Perfect English

A Wh question is an open question, meaning that it can have any number of answers. It asks about some missing information the speaker needs. This corresponds to the different sentence elements, such as the verb, objects, manner, place, time, purpose, etc. Questions about the subject have a special form (see the next section). A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule.

The Wh Question Rule: To form a Wh question in English, add a Wh question word before the corresponding yes/no question.

Pay attention:

• When an auxiliary verb (including modals) is used, the main verb is not inflected (no s or ed ending), meaning that either the base form or past participle is used.
• The verb to be uses a different Wh question pattern. Click here for more information.

Review the following table for examples of Wh questions in English.

wh subject questions

A Wh Subject question is an open question, meaning that it can have any number of answers. It asks about missing information the speaker needs about the subject of the sentence (performer of the action). A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule.

The Subject Wh Question Rule: To form a subject Wh-question in English, replace the subject with a question word, using who (for people) or what (for non-people)? The word order is that of a positive sentence.

Pay attention:

• There is no auxiliary verb in Wh Subject questions in the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses. The question word simply replaces the subject.
• In the present tenses, the verb is always in the third person singular, using the appropriate verb form.

Review the following table for examples of Wh Subject questions in English.

A Yes/No question is a closed question, meaning that it has one of two answers, yes or no. It asks whether something is true or not, i.e., whether the original positive sentence is valid. A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule:

The Y/N Question Rule: To form a yes/no question in English, transfer the first auxiliary verb that appears before the main verb in the positive sentence to the position before the subject. If there is no auxiliary verb, as in the Present Simple and Past Simple, then you add one (in both these cases, the auxiliary verb do).

Pay attention:

• When an auxiliary verb (including modals) is used, the main verb is not inflected (no s or ed ending), meaning that either the base form or past participle is used.

• The verb to be uses a different yes/no question pattern.

Review the following table for examples of yes/no questions in English.

Most verbs in English are regular verbs, meaning that they add the ed ending to form both the simple past and the past participle forms, which are identical, such as play-played-played. However, there is a considerable number of irregular verbs (about 450, but only about 200 are in common use) that form their simple past and past participle forms with a vowel change, such as in see-saw-seen (see table below). Some irregular verbs do not change form at all (let-let-let). Irregular verbs originate mostly from Old English, while any new verb coined in later periods tends to be regular. Still, the ten most used verbs in English are irregular.

Another distinction is between weak and strong verbs. In weak verbs, the simple past and past participle forms are identical, bearing a d or t ending (buy-bought-bought). In strong verbs the simple past and past participle are usually distinct, with the past participle having an en ending (speak-spoke-spoken). The classification of verbs to weak and strong in Modern English is less important for learners, so you can suffice with the regular-irregular distinction.

A user-friendly way to study English irregular verbs:

Regardless of the linguistic distinctions and classifications, which tend to be too complicated for learners, we suggest that you use the following tables, clustering together irregular verbs with similar change patterns in small groups. This kind of clustering aids your memory, which will strengthen with practice. Read through the tables and make note of the verbs you find useful for your purposes. You could also read the table headings if it helps you, or simply focus on the verbs themselves. You may consider creating flash cards with the different groups and study them, as explained on our vocabulary strategies pages. Remember that for looking up irregulars verbs after you have learned them, you have an alphabetical list in any dictionary for easy referencing.

You may notice that in some verb parts there are two correct forms. A general rule of thumb here is that the regular verb option (with ed, no vowel change) is more commonly used in American English, whereas the irregular option (vowel change) is still in use in British English. Moreover, there may also be finer nuances in meaning pertaining to the usage of the former or the latter. In any case, consult your dictionary if you are not sure about the exact usage.

The following irregular verb tables are sorted according to V1,V2, and V3 forms. Here is a quick reminder for these verb forms:

• Uses of the 3 main verb forms:
V1=base form     • Present Simple
• “Future Simple”     • I write in English every day.
• I will write an English essay tomorrow.
V2=Past Simple     • Past Simple only!     • Yesterday, I wrote 2 poems in English.
V3=Past participle     • perfect tenses
• passive forms
• passive adjective     • I have already written my English paper.
• This novel was written by Charles Dickens.
• This story is well-written.

Category 1: irregular ending with no vowel change, V2=V3

group 1: d ending changes to t, ent changes to end

bend     bent     bent
build     built     built
lend     lent     lent
send     sent     sent
spend     spent     spent

group 2: the verbs have and make

have \ has    had     had
make     made     made

group 3: regular (V2, V3) in US English, irregular in UK English

learn    learned \ learnt     learned \ learnt
burn    burned \ burnt     burned \ burnt
dwell     dwelled \ dwelt     dwelled \ dwelt
smell     smelled \ smelt     smelled \ smelt
spell     spelled \ spelt     spelled \ spelt
spill     spilled \ spilt     spilled \ spilt
spoil     spoiled \ spoilt     spoiled \ spoilt

group 4: ay ending changes to aid

*said is pronounced /sed/
lay
(the table,
clothes, eggs)    laid     laid
pay    paid     paid
say    *said
(/sed/)    *said
(/sed/)

