Irregular Verbs List

December 12, 2022

Regular verbs end in -ed in their past tense and past participle forms. Irregular verbs end in something other than -ed to show past tenses.

Elan Yash

Elan is head of design and tech. He's also a contributor at Grammarflex.

When it comes to learning the English language, remembering all of English’s irregular verb patterns is no small feat. As you’ll see from the list below, English has a ton of irregular verbs, and they trip up even the best of us.

The key to mastering irregular verbs in English is in recognizing the irregular verb patterns that they follow. For your convenience and ease of perusal, find a list of all the irregular verbs in English in the chart below.

Contents

Regular vs. irregular verbs

What’s the difference between regular and irregular verbs in English?

Regular verbs are those that end in –ed in their past verb forms; examples are walk/walked, talk/talked and laugh/laughed.

Irregular verbs end in something other than –ed in in the past; e.g., wrote/written, spoke/spoken, tore/torn.

Irregular verb patterns

Irregular verbs can divide into three main classes or kinds:

Those with 1 form in the simple present and past tenses. Examples include bet, cut, shut, spread.
Those with 2 forms in the simple present and past tenses. Examples are build/built, buy/bought, catch/caught.
Those with 3 forms, or those that switch from the simple present, simple past and as a past participle. Examples are draw (the past tenses are drew and drawn); drink is drank and drunk, and so forth.

A comprehensive list of irregular verbs in English

Base Verb	Simple Past	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bind	bound	bound
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dove/dived	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung/hanged	hung/hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hid
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie (“lie down”)	lay	lain
light	lit/lighted	lit/lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mistake	mistook	mistaken
mow	mowed	mown/mowed
overtake	overtook	overtaken
pay	paid	paid
proofread	proofread	proofread
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
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewed/sewn
shake	shook	shaken
shave	shaved	shaven
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung
sneak	snuck/sneaked	snuck/sneaked
sow	sowed	sown/sowed
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt/spilled	spilt/spilled
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat	spat
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
stink	stank	stunk
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove	striven
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swollen/swelled
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden
understand	understood	understood
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove	worn
weep	wept	wept
wet	wet/wetted	wet/wetted
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written