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What’s the Past Tense of Sleep? Sleeped or Slept?

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Elan Yash

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

What’s the past tense of “sleep”?

What’s the past tense of the verb sleep? Is it sleep, sleeped, or slept? If you guessed sleeped, you may need to flex your grammar skills more often. Stick around—stay awhile.

👍🏼Usage Note
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How many hours did you sleep?
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I sleeped on the plane.

Forms of the irregular verb sleep

Let’s define the topic first. The verb sleep, as described by Collins Dictionary, “sleep is the natural state of rest in which your eyes are closed, your body is inactive, and your mind does not think.”

Present Past Future
simple I sleep I slept I will sleep
continuous I am sleeping I was sleeping I will be sleeping
perfect I have slept I had slept I will have slept
perfect continuous I have been sleeping I had been sleeping I will have been sleeping
12 verb tenses of ‘sleep‘.

Is sleep a regular or irregular verb?

The verb sleep is irregular because it does not end in -ed in either its past tense or past participle form. The difference between regular and irregular verbs is: Regular verbs end in “-ed” in their past tense forms. **Irregular verbs** end in something other than “-ed.”

The verb sleep belongs to the class of irregular verbs with 2 different verb forms. Here’s a chart of other irregular verbs within the same group.

Base Verb Past Tense Past Participle
dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt
burn burned/burnt burned/burnt
sleep slept slept
leap leapt/leaped leapt/leaped
Irregular verbs (similar to “sleep”).

Sleep/Slept in sentence examples

Word Form Examples
Present Tense (“sleep”)

Try and get some sleep.

I couldn’t sleep last night.
Past Tense (“slept”)

He slept soundly.

I only slept two hours last night.

We slept under the open sky.
Past Participle (“slept”)

I had slept for twelve hours by the time I woke up.

The baby had slept through the entire night for the first time.
Examples of “sleep” usage in various forms.
💡Study Tip

Practice using the verb in different tenses with example sentences to memorize the correct forms.

Origin of the word sleep

Of Germanic Origin
Old English slæpan “to be or fall asleep; be dormant or inactive” (class VII strong verb; past tense slep, past participle slæpen), from Proto-Germanic *slēpanan.
Etymology of “sleep” (verb).

Learn more about grammar

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breathe vs. breath favorite vs. favourite
compliment vs. complement smelled or smelt?
affect vs. effect gray or grey?
elude vs. allude favor vs. favour
it’s or its analyze or analyse?

Worksheet

Question 1 of 10

What is the past tense of the verb “sleep”?



Which sentence uses the past tense of “sleep” correctly?



Is “sleep” a regular or irregular verb?



Which sentence correctly uses the past participle of “sleep”?



In the sentence “I wish I had ______ more,” what is the correct form of “sleep”?



Last night, I only for three hours.



She soundly all night long.



I wish I longer.



The baby had through the night.



Having well is important for health.





FAQs

Is “sleep” a regular or irregular verb?
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“Sleep” is an irregular verb. Unlike regular verbs that add “-ed” to form the past tense (e.g., “walked”), “sleep” forms its past tense and past participle as “slept.” This is demonstrated in.

What’s the past tense of “sleep”?
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The past tense of “sleep” is “slept,” not “sleeped.” The post clarifies that “slept” is used for both simple past tense (“I slept for eight hours”) and past participle (“I had slept soundly”). .

How is “slept” used in a sentence?
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“Slept” functions as both simple past tense and past participle. Examples include: “I slept eight hours” (simple past, describing a completed action), and “I had slept before the storm hit” (past.

What’s the difference between simple past “slept” and past?
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While both use “slept,” the simple past (“I slept”) describes a completed action. The past participle (“I had slept”) requires an auxiliary verb (like “had,” “have,” or “has”) and shows an action.

Is “sleeped” ever correct to use?
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No, the post explicitly states that “sleeped” is incorrect. The past tense and past participle of “sleep” are both “slept.” Using “sleeped” demonstrates a misunderstanding of irregular verb.

Yash, D. "What’s the Past Tense of Sleep? Sleeped or Slept?." Grammarflex, Jun 21, 2025, https://www.grammarflex.com/whats-the-past-tense-of-sleep-slept-or-slept/.

Sources

  1. Merriam-Webster, definition of sleep.
  2. Etymology online, origin of sleep.

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