Irregular Verbs
Adapted from The Little, Brown Handbook, 11th Edition, Contributors Dayne
Sherman, Jayetta Slawson, Natasha Whitton, and Jeff Wiemelt, 2010, 275-277.
Prepared by the Southeastern Writing Center. Last updated July, 2011.
Irregular verbs are verbs that do not form their past tense and past participle with –ed. Instead, the past
tense for irregular verbs is formed by changing the verb internally. The following list contains some of
the most commonly used irregular verbs.
Present
Past
Past
Participle
Present
Participle
arise
awake
be/am/is/are
bear
beat
begin
bend
bet
bid (to command)
bid (to offer, to pay)
bite
blow
break
bring
build
burst
buy
catch
choose
cling
come
cost
cut
deal
dig
dive
do
drag
draw
drink
drive
eat
fall
feed
feel
fight
find
flee
fly
forget
freeze
get
arose
awoke/awaked
was/were
bore
beat
began
bent
bet
bide
bid
bit
blew
broke
brought
built
burst
bought
caught
chose
clung
came
cost
cut
dealt
dug
dived/dove
did
dragged
drew
drank
drove
ate
fell
fed
felt
fought
found
fled
flew
forgot
froze
got
arisen
awoke/awaked
been
borne
beaten
begun
bent
bet
bidden
bid
bitten
blown
broken
brought
built
burst
bought
caught
chosen
clung
come
cost
cut
dealt
dug
dived
done
dragged
drawn
drunk
drive
eaten
fallen
fed
felt
fought
found
fled
flown
forgotten/forgot
frozen
gotten
arising
awaking
being
bearing
beating
beginning
bending
betting
bidding
bidding
biting
blowing
breaking
bringing
building
bursting
buying
catching
choosing
clinging
coming
costing
cutting
dealing
digging
diving
doing
dragging
drawing
drinking
driving
eating
falling
feeding
feeling
fighting
finding
fleeing
flying
forgetting
freezing
getting
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Present
Past
Past
Participle
Present
Participle
give
go
grow
gave
went
grew
given
gone
grown
giving
going
growing
hang (to put to death)
hang (to suspend)
have
hear
hide
hold
keep
know
lay
lead
leave
lend
let
lie (tell an untruth)
lie (to recline)
lose
make
meet
pay
prove
raise
read
ride
ring
rise
run
say
see
sell
send
set (to place)
shake
show
shrink
sing
sink
sit
sneak
speak
speed
spin
spring
stand
steal
strike
swear
swim
swing
take
teach
tear
throw
wake
wear
win
wring
write
hanged
hung
had
heard
hid
held
kept
knew
laid
led
left
lent
let
lied
lay
lost
made
met
paid
proved
raised
read
rode
rang
rose
ran
said
saw
sold
sent
set
shook
showed
shrank/shrunk
sang
sank
sat
sneaked/snuck
spoke
sped/speeded
spun
sprang
stood
stole
struck
swore
swam
swung
took
taught
tore
threw
woke/waked
wore
won
wrung
wrote
hanged
hung
had
heard
hidden
held
kept
known
laid
led
left
lent
let
lied
lain
lost
made
met
paid
proved/proven
raised
read
ridden
rung
risen
run
said
seen
sold
sent
set
shaken
shown
shrunk/shrunken
sung
sunk
sat
sneaked/snuck
spoken
sped/speeded
spun
sprung
stood
stolen
struck/stricken
sworn
swum
swung
taken
taught
torn
thrown
waked/woken
worn
won
wrung
written
hanging
hanging
having
hearing
hiding
holding
keeping
knowing
laying
leading
leaving
lending
letting
lying
lying
losing
making
meeting
paying
proving
raising
reading
riding
ringing
rising
running
saying
seeing
selling
sending
setting
shaking
showing
shrinking
singing
sinking
sitting
sneaking
speaking
speeding
spinning
springing
standing
stealing
striking
swearing
swimming
swinging
taking
teaching
tearing
throwing
waking
wearing
winning
wringing
writing