Irregular verbs

Common irregular verbs

This is a list of the more common irregular verbs. Students should check that they know all of them. For a complete list, see a good dictionary.

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	born(e)
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet, betted	bet, betted
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burnt, burned	burnt, burned
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt /delt/	dealt /delt/
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt /dremt/, dreamed /driːmd/	dreamt /dremt/, dreamed /driːmd/
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate /et, eɪt/	eaten /ˈiːtn/
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade /fəˈbæd, fəˈbeɪd/	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone, been
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear /hɪə(r)/	heard /hɜːd/	heard /hɜːd/
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leant /lent/ leaned /liːnd/	leant /lent/ leaned /liːnd/
leap	leapt /lept/, leaped	leapt /lept/, leaped
learn	learnt, learned	learnt, learned
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit, lighted	lit, lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean /miːn/	meant /ment/	meant /ment/
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit, quitted	quit, quitted
read /riːd/	read /red/	read /red/
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said /sed/	said /sed/
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone /ʃɒn/	shone /ʃɒn/
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank, shrunk	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
smell	smelt, smelled	smelt, smelled
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spell	spelt, spelled	spelt, spelled
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt, spilled	spilt, spilled
spin	span, spun	spun
spit	spat	spat
split	split	split
spoil	spoilt, spoiled	spoilt, spoiled
spread	spread	spread
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	struck
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swing	swung	swung
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
wind /waɪnd/	wound /waʊnd/	wound /waʊnd/
write	wrote	written

Verbs that are easily confused

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fill	filled	filled
find (= get back something lost)	found	found
found (= start up an organisation or institution)	founded	founded
flow (of a liquid = move)	flowed	flowed
fly (= move in the air)	flew	flown
flee (= run away)	fled	fled
lay (= put down flat)	laid	laid
lie (= be down)	lay	lain
lie (= say things that are not true)	lied	lied
* For more details of lay / lie, (see here).
leave	left	left
live	lived	lived
raise (= put up)	raised	raised
rise (= go/get up)	rose	risen
strike (= hit)	struck	struck
stroke (= pass the hand gently over)	stroked	stroked
wind /waɪnd/ (= turn, tighten a spring, etc)	wound /waʊnd/	wound /waʊnd/
wound /wuːnd/ (= injure in a battle)	wounded	wounded

Notes

• Note the standard AmE pronunciations of ate (/eɪt/) and shone (/ʃoʊn/). /et/ for ate is substandard in AmE (but a standard variant in BrE).
• Burn, dream, kneel, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil are all generally regular in American English. In British English, irregular past tenses and participles with -t are also quite common.
• Dive is regular in British English, but can be irregular in American:
  dive — dived/dove (/doʊv/) — dived
• The old past participle drunken is used as an adjective in some expressions (e.g. a drunken argument, drunken driving), but these are not very common.
• Fit and quit are usually irregular in American English.
  fit — fit — fit, quit — quit — quit
• The American past participle of get is either got or gotten (see here).
• Hang is regular when used to mean 'execute by hanging'.
• Prove (regular) has an irregular past participle proven which is sometimes used instead of proved, especially as an adjective (e.g. a proven liar).
• Says is pronounced /sez/.
• Speed can also have regular forms, especially in the expression speeded up.
• Spit has both spit and spat as past tense and participle in American English.
• Sung and sunk are sometimes used instead of sang and sank.