List of regular verbs in English

List of regular verbs in English

Here you will find a list of common English regular verbs. 

An alphabetical list of English regular verbs 

Infinitive	Past simple and Past perfect
Act	Acted
Add	Added
Aid	Aided
Arrest	Arrested
Assist	Assisted
Attend	Attended
Address	Addressed
Advertise	Advertised
Amuse	Amused
Approach	Approached
Ask	Asked
Accompany	Accompanied
Accustom	Accustom
Agree	Agreed
Annoy	Annoyed
Answer	Answered
Appeal	Appealed
Appear	Appeared
Arrange	Arranged
Arrive	Arrived
Board	Boarded
Balance	Balanced
Banish	Banished
Bark	Barked
Bless	Blessed
Brush	Brushed
Behave	Behaved
Belong	Belonged
Beg	Begged
Believe	Believed
Boil	Boiled
Breathe	Breathed
Boost	Boosted
Call	Called
Care	Cared
Carry	Carried
Choke	Choked
Change	Changed
Check	Checked
Charge	Charged
Clean	Cleaned
Climb	Climbed
Comb	Combed
Complete	Completed
Consist	Consisted
Count	Counted
Cover	Covered
Close	Closed
Cook	Cooked
Crash	Crashed
Craw	Crawl
Cross	Crossed
Cry	Cried
Cool	Cooled
Dance	Danced
Dare	Dared
Declare	Declared
Delay	Delayed
Deliver	Delivered
Deny	Denied
Dial	Dialled
Die	Died
Dine	Dined
Drag	Dragged
Dress	Dressed
Drop	Dropped
Dry	Dried
Enclose	Enclosed
Enjoy	Enjoyed
Engage	Engaged
Envy	Envied
Ease	Eased
Erase	Erased
Exchange	Exchanged
Express	Expressed
Exclaim	Exclaimed
Explain	Explained
Fail	Failed
Fasten	Fastened
File	Filed
Fill	Filled
Fish	Fished
Finish	Finished
Fire	Fired
Fix	Fixed
Follow	Followed
Frighten	Frightened
Fry	Fried
Gain	Gained
Guess	Guessed
Happen	Happened
Help	Helped
Hunt	Hunted
Hurry	Hurried
Imagine	Imagined
Iron	Ironed
Judge	Judged
Kiss	Kissed
Kill	Killed
Laugh	Laughed
Leak	Leaked
Like	Liked
Lock	Locked
Look	Looked
Love	Loved
Mark	Marked
Milk	Milked
Miss	Missed
Manage	Managed
Marry	Married
Massage	Massaged
Measure	Measured
Move	Moved
Observe	Observed
Offer	Offered
Open	Opened
Order	Ordered
Park	Parked
Pass	Passed
Perform	Performed
Phone	Phoned
Pick	Picked
Plan	Planed
Play	Played
Please	Pleased
Plough	Ploughed
Polish	Polished
Pour	Poured
Practice	Practiced
Pray	Prayed
Prefer	Preferred
Promise	Promised
Pronounce	Pronounced
Pull	Pulled
Punish	Punished
Push	Pushed
Repeat	Repeated
Report	Reported
Request	Requested
Rest	Rested
Reach	Reached
Refuse	Refused
Raise	Raised
Rain	Rained
Realize	Realized
Register	Registered
Receive	Received
Remain	Remained
Remember	Remembered
Repair	Repaired
Require	Required
Reserve	Reserved
Row	Rowed
Resolve	Resolved
Return	Returned
Save	Saved
Search	Searched
Serve	Served
Settle	Settled
Sign	Signed
Slap	Slapped
Slip	Slipped
Smile	Smiled
Smoke	Smoked
Snow	Snowed
Spill	Spilled
Stage	Staged
Stay	Stayed
Stretch	Stretched
Stop	Stopped
Study	Studied
Suffer	Suffered
Swallow	Swallowed
Switch	Switched
Tackle	Tackled
Talk	Talked
Thank	Thanked
Tire	Tired
Touch	Touched
Trap	Trapped
Train	Trained
Travel	Travelled
Trouble	Troubled
Try	Tried
Turn	Turned
Use	Used
Unpack	Unpacked
Visit	Visited
Wait	Waited
Walk	Walked
Wash	Washed
Watch	Watched
Warm	Warmed
Warn	Warned
Water	Watered
Weigh	Weighed
Wish	Wished
Work	Worked
Wreck	Wrecked

Past Tense Irregular Verbs List

English Grammar Rules

Part One

The following is a list of Irregular Verbs in English:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
babysit	babysat	babysat
be	was / were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
bend	bent	bent
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (BrE) gotten (AmE)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang*	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie **	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read ***	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
spread	spread	spread
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	struck
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
write	wrote	written

* HANG - Hang has two different meanings. The first is "to attach (or hang) something in a high position" (e.g. on the wall or on a hook). In this case we use the above verbs Hang-Hung-Hung.

BUT when Hang means "to kill someone by putting a rope around someone's neck and leaving them in a high position without any support", we use different verbs: Hang-Hanged-hanged. This verb is typical of public executions in the past. (e.g. They hanged him in the main square.)

** LIE - Lie has two meanings. When it means "to put your body in a horizontal position" (normally on a bed) it uses the Lie-Lay-Lain verbs.

