What’s the past tense of “strike”?
It’s sing, sang, sung, and ring, rang, rung, so shouldn’t it also be strike, strack, struck? Not exactly—says the rules of English verb conjugations—the verb and word strike doesn’t operate this way. The verb strike has several related meanings, and can be understood as any of the following:
“To aim and usually deliver a blow, stroke, or thrust (as with the hand, a weapon, or a tool)” as described by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
Or “to cause a person or place to suffer severely from the effects of something very unpleasant that happens suddenly: I have a life insurance policy that will take care of my family if disaster strikes.” The other understanding is as to go on strike, meaning to refuse work: We’re striking for better pay and improved safety standards.
When to use struck vs. stricken
There is a third form of strike, which is stricken, which is used only as an adjectival past participle. Compare the following:
Past tense: The clock has struck five.
Adjectival past participle: A grief-stricken widow.
The former is a proper verb that describes the action of the sentence subject. Stricken, on the other hand, is describes the subject sentence itself.
Forms of the verb strike
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I strike | I struck | I will strike |
| continuous | I am striking | I was striking | I will be striking |
| perfect | I have struck | I had struck | I will have struck |
| perfect continuous | I have been striking | I had been striking | I will have been striking |
Strike is the present tense: Finally, the clock strikes.
Striking is the present participle: It was striking to see.
Struck is the simple past: The cyclist was struck by a car.
Struck is also the past participle: I was struck by the power of theatre.
Stricken is the adjectival past participle: A grief-stricken widow.
What’s the difference: past tense vs. past participle of strike?
Compare these sentences:
Past tense: The ship struck an iceberg.
Past participle: It had really struck a chord with me.
What’s the difference between the past tense and the past participle form of a verb? With verbs that share the same form between their past tense and past participle (such as sting/stung, stick/stuck; buy/bought, catch/caught; and lose/lost), we can tell which verb form is used based on the presence of auxiliary verbs; which, in the past perfect aspect is had.
The verb strike in the present tense (in context)
1. His name strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents.
2. Finally, the clock strikes.
3. The issue strikes at the very foundation of our community.
4. Strike the iron while it is hot.
5. To strike oil or gas is to find a source of it.
Examples of struck in the past tense (in sentences)
1. She struck a pose, one hand on her hip.
2. The bullet struck him in the leg.
3. The ship struck an iceberg.
4. The car struck the tree.
5. The cyclist was struck by a car.
Examples of the past participle struck (in sentences)
1. He was convinced, not because he wanted to be, but because the depositions struck him as devastating.
2. I was struck by the power of theatre.
3. It had really struck a chord with me.
4. Perhaps he heard it used sometime and was struck by it.
5. An 18-month-old toddler was brought to the hospital with severe head injury after being struck by a car.
Origin of the verb strike
From etymology online on strike (v.):
Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) “pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub,” also “go, move, proceed,” from Proto-Germanic *strikan-
Read about other verb conjugations!
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- What’s the past tense of drive?
- What’s the past tense of draw?
Learn about verbs
What are regular and irregular verbs?
Transitive and intransitive verbs?
Sources
- Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of strike.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/strike. Accessed 16 January, 2023.
- “Strike.” Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. 2015. Farlex, Inc 16 Jan. 2023 https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/strike
- “Strike.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strike. Accessed 16 Jan. 2023.
