Which is correct: “sneaked” or “snuck”?
The past tense of sneak traditionally was sneaked. Snuck is also now commonly used and accepted as the past tense and participial form of sneak. Some consider snuck a colloquialism—in other words, snuck is conversational. This does not mean that snuck is incorrect— it just means that snuck wasn’t the standard past tense form, and using snuck may come off as casual and informal.
What’s does sneak mean?
Let’s define the topic first. The verb sneak, as described by Collins Dictionary, is understood as “trying to avoid being seen or heard”— to sneak somewhere means travelling in a way that doesn’t attract attention, while sneaking something means taking, bringing, or doing something in a discreet way.
Forms of the verb sneak
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I sneak | I snuck/sneaked | I will sneak |
| continuous | I am sneaking | I was sneaking | I will be sneaking |
| perfect | I have snuck/sneaked | I had snuck/sneaked | I will have snuck/sneaked |
| perfect continuous | I have been sneaking | I had been sneaking | I will have been sneaking |
To sneak is in the present tense.
Sneaked/snuck are the simple past.
Sneaked/snuck are also the past participle form.
Is sneak a regular or irregular verb?
Snuck is irregular whereas sneaked is regular, since it uses the standard -ed at the end. This makes sneak both a regular and irregular verb. It’s confusing to tell, since sneak now has two accepted past verb forms, but the verdict is: sneak can be both a regular and irregular verb, depending on the past form you use.
Sentence examples of sneak in context
1. I managed to sneak in through the back door while she wasn’t looking.
3. They tried to sneak into the movie without paying.
4. Don’t sneak away and hide.
5. You told Mrs Cooper that it was me who tipped the paint over, didn’t you – you nasty little sneak!
The past tense/past participle snuck (in sentences)
1. I snuck another look at him as I sped along the Disney back-roads.
2. He snuck a few cookies out of the jar while his mother wasn’t looking.
3. She snuck up on me and made me scream
4. We waited a good fifteen minutes into the movie before I poked Joshua and the two of us snuck out.
5. Nick and Kelly snuck into the kitchen and made themselves a meal.
Origin of the word sneak
From etymology online on sneak (v.):
1550s (implied in sneakish), perhaps from some dialectal survival of Middle English sniken “to creep, crawl” (c. 1200), related to Old English snican “to sneak along, creep, crawl,” from Proto-Germanic *sneikanan, which is related to the root of snake (n.).
Worksheet
Test yourself before you flex your grammar. Take a quick quiz to test your knowledge of the tenses of the verb “sneak.”
1. Present Simple Tense: He _______ into the room quietly.
a) sneaks
b) sneaking
c) sneaked
2. Present Continuous Tense: Right now, they _______ past the security guard.
a) sneaks
b) are sneaking
c) sneaked
3. Past Simple Tense: Yesterday, she _______ into the house unnoticed.
a) sneaks
b) sneaking
c) sneaked
4. Past Continuous Tense: While no one was looking, he _______ around the corner.
a) sneaks
b) was sneaking
c) sneaked
5. Present Perfect Tense: They _______ into the cinema without tickets.
a) has sneaked
b) sneaks
c) have sneaked
6. Future Simple Tense: Tomorrow, she _______ out of the party early.
a) sneaks
b) sneaking
c) will sneak
7. Future Continuous Tense: By this time tomorrow, they _______ out of the building.
a) sneaks
b) will sneak
c) will be sneaking
8. Present Perfect Continuous Tense: He _______ around the neighbourhood for hours.
a) sneaks
b) has been sneaking
c) sneaked
Answers
- c) sneaked
- b) are sneaking
- c) sneaked
- b) was sneaking
- c) have sneaked
- c) will sneak
- c) will be sneaking
- b) has been sneaking
Learn more about verbs
- What are regular and irregular verbs?
- Transitive and intransitive verbs?
- What are verbs?
- Past tense of spread?
- What’re personal pronouns?
- What’s the difference between they’re, their, and there?
- Whose vs who’s?
