Irregular verbs.
Quick answer: irregular verbs don’t take -ed in the past. Instead of one rule, each verb has its own past simple and past participle — go / went / gone. There are hundreds, but the 59 below cover almost everything you’ll use daily. Learn these and you’ve learned the hard part of English tense.
How to actually learn them
Don’t memorise the list top to bottom — that’s how people forget it. Learn them in groups that share a pattern, then drill only the ones you miss.
Drill the ones you get wrong — not the ones you know. The Verb Lab drills irregulars, and Review brings back only the verbs you keep missing, on a spaced schedule.
The 59 essential irregular verbs
Base form → past simple → past participle. Use the past simple for finished actions (I wrote it yesterday), and the past participle after have/has/had or in the passive (I have written it).
| base | past simple | past participle |
| be | was/were | been |
| become | became | become |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| build | built | built |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| cost | cost | cost |
| cut | cut | cut |
| do | did | done |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| feel | felt | felt |
| find | found | found |
| fly | flew | flown |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| get | got | got / gotten |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| grow | grew | grown |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| hold | held | held |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| learn | learned / learnt | learned / learnt |
| leave | left | left |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| meet | met | met |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| read | read | read |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| sell | sold | sold |
| send | sent | sent |
| sing | sang | sung |
| sit | sat | sat |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spend | spent | spent |
| stand | stood | stood |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wear | wore | worn |
| win | won | won |
| write | wrote | written |
Common irregular-verb mistakes
Frequently asked
How many irregular verbs are there in English? Roughly 200 in common use, but the ~60 on this page cover the overwhelming majority of everyday speech and writing.
What is the difference between past simple and past participle? Past simple stands alone as the main verb (I saw it). The past participle needs a helper: have/has/had (I have seen it) or a form of be for the passive (it was seen).
Is "read" irregular? Yes — the spelling never changes but the pronunciation does: present /riːd/, past /rɛd/.