Irregular Verbs: Definition, Patterns, List, and Examples

Most English verbs form their simple past and past participle by adding -ed. However, irregular verbs follow different patterns. For example, go becomes went and gone, while write becomes wrote and written. Because these forms appear frequently in everyday English, learning them improves both speaking and writing.

Irregular verbs do not follow one universal formation rule, but many belong to recognizable families. This guide explains their five forms, major change patterns, tense structures, accepted variants, and commonly confused forms. It also provides 100 modern irregular verbs with practical sentence examples.

Irregular Verbs: Definition, Patterns, List, and Examples

- advertisements -

In This Page

Understanding Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb does not form its simple past or past participle through the standard -ed pattern. Instead, it may change a vowel, replace part of the word, keep the same form, or use a completely different form.

Base Form	Simple Past	Past Participle
go	went	gone
write	wrote	written
buy	bought	bought
cut	cut	cut

Irregularity usually affects the simple past and past participle. Nevertheless, a few verbs, especially be, have, do, and say, also have unusual present forms.

Moreover, irregular describes conjugation rather than meaning. An irregular verb can also be an action, linking, stative, transitive, or intransitive verb.

Classification	Irregular Verb Example
Action verb	She wrote a letter.
Stative verb	He knew the answer.
Linking verb	She became a doctor.
Transitive verb	They built a house.
Intransitive verb	The children slept.

Five Forms of Irregular Verbs

Although teaching lists often show only V1, V2, and V3, English main verbs generally have five forms.

Verb Form	Example with write	Main Use
Base form	write	Present forms, infinitives, and commands
Third-person singular	writes	Simple present with he, she, or it
Simple past	wrote	Completed past action
Past participle	written	Perfect tenses and passive voice
Present participle	writing	Continuous tenses and other -ing uses

V1, V2, and V3 are convenient classroom labels. However, the grammatical names are more precise.

Teaching Label	Grammatical Term	Example
V1	Base form	write
V2	Simple past	wrote
V3	Past participle	written

The third-person and -ing forms usually follow ordinary spelling rules, even when V2 and V3 are irregular.

Main Irregular Verb Patterns

Irregular verbs do not follow the productive -ed rule. However, grouping them by shared forms makes them easier to understand.

All Three Forms Remain the Same

Base	Past	Past Participle
cut	cut	cut
put	put	put
hit	hit	hit
let	let	let
hurt	hurt	hurt

Past and Past Participle Remain the Same

Base	Past	Past Participle
build	built	built
feel	felt	felt
find	found	found
keep	kept	kept
send	sent	sent

Base and Past Participle Remain the Same

Base	Past	Past Participle
come	came	come
become	became	become
run	ran	run
overcome	overcame	overcome

Base and Past Forms Remain the Same

This AAB pattern is uncommon.

Base	Past	Past Participle
beat	beat	beaten

All Three Forms Change

Base	Past	Past Participle
begin	began	begun
drink	drank	drunk
speak	spoke	spoken
write	wrote	written
take	took	taken

Common Vowel-Change Families

Many irregular verbs share vowel or ending changes. These families help learners notice similarities, although they are not universal rules.

Pattern	Examples
i–a–u	sing–sang–sung, ring–rang–rung, drink–drank–drunk
ow–ew–own	blow–blew–blown, grow–grew–grown, know–knew–known
i–o–en	drive–drove–driven, rise–rose–risen, write–wrote–written
ea–o–en	break–broke–broken, speak–spoke–spoken
ought	buy–bought–bought, bring–brought–brought, think–thought–thought
aught	catch–caught–caught, teach–taught–taught
ee–e–e	keep–kept–kept, sleep–slept–slept, feel–felt–felt

Mixed Regular and Irregular Forms

Some verbs form their simple past with -ed but use an irregular or alternative past participle.

