Irregular Verbs play played paint painted go goed

Irregular Verbs play – played paint - painted go goed? buyed? singed? To make the past tense of a regular verb you just add -ed But what do you do with these?

Of course not. You woudn’t say ”gådde” or ”sjungde” in Swedish and you can’t say ”goed” or ”singed” in English. These verbs are irregular and you just have to learn their different forms.

There are three basic ways irregular verbs can make their past tense forms 1) Some verbs don't change cut - cut hit - hit fit - fit 2) Some verbs change their vowel get - got sit - sat drink - drank 3) Some verbs change more than the vowel catch - caught bring - brought go – went be - was

There at least 470 irregular verbs in English, but there is no need for you to learn all of them – yet. But you should know the most common ones. On the following pages you will find 137 irregular verbs divided into different groups based on how their past tense forms are formed

Verbs that do not change present past bid quit burst rid cast set cost shed cut shut hit slit hurt split put upset

Verbs that change [i: ] to [e] present past bleed bled leap [i: ] leapt [e] breed bred leave left creep crept mean ment deal [i: ] dealt [e] meet met feed fed read [i: ] read [e] feel felt sleep slept flee fled sped keep kept sweep swept kneel knelt weep wept lead led

Now do the first exercise Exercise 1

Verbs that change i to ou present past bind bound fight fought find found grind ground wind wound

Verbs that change i to u present past cling clung dig dug fling flung sling slung spin spun stick stuck sting stung strike struck swing swung wring wrung

Verbs that change i or e to o present past get got sell sold tell told win won

Now do exercise 2 Exercise 2

Verbs that get ought/aught present past bring brought buy bought catch caught seek sought teach taught

Verbs that change d to t present past bend bent build built lend lent send sent

Verbs with other changes present past behold beheld say said hang hung shine shone hear [ı] heard [з] shoot shot hold held sit sat light lit slide slid lose [u: ] lost [ɒ] spit spat make made stand stood

Now do exercise 3 Exercise 3

Verbs with two past tense forms In Swedish verbs have two past tense forms leker – lekte – har lekt äter – åt – har ätit Most English verbs have only one past tense form play – played – has played But some have two different forms go – went – has gone

Verbs with more than two forms These verbs often follow certain patterns Some change their vowel from i to a and then u swim – swam – swum Others change vowel from i to o and back to i, adding –en drive – drove – driven While some seem to follow no perceptible logic at all go – went – gone

i–a–u present past simple past participle begin began begun drink drank drunk ring rang run ran run shrink shrank shrunk sink sank sunk spring sprang sprung shrink shrank shrunk stink stank stunk swim swam swum

i – o – i-en present past simple past participle drive drove driven ride rode ridden rise rose risen stride strode stridden strive strove striven write wrote written

vowel – o-(e)n present past simple past participle bear bore born(e) * swear swore sworn break broken tear tore torn choose chosen tread trodden forget forgotten wake woken speak spoken wear wore worn steal stolen weave woven * born means been given birth to in all other meanings (carry, stand etc) the past participle is borne

Now do exercise 4 Exercise 4

vowel – e – own present past simple past participle blow blew blown fly flew flown grow grew grown know knew known throw threw thrown

Vowel change + -en present past simple past participle bit bitten eat ate eaten fall fell fallen forbid forbade forbidden forgive forgave forgiven give gave given hide hidden mistake mistook mistaken shake shook shaken take took taken

Verbs that seem to follow no pattern present past simple past participle be was/were been beaten come came come draw drew drawn go went gone lie lay lain proved proven see saw seen showed shown slay slew slain

Now first do exercise 5 and then exercise 6 with verbs from all groups Exercise 5 Exercise 6