Irregular Verbs List: Past Simple and Past Participle

An irregular verb is a verb that doesn't form its past simple and past participle with -ed: go → went → gone, buy → bought → bought. Here's a list of 65 irregular verbs with their past and past participle, grouped into four patterns that make them easier to learn.

What is an irregular verb?

It's a verb whose past simple and past participle don't end in -ed. Every verb has three forms: the base (go), the past simple (went) and the past participle (gone), which you use in perfect tenses and the passive.

Past simple: I went to the beach yesterday.
Present perfect (past participle): She has gone to the beach. (She's there now.)
Passive (past participle): This book was written in 1990.

Irregular verbs list

65 irregular verbs: base, past simple, past participle and meaning
Base	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
be	was / were	been	to exist; to have a quality or state
become	became	become	to start to be
begin	began	begun	to start
break	broke	broken	to damage into pieces
bring	brought	brought	to carry here
build	built	built	to make a building
buy	bought	bought	to get with money
catch	caught	caught	to take something moving
choose	chose	chosen	to pick
come	came	come	to move here
cost	cost	cost	to have a price
cut	cut	cut	to divide with a knife
do	did	done	to perform an action
draw	drew	drawn	to make a picture
drink	drank	drunk	to take liquid
drive	drove	driven	to control a car
eat	ate	eaten	to take food
fall	fell	fallen	to go down suddenly
feel	felt	felt	to experience
find	found	found	to discover
fly	flew	flown	to move in the air
forget	forgot	forgotten	not to remember
get	got	got (US: gotten)	to receive, to obtain
give	gave	given	to hand to someone
go	went	gone	to move there
grow	grew	grown	to get bigger
have	had	had	to own; auxiliary verb
hear	heard	heard	to perceive sounds
hit	hit	hit	to strike
hold	held	held	to keep in your hand
keep	kept	kept	to continue to have
know	knew	known	to have information
leave	left	left	to go away
lend	lent	lent	to give for a time
let	let	let	to allow
lose	lost	lost	to stop having
make	made	made	to create
meet	met	met	to see someone by arrangement
pay	paid	paid	to give money
put	put	put	to place
read	read	read	to look at words
ride	rode	ridden	to travel on a bike or horse
run	ran	run	to move fast on foot
say	said	said	to speak words
see	saw	seen	to perceive with your eyes
sell	sold	sold	to give for money
send	sent	sent	to make something go
shut	shut	shut	to close
sing	sang	sung	to make music with your voice
sit	sat	sat	to rest on a chair
sleep	slept	slept	to rest with eyes closed
speak	spoke	spoken	to say words
spend	spent	spent	to use money or time
stand	stood	stood	to be on your feet
swim	swam	swum	to move through water
take	took	taken	to get hold of; to carry
teach	taught	taught	to give lessons
tell	told	told	to give information
think	thought	thought	to use your mind
throw	threw	thrown	to send through the air
understand	understood	understood	to know the meaning
wake	woke	woken	to stop sleeping
wear	wore	worn	to have clothes on
win	won	won	to be first
write	wrote	written	to put words on paper

List selected by HelloVozi and checked against the Cambridge Dictionary table of irregular verbs. Read is spelled the same in all three forms, but the past and past participle are pronounced like "red".

How to remember them: 4 patterns

All three forms the same (A-A-A): cost, cut, hit, let, put, read.
Past and past participle the same (A-B-B): the biggest group: bring, build, buy, catch, feel, find, get, have.
Past participle like the base (A-B-A): become, come, run.
All three forms different (A-B-C): begin, break, choose, do, draw, drink, drive, eat.

Exercises with answers

Yesterday I ___ (buy) a new phone.
Have you ever ___ (eat) ceviche?
She ___ (write) three emails yesterday morning.
We ___ (go) to Montañita last weekend.
I've ___ (lose) my keys again.
He ___ (teach) English for ten years before he ___ (become) a director.

Answers: 1. bought · 2. eaten · 3. wrote · 4. went · 5. lost · 6. taught (or had taught), became.

Practice irregular verbs

With Vozi Grammar you practice the past simple and present perfect with explanations, examples and conversation, and with Vozi Bee you train spelling by level.

Explore Vozi Grammar →

Read next: the English verb tenses chart and the past simple guide.

The past of to be: was or were.

Next step: if you don't know your level, take the English level test (about 15 minutes, with instant results). To keep working on this topic, see Vozi Grammar's English grammar exercises by level.

Frequently asked questions

What is an irregular verb in English?

A verb that doesn't form its past simple and past participle with -ed, like go → went → gone or buy → bought → bought. Regular verbs add -ed: work → worked.

What are the most common irregular verbs?

Some of the most frequent are be, have, do, say, go, get, make, know, think, take, see, come, give and find. Learn these first because they appear in almost every conversation.

What's the difference between the past simple and the past participle?

The past simple is used on its own for finished actions (I went). The past participle needs an auxiliary: have in perfect tenses (I have gone) and be in the passive (It was written).

How can I memorize irregular verbs?

Group them by pattern (all forms the same, past and participle the same, participle like the base, or all different), learn the most common ones first and use them aloud in your own sentences instead of repeating the list.

Gotten or got?

Both are correct as the past participle of get. Gotten is common in American English (I've gotten better); British English uses got (I've got better).

Irregular Verbs in English: List with Past and Past Participle

What is an irregular verb?

Irregular verbs list

How to remember them: 4 patterns

Exercises with answers

Practice irregular verbs

Frequently asked questions

Practice irregular verbs with Vozi Grammar

Sources and methodology

Keep reading

Was or Were? When to Use Each One

Do or Does? When to Use Each One

In, On, At: Prepositions of Time and Place