List the 30 most common irregular verbs to memorize
Here are the 30 most common irregular verbs in English that are useful to memorize, listed with their base form, past simple, and past participle: 1, 7
| Base Form | Past Simple | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was/were | been |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| do | did | done |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| feel | felt | felt |
| find | found | found |
| get | got | got/gotten |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| hold | held | held |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| leave | left | left |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| meet | met | met |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| take | took | taken |
These verbs appear very frequently in everyday conversation and writing. 7, 1
Why these verbs matter
Irregular verbs carry a large share of basic English communication because many of them are among the most common verbs in the language. Forms like was, went, made, said, and took show up constantly in stories, conversations, instructions, and past-tense narration.
For learners, the practical goal is not to memorize every irregular verb at once. The fastest progress comes from learning the high-frequency forms first, because they cover a disproportionate amount of real speech. In conversation, these verbs are especially important because they appear in short, repeated patterns such as I went, she said, we had, they took, and I’ve seen.
How to memorize them efficiently
A useful approach is to group irregular verbs by pattern instead of studying them as a random list.
- Same in all three forms: put, cut, hit, shut
- Same in past simple and past participle: buy/bought/bought, feel/felt/felt, keep/kept/kept
- All different: begin/began/begun, go/went/gone, see/saw/seen
Grouping by pattern reduces confusion and makes recall faster during speaking. Short oral drills, sentence building, and repeated recall work better than passive reading alone, especially when the goal is fluent use in real conversation.
Common mistakes
A few irregular verbs are especially easy to mix up:
- bring / brought / brought is often confused with buy / bought / bought
- go / went / gone is frequently overgeneralized as goed
- see / saw / seen is often used incorrectly as seen without an auxiliary verb
- take / took / taken is sometimes confused with took in perfect forms
Remember that the past participle usually appears with have, has, or had: I have taken, she has gone, they had seen. The past simple stands alone in finished past time: I took the train yesterday.
A simple study priority list
The first verbs to memorize are usually the ones that combine high frequency with strong communicative value:
- be
- have
- do
- go
- get
- make
- take
- say
- come
- see
These verbs are flexible, common in many contexts, and useful in both speaking and writing. Once those are secure, the next group can include verbs such as give, know, find, feel, leave, bring, buy, choose, and hold.
Quick usage examples
- be: I was tired, but now I’m fine.
- go: We went to the market yesterday.
- take: She has taken the bus every day this week.
- make: They made dinner at home.
- see: I saw that film last year.
- give: He gave me clear directions.
- leave: They left early in the morning.
- run: She ran five kilometers.
- say: He said nothing at the meeting.
- choose: We chose the blue one.
FAQ
How many irregular verbs should be memorized first?
The first 20 to 30 high-frequency irregular verbs cover a large amount of everyday English, especially in conversation and narrative writing.
Is “gotten” always correct for get?
Gotten is standard in American English in many contexts, while got is more common in British English. Both forms are widely recognized, but usage depends on region and sentence pattern.
Should the past simple and past participle be learned separately?
Yes. Many irregular verbs use different forms in the past simple and past participle, such as go/went/gone and begin/began/begun. Learning them together prevents errors in perfect tenses and passive structures.