Category 2: Vowel change, irregular ending, V2=V3

group 5: vowel change , d or t ending

creep     crept     crept
feed     fed     fed
feel     felt     felt
keep     kept     kept
kneel     knelt \ kneeled     knelt \ kneeled
meet    met     met
sleep    slept     slept
sweep    swept     swept
weep    wept     wept
*leave    left     left

group 6: different pronunciation of the same vowel

d or t ending
deal    dealt    dealt
dream    dreamed \ dreamt     dreamed \ dreamt
lean    leaned \ leant    leaned \ leant
leap    leapt    leapt
mean    meant    meant
read    read (/red/)    read (/red/)
hear    heard    heard

group 7: ell turns to old

sell    sold    sold
tell    told    told

group 8: vowel change with ought (or *aught) ending

d or t ending
bring     brought     brought
buy     bought     bought
fight     fought     fought
seek     sought     sought
think     thought     thought
*catch     caught     caught
*teach     taught     taught

Category 3: Verbs with the same form V1=V2=V3

group 9: Verbs that do not change

d or t ending
bet     bet     bet
bid (to offer)    bid     bid
broadcast     broadcast \
broadcasted     broadcast \
broadcasted
burst     burst     burst
cost     cost     cost
cut     cut     cut
fit    fit
(was the right size)
fitted
(tailored, changed size)    fit
(was the right size)
fitted
(tailored, changed size)
hit     hit    hit
hurt    hurt     hurt
let     let     let
put    put     put
set     set     set
shut     shut     shut
spread    spread    spread
quit     quit     quit

Category 4: Vowel change, V3 ending with (e)n

group 10: V2 and V3 with long /o / sound

break     broke     broken
choose     chose     chosen
freeze     froze     frozen
speak     spoke     spoken
steal     stole     stolen
awake     awoke \ awaked     awoken \ awaked
wake     woke \ waked     woken \ waked
weave     wove     woven

group 11: V2 long o sound, V3 shirt /i/ sound

arise     arose     arisen
rise     rose     risen
*ride     rode     *ridden
drive     drove     driven
*write     wrote     *written

group 12: The following verbs:

*bite     bit     *bitten
*hide     hid     *hidden
eat     ate     eaten
give     gave     given
forgive     forgave     forgiven
forbid *     forbad(e)     forbidden
* bid
( to command, farewell)    bade     *bidden
* forget     forgot     *forgotten
get     got     * gotten (AmE) \ got (BrE)
shake     shook     shaken
take     took     taken
see     saw     seen
beat     beat     beaten
fall     fell     fallen
lie
( down to rest)    lay     lain

Pay attention!
Do not confuse lie (tell a lie, regular), lie (down to rest, irregular), and lay (the table, irregular).

*lie
(tell a lie)    lied     lied
lie
(down to rest)    lay     lain
lay
(the table, eggs)    laid     laid

group 13: the ear-ore-orn pattern

bear     bore    born
swear     swore    sworn
tear    tore    torn
wear    wore    worn

group 14: V1 with ow, V2 with ew, V3 with own

blow     blew     blown

grow     grew     grown

know     knew     known

throw     threw     thrown

fly     flew     flown
draw    drew     *drawn

Category 5: regular V2, regular or irregular V3

group 15

show     showed     showed \ shown
sow    sowed     sowed \ sown
mow     mowed     mowed \ mown
swell     swelled     swelled \ swollen
sew     sewed     sewed \ sewn
*shine
(the shoes)    shined    shined
*shine
(brightly)    shone     shone

Category 6: vowel change, no ending, V2=V3

group 16: vowel change pattern, no ending

dig     dug     dug
stick     stuck     stuck
spin     spun     spun
sting     stung     stung
strike     struck     struck
swing     swung     swung
*hang
(a man)    hanged     hanged
*hang
(a picture)    hung     hung
slide     slid     slid
light     lighted \ lit     lighted \ lit
shoot     shot     shot

group 17: vowel change pattern i – ou – ou

bind     bound     bound
find     found     found
grind     ground     ground
wind     wound     wound

group 18: vowel change ee – e – e

bleed     bled     bled
feed     fed     fed
flee     fled     fled
*lead     led     led
*speed     speeded \ sped     speeded \ sped

Category 7: The craziest verbs!

group 19: vowel change pattern i – a – u

begin     began     begun
drink     drank     drunk
ring     rang     rung
shrink     shrank     shrunk
sing     sang     sung
sink     sank     sunk
spin     span \ spun     spun
spring     sprang     sprung
swim     swam     swum

group 20: vowel change, V1=V3

come     came     come
become     became     become
run     ran     run

group 21: miscellaneous

the verb to be
am
is
are     was
was
were     been
go     went     gone
*dive
(jumped head first)    dove     dived
*dive
(scuba-diving)    dived     dived
do     did     done
can     could
may     might
hold     held    held
stand     stood     stood
understand     understood     understood
sit     sat     sat
babysit     babysat     babysat
win     won     won
lose     lost     lost

Summary

This has been a review about the irregular verbs in English grammar. As these verbs are highly used in both spoken and written language, you should master their usage rather early on as you progress with your English writing. Reviewing the irregular verbs is not enough to make you use them correctly. The more you notice them up in your reading, and more importantly, use them properly in your writing, the better you will use them.