BUT it is regular Lie-Lied-Lied when it has the other meaning of "not to say the truth".

*** READ - Even though they are written the same, the pronunciation is different in the Past Tense and Past Participle form.

Part Two

The following verbs can be regular or irregular:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
burn	burned OR burnt	burned OR burnt
dream	dreamed OR dreamt	dreamed OR dreamt
learn	learned OR learnt	learned OR learnt
smell	smelled OR smelt	smelled OR smelt

The second form (burnt, dreamt etc.) is more common in British English.

Part Three

Verbs that have the same form in Present, Past and Past Participle form:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
bet	bet	bet
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit
hurt	hurt	hurt
let	let	let
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
set	set	set
shut	shut	shut
spread	spread	spread

All of the verbs above are written and pronounced the same in the three forms EXCEPT for Read which is written the same but pronounced differently.

101 Irregular Past Tense Verbs in English

LESSON 6.2 | PAST TENSE

Simple Past Tense

English Grammar

The Simple Past Tense, often just called the Past Tense, is easy to use in English.

If you already know how to use the Present Tense, then the Past Tense will be easy.

In general, the Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.

How to form the Past Tense in English

The main rule is that for every verb in English, there is only one form of it in the past tense.
(The exception is the Past tense of To Be, which has two forms: was and were)

This is totally different from other languages such as Spanish, French, Italian etc. where you change the verb ending for every subject.

For example: The past tense of the verb want is wanted.
Wanted is used as the past tense for all subjects/pronouns.

• I wanted
• You wanted
• He wanted
• She wanted
• It wanted
• We wanted
• They wanted

So you just have to learn one word to be able to use it in the past tense. In this case we just needed to learn the one word wanted which can be used for all subjects (or people).

Past Tense Regular Verbs

To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add –ED to the end of the verb.

• play – played
• cook – cooked
• rain – rained
• wait – waited

There are some exceptions with a slight change in spelling which you can see here:
Spelling of words ending in ED.

Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense

• Last night I played my guitar loudly and the neighbors complained.
• She kissed me on the cheek.
• It rained yesterday.
• Angela watched TV all night.
• John wanted to go to the museum.

Note: There are three different ways of pronouncing the –ed at the end of a verb in the past tense.
We recommend reading our guide about the pronunciation of –ED at the end of words.

Negative sentences in the Past Tense

We use didn't (did not) to make a negative sentence in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.
(Exception is To Be and Modal Verbs such as Can)

Compare the following:

Present: They don't live in Canada.
Past: They didn't live in Canada.

The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive). The auxiliary DIDN'T shows that the sentence is negative AND in the past tense.

NOTICE: The only difference between a negative sentence in the present tense and a negative sentence in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.

Both don't and doesn't in the present tense become didn't in the past tense.

Compare the negative sentences in the examples below:

Present: You don't need a mechanic.
Past: You didn't need a mechanic.

Present: You don't walk to work.
Past: You didn't walk to work.

Present: He doesn't speak Japanese.
Past: He didn't speak Japanese.

Examples of negative sentences in the Past Tense

• I didn't want to go to the dentist.
• She didn't have time.
• You didn't close the door.
• He didn't come to my party.
• They didn't study so they didn't pass the test.
• We didn't sleep well last night.

Questions in the Past Tense

We use did to make a question in the past tense.
This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.
(Exception is To Be and Modal Verbs such as Can)

Compare the following:

Present: Do they live in France?
Past: Did they live in France?

The main verb (live in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive). The auxiliary DID shows that the question is in the past tense.

NOTICE: The only difference between a question in the present tense and a question in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.
Both Do and Does in present tense questions become Didn't in past tense questions.

Compare the questions in the examples below:

Present: Do you need a doctor?
Past: Did you need a doctor?

Present: Do you ride your bike to work?
Past: Did you ride your bike to work?

Present: Does he live in Italy?
Past: Did he live in Italy?

We can also use a question word (Who, What, Why etc.) before DID to ask for more information.

• Did you study? – Yes, I did.
• When did you study? – I studied last night.
• Where did you study? – I studied at the library.

Read more about short answers in the past tense.

Examples of Questions in the Past Tense

• Did you go to work yesterday?
• Did they arrive on time?
• Did she like the surprise?
• Where did she go?
• What did you do yesterday?
• What did you say? - I didn't say anything.
• Why did we have to come?

Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Irregular verbs are ONLY irregular in affirmative/positive sentences.
(An exception to this is with the verb TO BE in the Past Tense).

For example: The past tense of GO is WENT.
It does not end in –ED so it is considered irregular.

The word went is used for all subjects – I, you, we, they, he, she, it.

• I went to the beach
• He went to the park.
• She went to the zoo.
• They went to the library.

BUT, as we mentioned before, it is only in its irregular form (went) in sentences that are affirmative/positive.

Compare the following using GO in the past tense.

• They went to the beach
• They didn't go to the beach --- Didn't shows that we are talking in the past tense.
• Did they go to the beach? --- Did shows that we are talking in the past tense.

Another example with an irregular verb.
The past of EAT is ATE.

• You ate my cake.
• You didn't eat my cake.
• Did you eat my cake?

Present vs Past Tense Summary Chart