Common irregular verbs across tenses and forms
Common irregular verbs in English do not follow the standard pattern of adding -ed for the past tense and past participle forms. Instead, they have unique variations across their base form, simple past tense, and past participle. Some irregular verbs keep all three forms the same (e.g., cut, put, hurt), others have the same past tense and past participle but differ from the base (e.g., lose, buy, make), while others have all three forms different (e.g., drive, write, sing).
Here is a breakdown of common irregular verbs across their tenses and forms:
| Base Form | Simple Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| cut | cut | cut |
| put | put | put |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| lose | lost | lost |
| buy | bought | bought |
| make | made | made |
| drive | drove | driven |
| write | wrote | written |
| sing | sang | sung |
Additionally, some verbs have irregular present tense forms, notably “be” (am, is, are), “have” (have, has), “do” (do, does), and “go” (go, goes), while most irregular verbs are irregular only in past tense and participle forms.
These irregular forms are essential to learn and memorize, as they are frequently used in English. 1, 2