Base	Simple Past	Past Participle
show	showed	shown
prove	proved	proved or proven
sew	sewed	sewn or sewed
sow	sowed	sown or sowed
swell	swelled	swollen or swelled
mow	mowed	mown or mowed

These mixed patterns explain why a verb cannot always be classified by looking only at its simple-past form.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

Feature	Regular Verbs	Irregular Verbs
Past formation	Usually add -ed	Change in different ways
Past participle	Usually matches the past	May match or differ from the past
Predictability	Generally predictable	Learned individually or by pattern
Example	walk–walked–walked	write–wrote–written
Additional example	clean–cleaned–cleaned	go–went–gone

Most English verbs are regular. However, many of the most frequently used verbs are irregular.

Simple Past and Past Participle Uses

The simple past and past participle are forms, not interchangeable tenses. V2 expresses a completed past event by itself, whereas V3 normally works with one or more helping verbs.

Form or Structure	Pattern	Example
Simple past	Subject + V2	She wrote a letter.
Present perfect	Subject + has/have + V3	She has written a letter.
Past perfect	Subject + had + V3	She had written a letter.
Future perfect	Subject + will have + V3	She will have written the letter.
Passive voice	Subject + form of be + V3	The letter was written yesterday.
Modal perfect	Modal + have + V3	She may have written the letter.

Past participles also appear in conditional structures:

If I had known, I would have helped.
If they had left earlier, they would have arrived on time.

Irregular Verbs in Different Tenses

The verb write remains irregular even when a tense uses its base or -ing form.

Tense	Example
Simple present	She writes every day.
Present continuous	She is writing now.
Simple past	She wrote yesterday.
Past continuous	She was writing at noon.
Present perfect	She has written three pages.
Past perfect	She had written before dinner.
Simple future	She will write tomorrow.
Future perfect	She will have written the report.

Irregular Verbs in Questions and Negatives

The helping verb did already marks past time. Therefore, the main verb returns to its base form in simple-past questions and negatives.

Sentence Type	Structure	Example
Past statement	Subject + V2	She went home.
Past question	Did + subject + V1	Did she go home?
Past negative	Subject + did not + V1	She did not go home.

Contracted forms are common:

She didn’t go home.
He didn’t write the email.
We haven’t seen the film.
She hasn’t eaten lunch.

Incorrect	Correct
Did she went home?	Did she go home?
He did not wrote.	He did not write.
They have went home.	They have gone home.
She has ate lunch.	She has eaten lunch.

Special Forms of BE

The verb be has more irregular forms than any other English verb.

Subject	Present Form	Past Form
I	am	was
he, she, it	is	was
you, we, they	are	were

Form	BE Form
Base form	be
Present forms	am, is, are
Past forms	was, were
Past participle	been
Present participle	being

Unlike most verbs, be does not use do, does, or did to form questions and negatives.

Ordinary Verb	BE
Did she go home?	Was she at home?
She did not go home.	She was not at home.
Does he work here?	Is he here?

Other Irregular Present Forms

Most irregular verbs have ordinary present forms. However, have, do, and say change spelling or pronunciation in the third-person singular.

Base	Third-Person Form	Example
have	has	She has a car.
do	does	He does his work.
say	says	She says hello.

The forms does and says also have unexpected pronunciations.

Main-Verb and Helping-Verb Uses

The highly frequent verbs be, have, and do can function as main verbs or helping verbs.

Verb	Main-Verb Use	Helping-Verb Use
be	She is a teacher.	She is working.
have	They have a car.	They have finished.
do	He did the work.	Did he leave?

Their function depends on whether they carry the main meaning or support another verb.

Modal and Defective Verbs

Modal verbs do not have normal five-form paradigms. Therefore, they should not appear in a standard V1–V2–V3 irregular-verb list.

Modal	Related Past Form	Missing Forms
can	could	No infinitive, participle, or -ing form
may	might	No normal participle or -ing form
shall	should	No normal participle or -ing form
will	would	No normal participle or -ing form
must	—	No separate past or participle

When another tense or form is needed, English often uses an alternative expression, such as be able to instead of can.

