What’s the past tense of “swear”?
Swearing describes when people use rude or offensive language, usually because they’re angry.
Swear has a second meaning, which is to “promise to do something, and state, in a serious way, that you will do it.” Here, it’s synonymous with words like pledge or assure.
Tenses of the verb, “swear”
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I swear | I swore | I will swear |
| continuous | I am swearing | I was swearing | I will be swearing |
| perfect | I have sworn | I had sworn | I will have sworn |
| perfect continuous | I have been swearing | I had been swearing | I will have been swearing |
When to use “swore” or “sworn”
Past tense: They swore at them and ran off.
Past perfect tense: We had sworn to fight cruelty wherever we find it.
Both swore and sworn are past verb forms of swear (present tense). What distinguishes swore and sworn are the contexts and appropriate tenses that either form should be used in. As you’d guess, the first sentence uses the simple past tense conjugation of swear, i.e., swore. The second sentence combines the past participle ‘sworn‘ with the auxiliary verb had to form the past perfect tense. We would also use sworn with the auxiliary have in the present perfect tense To better understand when you’d use either tense, we recommend reading this article on the present perfect tense.
“Swear” / “swore” / “sworn”, used in sentences
| Examples: swear, present tenses |
|---|
| It’s wrong to swear and shout. I swear I’ve told you all I know. I swear on all I hold dear that I had nothing to do with this. Behind them was a confusion of noise, perhaps even a shot, but he couldn’t swear to it. He heard her swear under her breath. |
| Examples: swore / sworn |
|---|
| She fell over and swore loudly. She swore she’d never seen him before. He swore he’d study harder next time. We have sworn to fight cruelty wherever we find it. She was bursting to announce the news but was sworn to secrecy. The witness was sworn under oath to tell the truth. |
Practice questions: forms of “swear”
| Questions | Answer options: |
|---|---|
| 1. True or false: “Swear” is a regular verb. | a. true b. false |
| 2. True or false: “Swear” looks the same in the present and past tense. | a. true b. false |
| 3. The police are the only civil servants who have to swear allegiance to the Crown. | a. past tense b. present tense c. future tense |
| Choose the correct tense to complete the sentence: | |
| 4. I have ___ an oath to defend her. | a. sworn b. swear c. swore |
| 5. Alan ___ that he would do everything in his power to help us. | a. sworn b. swore c. swearing |
| 6. I don’t like to hear children ___. | a. swore b. sworn c. swearing |
Answers
- b
- b
- b
- a
- b
- c
Synonyms of swear (as in oath)
- oath
- promise
- guarantee
- vow
- pledge
Synonyms of swear (as in curse)
- curse
- cuss
- to use vulgar or dirty language
Idioms with the word swear
- Swear by: to believe strongly in something or someone, and have faith in them. Example: “She swears by her grandmother’s home remedies for treating colds.”
- Swear off: to promise to stop doing something or to avoid something that is considered harmful or negative. Example: “After his health scare, he swore off fast food and started eating healthier.”
- Swear like a sailor: to use profanity or curse words excessively and loudly. Example: “He was so angry that he was swearing like a sailor.”
- Swear in: to administer an oath to someone, usually as part of a formal ceremony to confirm their appointment or election to a position. Example: “The Chief Justice swore in the new president at the inauguration ceremony.”
- Swear up and down: to swear or affirm something with great emphasis or conviction, often in the face of doubt or skepticism. Example: “He swore up and down that he had nothing to do with the missing money, but nobody believed him.”
Origin of swear
From etymology online on swear (v.):
Old English swerian “take an oath” from Proto-Germanic swērjanan* of uncertain origin, perhaps from a PIE swer-* “to speak, talk, say” (source also of Old Church Slavonic svara “quarrel,” Oscan sverrunei “to the speaker”).
Other commonly confused verb tenses
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Learn more about verbs
Sources
- Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of swear.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/throw. Accessed 7 March, 2023.
- Definition of swear from the Collins English Dictionary
