What’s the past tense of “come”?
Both came and come can be used in the past tense—but that’s not the entire answer. The past tense of come depends on whether you intend to use the simple past tense or the past perfect tense. In the simple past, the past tense of come is came. Meanwhile, the past participle form of is come (the same as its present tense form).
Be careful— although the past participle of come is the same as its present tense form, come left on its own is still in the present tense! To use this spelling in the past tense and to form the past perfect, you need an auxiliary verb, such as had. Need further clarification? You’ve come to the ‘write‘ place.
Forms of the verb “come”
The verb to come is understood as “to move toward something or somewhere”, particularly to a place where the speaker is physically located. It can also mean “to move or journey to a vicinity with a specified purpose,” “to arrive in due course” or “to reach a condition or conclusion.”
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I come | I came | I will come |
| continuous | I am coming | I was coming | I will be coming |
| perfect | I have came | I had came | I will have came |
| perfect continuous | I have been coming | I had been coming | I will have been coming |
i. Come is in the present tense: I will come over later.
ii. Came is the simple past: I came to the park to look for my lost dog.
iii. Come is also the past participle: I had come to my senses by the next morning.
Is come a regular or irregular verb?
The past participle of come is come, and the simple past tense form is came. Come is an irregular verb because its simple past tense form does not end in –ed. See the chart of other, similar irregular verbs with two forms:
What’s the past tense of come?
The simple past tense of come is came, while the past participle is come. The past participle come often follows the auxiliary verb had, which is the past tense of have. This helps differentiate between come in the past perfect, simple present, and present perfect tenses.
The past perfect tense refers to actions or events that have been completed entirely in the past. The word and adjective perfect comes from the Latin word, perficere, meaning “accomplish, finish, complete”. Typically, the past perfect is used to clarify the order in which events have occurred in a series or in succession. Use the past perfect when it’s helpful to describe the order of events.
Compare these sentences of came in the past tense vs. past participle:
i. I came to the park to look for my lost dog. (past tense)
ii. They began treating her better, for they had come to realize how kind she was.(past participle)
Examples of the present tense verb come in sentences
1. Will you come to my birthday party?
2. My neighbour comes over to my house every Friday.
3. If worst comes to worst, we’ll go with plan B.
4. She comes over when my brother isn’t home.
5. Rainy days come and go.
Examples of the past tense came in sentences
1. He only came to school one time!
2. They came just in time for the event.
3. I came to a conclusion.
4. She came in through the back door.
5. We only came for the big sale.
Examples of the past participle come in sentences
1. We had just come home when he arrived.
2. I had come to my senses by the next morning.
3. Alessandra had come up with a solution before they suggested the change.
4. We had come to the cottage thinking the weather would be nice.
5. She had already come before her mother arrived home.
Origin of the verb come
From etymology online on come (v.):
Old English cuman “to move with the purpose of reaching, or so as to reach, some point; to arrive by movement or progression;” also “move into view, appear, become perceptible; come to oneself, recover; arrive; assemble” (class IV strong verb; past tense cuom, com, past participle cumen), from Proto-Germanic *kwem- (source also of Old Saxon cuman, Old Frisian kuma, Middle Dutch comen, Dutch komen, Old High German queman, German kommen, Old Norse koma, Gothic qiman), from PIE root *gwa- “to go, come.”
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