Irregular Verbs in Passive Structures

Passive constructions use a form of be followed by V3.

Passive Structure	Example
Simple present passive	The letters are written by hand.
Simple past passive	The window was broken yesterday.
Present perfect passive	The work has been done.
Modal passive	The form must be signed.

The auxiliary changes according to tense and number, while the past participle carries the main lexical meaning.

Past-Participial Adjectives

An irregular past participle can also describe a noun or subject.

Past Participle	Adjectival Use
broken	a broken window
written	a written report
hidden	a hidden door
frozen	frozen food
stolen	a stolen bicycle

In these examples, the participles function like adjectives rather than forming a perfect tense.

25 Essential Irregular Verbs

The following verbs appear extremely often in everyday English and deserve priority.

Base	Past	Past Participle
be	was/were	been
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bring	brought	brought
buy	bought	bought
come	came	come
do	did	done
eat	ate	eaten
find	found	found
get	got	got/gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
have	had	had
know	knew	known
make	made	made
read	read	read
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
take	took	taken
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
understand	understood	understood
wear	wore	worn
write	wrote	written

100 Common Irregular Verbs with Examples

The following alphabetical list contains 100 unique, standard modern irregular verbs. Alternative forms appear only where they are common and useful.

Base Form	Simple Past	Past Participle	Example Sentence
arise	arose	arisen	A problem arose during the meeting.
awake	awoke	awoken	She awoke before sunrise.
be	was/were	been	They were ready.
bear	bore	borne/born	She was born in May.
beat	beat	beaten	Our team beat the champions.
become	became	become	He became a doctor.
begin	began	begun	The lesson began at nine.
bend	bent	bent	She bent the wire.
bet	bet	bet	He bet ten dollars.
bite	bit	bitten	The dog has bitten the toy.
bleed	bled	bled	His finger bled slightly.
blow	blew	blown	The wind blew all night.
break	broke	broken	Someone has broken the glass.
bring	brought	brought	She brought her notebook.
build	built	built	They built a bridge.
buy	bought	bought	I bought fresh bread.
catch	caught	caught	He caught the ball.
choose	chose	chosen	We have chosen a winner.
come	came	come	They came early.
cost	cost	cost	The repairs cost too much.
cut	cut	cut	She cut the paper.
deal	dealt	dealt	He dealt with the complaint.
dig	dug	dug	We dug a small hole.
do	did	done	She did her homework.
draw	drew	drawn	The child drew a house.
drink	drank	drunk	He drank some water.
drive	drove	driven	We drove to the coast.
eat	ate	eaten	They ate dinner early.
fall	fell	fallen	A branch fell from the tree.
feed	fed	fed	She fed the cat.
feel	felt	felt	I felt much better.
fight	fought	fought	The soldiers fought bravely.
find	found	found	He found his keys.
fly	flew	flown	The birds flew south.
forget	forgot	forgotten	I forgot the appointment.
forgive	forgave	forgiven	She forgave the mistake.
freeze	froze	frozen	The lake froze overnight.
get	got	got/gotten	We got good news.
give	gave	given	She gave me a book.
go	went	gone	They went home.
grow	grew	grown	The plant grew quickly.
hang	hung	hung	He hung the picture.
have	had	had	We had enough time.
hear	heard	heard	I heard a strange noise.
hide	hid	hidden	She hid the gift.
hit	hit	hit	The ball hit the wall.
hold	held	held	He held the door open.
hurt	hurt	hurt	She hurt her ankle.
keep	kept	kept	We kept the receipt.
know	knew	known	I knew the answer.
lead	led	led	She led the discussion.
leave	left	left	They left before noon.
lend	lent	lent	He lent me his pen.
let	let	let	She let us enter.
lie	lay	lain	He lay on the sofa.
lose	lost	lost	I lost my wallet.
make	made	made	She made a cake.
mean	meant	meant	I meant every word.
meet	met	met	We met at the station.
pay	paid	paid	He paid the bill.
put	put	put	She put the keys away.
read	read	read	I read the article yesterday.
ride	rode	ridden	They rode their bicycles.
ring	rang	rung	The phone rang twice.
rise	rose	risen	Prices rose last month.
run	ran	run	She ran five miles.
say	said	said	He said goodbye.
see	saw	seen	We saw a rainbow.
sell	sold	sold	They sold their house.
send	sent	sent	I sent the email.
set	set	set	She set the table.
shake	shook	shaken	He shook the bottle.
shoot	shot	shot	The player shot the ball.
show	showed	shown	She showed us the room.
shut	shut	shut	He shut the window.
sing	sang	sung	They sang beautifully.
sink	sank	sunk	The boat sank quickly.
sit	sat	sat	We sat near the door.
sleep	slept	slept	The baby slept peacefully.
speak	spoke	spoken	She spoke clearly.
spend	spent	spent	We spent the afternoon outside.
stand	stood	stood	He stood beside me.
steal	stole	stolen	Someone stole my bicycle.
stick	stuck	stuck	The note stuck to the wall.
sting	stung	stung	A bee stung his hand.
strike	struck	struck/stricken	Lightning struck the tree.
sweep	swept	swept	She swept the floor.
swim	swam	swum	They swam across the pool.
take	took	taken	He took the last seat.
teach	taught	taught	She taught mathematics.
tear	tore	torn	I tore the paper.
tell	told	told	He told the truth.
think	thought	thought	We thought about the problem.
throw	threw	thrown	She threw the ball.
understand	understood	understood	I understood the instructions.
wake	woke	woken	He woke at six.
wear	wore	worn	She wore a blue coat.
win	won	won	Our team won the match.
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn	She withdrew some money.
write	wrote	written	He wrote a short story.

