Common irregular verbs to memorize first
The best common irregular verbs to memorize first are the most frequently used ones in English, because they show up constantly in everyday speech, listening, reading, and writing. The most useful starting set is:
- Say, said, said
- Go, went, gone
- Come, came, come
- Know, knew, known
- Get, got, gotten
- Give, gave, given
- Become, became, become
- Find, found, found
- Think, thought, thought
- See, saw, seen
These verbs are highly practical and appear often in speech and writing, making them a solid foundation for learning irregular verbs. 1, 2, 3
Why these verbs come first
Irregular verbs are worth prioritizing not because they are unusual, but because many of them are among the most frequent verbs in English. A learner hears and uses them in short, everyday sentences such as “I went,” “She said,” “They came,” and “We saw.” That makes them more useful early on than obscure irregular forms that may be grammatically interesting but rarely needed in conversation.
Several of the verbs in the starter list are also functionally central to communication:
- say / said / said is used for reporting speech and opinions.
- go / went / gone is essential for movement, plans, and daily routines.
- come / came / come is common in invitations, arrivals, and travel.
- know / knew / known appears in explanations, relationships, and information.
- get / got / gotten is extremely flexible and appears in many fixed expressions.
- give / gave / given is used for actions involving transfer, permission, and causation.
- see / saw / seen is common in both literal sight and figurative understanding.
Because these verbs are so frequent, mastering them early reduces hesitation in real conversation. A learner who can quickly produce “I got,” “I went,” and “I saw” already has access to a large amount of everyday English.
A practical way to learn them
Grouping irregular verbs by patterns or endings and learning them with their tense forms simultaneously can also help retention. For example, some verbs have identical forms in the base, past, and past participle; others have the 2nd and 3rd forms the same; and some have completely different forms. 2, 1
A useful pattern-based approach is to sort verbs into three broad types:
- All three forms the same: for example, put, put, put or cut, cut, cut
- Past and participle the same: for example, find, found, found or think, thought, thought
- All three forms different: for example, go, went, gone or see, saw, seen
This kind of grouping is easier to remember than studying a random list. It also helps with production, because the brain learns to expect a pattern instead of treating every verb as a separate fact.
Another effective method is to learn each verb in a short sentence rather than as an isolated list item:
- go — “I go to work every day.”
- went — “I went to work yesterday.”
- gone — “She has gone home.”
- say — “He says that often.”
- said — “He said that yesterday.”
Learning the base form, simple past, and past participle together is especially useful because English uses all three in real communication. The simple past is common in narration, while the past participle is needed in perfect tenses such as “has gone” or “has seen.”
Other common irregular verbs to learn next
Other common irregular verbs often recommended include be, have, do, make, take, come, and go among others. 4, 10
After the first ten, the next high-value verbs usually include:
- be — was/were — been
- have — had — had
- do — did — done
- make — made — made
- take — took — taken
- give — gave — given
- see — saw — seen
- come — came — come
- get — got — gotten
- run — ran — run
These verbs matter because they are used to build very common sentence structures. For example, have and do are central to questions, negatives, and perfect tenses; make and take appear in many fixed expressions; and be is one of the most common verbs in the language overall.
Common mistakes to avoid
A frequent mistake is learning only the simple past and ignoring the past participle. That approach works for short narratives but breaks down as soon as perfect tenses appear. For example, “I went” is correct in the simple past, but “I have went” is not standard English; the correct form is “I have gone.”
Another common problem is mixing up gone and went:
- went = simple past
- gone = past participle
The same issue appears with pairs such as:
- saw / seen
- gave / given
- knew / known
- found / found
The safest habit is to memorize all three forms together from the start.
What to memorize first in practice
A compact starter set of ten verbs is enough to cover a large share of early communication:
- be
- have
- do
- go
- come
- say
- get
- make
- see
- take
From there, adding verbs like know, give, find, think, write, speak, eat, drink, buy, bring builds reach quickly. In spoken English, frequent exposure and active use matter more than passive rereading, so practicing these verbs in short dialogues or sentence drills speeds recall.
Quick reference: the starter verbs at a glance
- say — said — said
- go — went — gone
- come — came — come
- know — knew — known
- get — got — gotten
- give — gave — given
- become — became — become
- find — found — found
- think — thought — thought
- see — saw — seen
These forms are useful because they combine high frequency with broad grammatical coverage. Learning them first gives a learner the fastest return on study time.