List the common irregular verbs with full inflections
Here is a list of common irregular verbs with their full inflections: base form, past simple, and past participle. These are the forms most learners need for everyday speech, reading, and conversation because irregular verbs appear constantly in high-frequency verbs such as be, have, go, say, and make.
Common irregular verbs
| Infinitive (Base) | Past Simple | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was, were | been |
| become | became | become |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| do | did | done |
| 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 | gotten |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| know | knew | known |
| leave | left | left |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| meet | met | met |
| put | put | put |
| read | read (pronounced “red”) | read (pronounced “red”) |
| 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 |
| stand | stood | stood |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wear | wore | worn |
| write | wrote | written |
How to use these forms
The past simple is used for completed actions in the past: I saw her yesterday, They went home early. The past participle is used with auxiliary verbs such as have, has, and had: I have seen that film, She had written the email before noon.
A useful pattern is to learn irregular verbs in families rather than one by one. Several verbs follow the same shape:
- sing – sang – sung
- drink – drank – drunk
- swim – swam – swum
- begin – began – begun
- write – wrote – written
Grouping verbs this way makes the endings easier to remember because the vowel change is part of a recurring pattern.
Verbs that stay the same
Some of the most frequent irregular verbs do not change in the past simple or past participle. These are often the easiest to use in speech once the pattern is noticed:
- put – put – put
- read – read – read
- cut – cut – cut
- set – set – set
- let – let – let
- hit – hit – hit
- cost – cost – cost
For pronunciation, read is especially important: the spelling does not change, but the past tense and participle are pronounced “red.” That makes context essential in spoken English.
Common spelling and pronunciation traps
A few irregular verbs cause trouble because the spelling looks regular but the pronunciation changes:
- eat – ate – eaten
- write – wrote – written
- drive – drove – driven
- see – saw – seen
- wear – wore – worn
Others are tricky because the past participle differs from the past simple in a way that is easy to mix up:
- go – went – gone
- do – did – done
- take – took – taken
- choose – chose – chosen
The verb get is worth special attention because it has regional variation: got is common in both British and American English as the past tense, while gotten is common in American English as the past participle in many contexts.
A practical way to study irregular verbs
The fastest way to learn irregular verbs is to use them in short, meaningful sentences instead of memorizing a long list in isolation. Forms such as went, bought, saw, and made are much easier to retain when they appear in real phrases:
- I went to work.
- She bought a new bag.
- We saw the station.
- He made a mistake.
Active use matters because irregular forms become automatic only after repeated retrieval in context. Short speaking practice, especially in everyday scenarios, helps turn recognition into usable recall.
Quick reference by pattern
A few broad patterns are especially common:
1. Vowel change in all three forms
- begin – began – begun
- drink – drank – drunk
- sing – sang – sung
- swim – swam – swum
2. Same past simple and past participle
- feel – felt – felt
- keep – kept – kept
- send – sent – sent
- think – thought – thought
3. Same in all three forms
- put – put – put
- cut – cut – cut
- read – read – read
- hit – hit – hit
4. Strong irregular change
- go – went – gone
- see – saw – seen
- write – wrote – written
- take – took – taken