Verbs with Two Accepted Forms

Some verbs have both regular and irregular variants. Preferences often differ between American and British English.

Base	Regular Variant	Irregular Variant
burn	burned	burnt
dream	dreamed	dreamt
learn	learned	learnt
smell	smelled	smelt
spell	spelled	spelt
spoil	spoiled	spoilt

American English generally favors burned, dreamed, learned, smelled, spelled, and spoiled. British English uses both sets more freely.

Got and Gotten

Get requires special attention because its past participle differs across varieties and meanings.

Variety or Use	Preferred Form	Example
American English for become or obtain	gotten	She has gotten better.
British English general participle	got	She has got better.
Possession with have got	got	She has got a new car.
Simple past in both varieties	got	She got a new car.

Forms That Change According to Meaning

Hang

Meaning	Past and Participle	Example
Suspend an object	hung	She hung the picture.
Execute a person	hanged	The prisoner was hanged.

Bear

Meaning	Past Participle	Example
Give birth	born	She was born in May.
Carry, support, or endure	borne	The cost was borne by the company.

Shine

Meaning	Past and Participle	Example
Produce light	shone	The moon shone brightly.
Polish something	shined	He shined his shoes.

Lie

Meaning	Base	Past	Past Participle
Recline	lie	lay	lain
Say something untrue	lie	lied	lied

Find and Found

Verb	Meaning	Forms
find	discover	find–found–found
found	establish	found–founded–founded

Easily Confused Verbs

Verb	Meaning	Past	Past Participle
lie	recline	lay	lain
lay	place something	laid	laid
rise	move upward independently	rose	risen
raise	lift something	raised	raised
sit	take a seated position	sat	sat
set	place something	set	set
fall	move downward	fell	fallen
fell	cut down	felled	felled

Transitive verbs such as lay, raise, set, and fell normally take an object. In contrast, lie, rise, sit, and fall do not require one.

Compound Irregular Verbs

Many compounds inherit the irregular pattern of their base verbs.

