In the English language, there are over two hundred irregular verbs, words that form the past and past participle in some way other than adding -ed to the base verb). When you look up a word in the dictionary, you search for the present or base form. Immediately following the word, you will see the spelling for the past and past participle. For example, if you look up speak, you will see the the past is spoke and the past participle is spoken. I have listed several irregular verbs in the table below. This will give you some indication of the variety of endings you may encounter when using irregular verbs.
| Present | Past | Past participle |
| begin | began | begun |
| burst | burst | burst |
| buy | bought | bought |
| come | came | come |
| do | did | done |
| fly | flew | flown |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| hear | heard | heard |
| know | knew | known |
| keep | kept | kept |
| lay (put) | laid | laid |
| lie (recline) | lay | lain |
| ring | rang | rung |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| set (place) | set | set |
| sit (be seated) | sat | sat |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
When you use the past participle form as a main verb, you must use a helping verb with it.
Examples:
We are done.
They have gone.
Joe has taken his time getting here.
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Copyright © 2015 Hazel Hart
