What’s the past tense of “blow”?
What’s the past tense of the verb blow? Is it blow, blew, or blown? If you’re looking for the short answer, it’s below. To get a better understanding, read the full article (don’t just blow through it.)
Verb forms of blow
The verb blow, as described by Collins Dictionary, “If the wind blows something somewhere or if it blows there, the wind moves it there: A chill wind blew at the top of the hill.” Also, “If you blow, you send out a stream of air from your mouth: Take a deep breath and blow.“
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I blow | I blew | I will blow |
| continuous | I am blowing | I was blowing | I will be blowing |
| perfect | I have blown | I had blown | I will have blown |
| perfect continuous | I have been blowing | I had been blowing | I will have been blowing |
To blow is in the present tense: ‘I need to blow my nose.’
Blew is the simple past: ‘A chill wind blew at the top of the hill.’
Blown is the past participle: ‘The car tires have blown out!’
Is blow a regular or irregular verb?
The verb, to blow, is irregular, since neither of its past tense forms end in –ed, as regular verb forms do. Walked, talked, laughed, and played, are all examples of regular verb forms in English, since they end in –ed in both their past tense and past participle forms.
This makes the verb to blow irregular, since its past tense forms end in something other than -ed (i.e., blew/blown). See the chart of other irregular with two past tense conjugations:
| base verb | past tense | past participle |
| swim | swam | swum |
| fly | flew | flown |
| blow | blew | blown |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| drink | drank | drunk |
When to use “blew” or “blown”
The simple past tense of blow is blew, which sounds the same as the colour and hue, blue. To see what differentiates the simple past tense blew, and the past participle of blown, read and compare these sentences:
Sarah blew out all of her birthday candles. (past tense)
The storm has blown over. (past participle)
What’s the difference between the two sentences? Both are in the past, and so describe actions that have already occurred in time. However, the past simple and past participle nevertheless differ from each other in clear ways both structurally, and in their purpose.
“Blow” / “blew” / “blown”, used in sentences
| Examples: blow, used in sentences |
| I delivered a blow on his arm. To whistle, you need to blow softly. Great winds blow upon high hills. |
| Examples: blew/blown, used in sentences |
She grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter and blew her nose. The wind blew the sign over. He drew on his cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke. The plane was blown up by hijackers. |
Practice questions: forms of ‘blow’
| Select the correct verb form to complete the sentences. | Answers: |
|---|---|
| 1. The wind ___ the sign over. | a. blew b. blowing c. blows d. were blown |
| 2. ___ out the candle. | a. blew b. blowing c. blow d. were blown |
| 3. The wind ___ her hair back from her forehead. | a. blowing b. blew c. were blown d. blowing |
| 4. It must ___ off in the storm. | a. blew b. blowing c. blows d. have blown |
| 5. Each of the cottages ___ down, one by one. | a. blew b. were blown c. blows d. had blown |
| 6. These candles keep ___ out! | a. blew b. blowing c. blows d. were blown |
| 7. The safe ___ by the thieves. | a. had been blown b. was blown c. were blown d. blows |
| 8. Do not ___ the whistle. | a. blew b. was blown c. blow d. blows |
| 9. The linebacker ___ past the tackle. | a. blew b. was blown c. were blown d. blows |
| 10. The ship ___ onto the rocks. | a. blew b. was blown c. were blown d. blows |
Answers
- a
- c
- c
- d
- b
- b
- a
- c
- a
- b
Origin of the word blow
From etymology online on blow (v.):
“Move air, produce a current of air,” Middle English blouen, from Old English blawan “to blow (of the wind, bellows, etc.), breathe, make an air current; kindle; inflate; sound” a wind instrument, from Proto-Germanic *blæ-anan.
Read about more confusing verbs
- What’s the past tense of spread?
- What’s the past tense of lead?
- What’s the past tense of choose?
- What’s the past tense of fly?
- What’s the past tense of lay?
- What’s the past tense of drive?
- What’s the past tense of draw?
Learn more about verbs
- What are regular and irregular verbs?
- Transitive and intransitive verbs?
- What are verbs?
- What’re personal pronouns?
- What’s the difference between they’re, their, and there?
- Whose vs who’s?
Sources
- Merriam-Webster, definition of blow.
- Etymology online, origin of blow.