Base Verb	Compound Verb	Forms
take	overtake	overtake–overtook–overtaken
stand	understand	understand–understood–understood
come	overcome	overcome–overcame–overcome
do	redo	redo–redid–redone
write	rewrite	rewrite–rewrote–rewritten
see	foresee	foresee–foresaw–foreseen

Nevertheless, uncommon compounds should be checked in a reliable dictionary because usage can vary.

Pronunciation Changes in Irregular Verbs

Some irregular forms have spellings that may mislead learners.

Forms	Pronunciation Note
read–read–read	Base /riːd/, past and participle /rɛd/
lead–led–led	Base /liːd/, past and participle /lɛd/
say–said–said	Said is pronounced /sɛd/
buy–bought–bought	The vowel changes completely
think–thought–thought	The vowel and final consonant cluster change

Identifying Irregular Verbs

Use this process to identify an irregular verb:

Find the verb’s base form.
Check its simple-past form.
Check its past-participle form.
Determine whether both forms follow the standard -ed pattern.
Notice pronunciation changes and accepted variants.
Check a reliable dictionary when uncertain.

Forms	Classification	Reason
walk–walked–walked	Regular	Follows the -ed pattern
study–studied–studied	Regular	Follows a standard spelling rule
write–wrote–written	Irregular	Changes in two different ways
put–put–put	Irregular	Does not use the -ed pattern
read–read–read	Irregular	Changes pronunciation

Common Mistakes with Irregular Verbs

Adding ED to an Irregular Verb

Incorrect	Correct
goed	went
writed	wrote
buyed	bought
catched	caught

Using V2 After Did

Because did already marks the past, use V1 after it.

Incorrect	Correct
Did she went?	Did she go?
He didn’t wrote.	He didn’t write.

Using V2 Instead of V3

Incorrect	Correct
They have went.	They have gone.
I have saw it.	I have seen it.
She had wrote the note.	She had written the note.

Omitting a Helping Verb Before V3

In standard perfect structures, V3 requires have, has, or had.

Incorrect	Correct
She gone home.	She has gone home.
We seen the film.	We have seen the film.

Confusing Went and Gone

Went	Gone
Simple past	Past participle
She went home.	She has gone home.

Confusing Saw and Seen

Saw	Seen
Simple past	Past participle
I saw the movie.	I have seen the movie.

Confusing Lay and Lain

Lay is the simple past of lie when it means recline. Lain is its past participle.

Yesterday, he lay on the sofa.
He has lain there for an hour.

Do not confuse these forms with lay–laid–laid, which means to place something.

Assuming Unchanged Forms Are Regular

Verbs such as cut, put, hit, and set are irregular. They remain unchanged instead of following the productive -ed pattern.

Mixing American and British Forms

Both learned and learnt are standard, but consistent regional usage makes writing clearer. This article uses American English as its main style.

FAQs

What is an irregular verb?

An irregular verb does not form its simple past or past participle through the standard -ed pattern. It may change its vowel, use a different ending, remain unchanged, or adopt a completely different form.

What are V1, V2, and V3?

V1 is the base form, V2 is the simple-past form, and V3 is the past participle. For example, the three forms of write are write, wrote, and written.

Do irregular verbs follow any patterns?

Irregular verbs do not follow one universal rule, but many form useful families. For example, sing–sang–sung and ring–rang–rung share the same vowel pattern.

What is the difference between went and gone?

Went is the simple-past form of go and can stand alone as the main verb. Gone is the past participle and normally follows a helping verb, as in “She has gone home.”

How can irregular verbs be learned more easily?

Learn the most frequent verbs first, group them by pattern, and study all three principal forms in short sentences. Regular exposure through reading and listening also makes the forms more familiar.

Conclusion

Irregular verbs form their simple past and past participle in ways that differ from the standard -ed pattern. Some remain unchanged, some share two forms, and others change completely. Nevertheless, many belong to recognizable families that make them easier to organize and remember.

To use irregular verbs accurately, distinguish V2 from V3, return to the base form after did, and use the correct helping verb before a past participle. Once these patterns become familiar, past, perfect, passive, and conditional structures become much easier to form.

Read More