Irregular verbs in English

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not form the past simple and past participle in the usual way by adding -ed. For example, the regular verb work becomes worked in both forms, while the irregular verb write becomes wrote in the past simple and written in the past participle.

English verbs are commonly shown using three forms: the base form or V1 (write), the past simple or V2 (wrote) and the past participle or V3 (written). Some irregular verbs have the same past simple and past participle, while others have different forms.

Irregular verbs are particularly important because many of the most frequently used verbs in English are irregular. In fact, 20 of the 25 most common English verbs are irregular, including be, have, do, say, go and get.

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When are irregular verbs used?

Irregular verbs are used in the same grammatical situations as regular verbs. The difference is how their past simple and past participle forms are formed.

1. Past form for the past simple

The past simple form is used to talk about completed actions, events and states in the past:

• I went home early.
• She wrote three emails yesterday.

2. Past participle form for perfect tenses

The past participle is used with auxiliary verbs in perfect tenses have the auxiliary have, has or had:

• I have gone home.
• She had written three emails before lunch.

3. Past participle form for the passive voice

Past participles are also used to form the passive voice after the auxiliary be:

• The window was broken.
• The emails were written yesterday.

4. Past participle form for adjectives

Past participles can also sometimes be used like adjectives:

• a broken window
• a written agreement

As the complement of be, past participle adjectives often refer to the subject’s temporary condition or emotional state in response to someone or something that provoked that response described using an -ing adjective:

• I was bored because the lesson was boring.
• She is interested because the book is interesting.

Regular and irregular verbs

Regular and irregular verbs have the same grammatical functions. The difference is in their forms.

Regular verbs normally form both the past simple and past participle by adding -ed:

Irregular verbs do not follow this pattern, for example:

Some irregular verbs change completely, some change only part of the word, and some do not change at all.

The 100 most common irregular verbs in English

Irregular verbs include many of the most frequently used verbs in English. In fact, 20 out of the 25 most commonly used verbs in English are irregular, according to data from the British National Corpus (BNC).

The table below shows the 100 most common irregular verbs in English, ordered by how frequently they appear in English according to BNC data. It initially displays the 20 most common irregular verbs and can be expanded to show all 100:

Patterns in irregular verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow one universal rule, but many can be grouped according to similar patterns. Recognising these patterns can make them easier to remember.

1. The past simple and past participle are the same, but different from the base form

This is the most common irregular-verb pattern. For example:

2. All three forms are different

Many irregular verbs have a different base form, past simple and past participle. For example:

Some verbs in this group also share similar vowel-change patterns:

sing – sang – sung

ring – rang – rung

drink – drank – drunk

3. All three forms are the same

Some irregular verbs do not change at all. For example:

4. The base form and past participle are the same

A smaller group has the same base form and past participle, with a different past simple form. For example:

These patterns can help with memorisation, but they are not rules that can reliably be applied to unfamiliar verbs. Irregular verb forms still need to be learned individually.

Irregular verbs with alternative forms

Some verbs have more than one accepted past or past-participle form. Differences can depend on dialect, meaning or usage. Here are some common examples:

Common mistakes with irregular verbs

Learners often make mistakes with irregular verbs because the past simple and past participle cannot always be predicted from the base form. The four most common problems involve adding -ed to irregular verbs, confusing the past simple and past participle, and using a past form after didn’t.

1. Adding -ed to an irregular verb

Regular verbs usually form the past simple and past participle by adding -ed, but irregular verbs do not follow this rule. Their irregular forms have to be learned individually. Adding -ed to an irregular verb can therefore produce forms such as feeled, maked and knowed, which are not standard English and can cause confusion.

• ❌ We buyed a new car.
• ✅ We bought a new car.

• ❌ He speaked to the manager.
• ✅ He spoke to the manager.

2. Using the past simple instead of the past participle

The past simple and past participle are different for many irregular verbs. After auxiliary have in perfect tenses, you must use the past participle, not the past simple. This is why forms such as have went, has wrote and had came are incorrect.

• ❌ They have took the wrong train.
• ✅ They have taken the wrong train.

• ❌ She had saw him before.
• ✅ She had seen him before.

3. Using the past participle instead of the past simple

The opposite mistake also occurs when learners use a past participle without an auxiliary verb to describe a completed past action. In the simple past, use the past simple form, not the past participle.

• ❌ She written the report yesterday.
• ✅ She wrote the report yesterday.

• ❌ We taken a taxi home.
• ✅ We took a taxi home.

4. Using a past form after didn’t

In negative sentences in the simple past, didn’t already carries the simple past tense. The verb that follows must therefore be the bare infinitive (the base form), not the past simple or past participle.

• ❌ They didn’t found the keys.
• ✅ They didn’t find the keys.

• ❌ He didn’t went to work.
• ✅ He didn’t go to work.

Free irregular verbs worksheets