At a glance
| Base (V1) | -s form | -ing form | Past (V2) | Past participle (V3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| work | works | working | worked | worked |
| play | plays | playing | played | played |
| go | goes | going | went | gone |
| eat | eats | eating | ate | eaten |
| cut | cuts | cutting | cut | cut |
- Start
- Does the verb end in e?Yesadd -dlive → lived
- Does it end in consonant + y?Yesy → -iedstudy → studied
- Is it short, ending in one vowel + one consonant?Yesdouble the last letter + -edstop → stopped
- add -edwork → worked, play → played
Irregular verbs in three groups
- All three the samecut - cut - cut
- put, hit, let, set, shut, cost, hurt, read
- Two the samebuy - bought - bought
- make, sell, tell, find, keep, sleep, teach, think
- All three differentgo - went - gone
- see, write, eat, take, give, speak, drive
When do we use each form?
| Form | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| V1 base | present; after to; after can, will… | I work. I want to work. I can work. |
| -s form | present with he, she, it | She works. |
| -ing form | continuous tenses; as a noun | She is working. Working is fun. |
| V2 past | past simple | She worked yesterday. |
| V3 past participle | perfect tenses; passive | She has worked. It was made in China. |
Strong and weak verbs
Old grammar books call regular verbs weak verbs (they need -ed). Verbs that change their vowel are strong verbs: sing – sang – sung.
| i – a – u | ee – e – e | i – o – i…en |
|---|---|---|
| sing, sang, sung | feed, fed, fed | drive, drove, driven |
| drink, drank, drunk | meet, met, met | ride, rode, ridden |
| swim, swam, swum | keep, kept, kept | write, wrote, written |
| begin, began, begun | sleep, slept, slept | rise, rose, risen |
All the irregular verbs with pictures and games
Practice
Answer the questions. Get 7 out of 10 to finish this lesson.