectives. For example. “The chair is broken”
What are Regular Verbs?

Regular verbs in English create the past simple and past participle by adding -ed to the
base form. For example:

If the verb ends in a consonant and -y, we change the -y to -i and added -ed. For example:

If a verb ends in -e we simply add -d, For example:

Here are some examples of regular verbs:

“Yesterday Jack studied all day.”

“Raul has accepted the job offer.”

“Have you finished yet?”

“We really liked the film we watched last night.”

There are three ways to pronounce -ed, depending on the last letter of the verb.

What are Irregular Verbs?

There are about 200 irregular verbs in English. We can divide these into four types:

 Group 1 – verbs which have the same base form, past simple and past participle
 Group 2 – verbs which have the same past simple and past participle
 Group 3 – verbs which have the same base form and past participle
 Group 4 – verbs which have a different base form, past simple and past participle

A good way to learn irregular verbs is to study them in these groups because as they are
similar they’re easier to remember. Here are the most common irregular verbs in these groups.
For example:

“Our car cost a lot of money but it’s always breaking down.”

“Pasha hurt himself in a soccer match last weekend.”

“My parents have let me stay out late tonight.”

“They put on their jackets because it was very cold.”

For example:

“They had lunch at a Thai restaurant on Monday.”

“Have you heard the news about the train strike?”

“Tim has sent an email to all the suppliers.”

“Who won the match?” – “The Giants.”

For example:

“He came back home at 4 a.m. on Saturday.”

“Suzi has become the Managing Director.”

“The dog ran into the garden after Lee opened the door.”

“Has Mrs. O’Connor come back from lunch yet?”

For example:

“The kids ate a lot of cakes at the party.”

“They drove to the airport and left their car there.”

“Has she taken her tickets yet?”

“I’ve written a letter of application for the manager’s job.”