Irregular Verbs
What are they?
The way a verb forms its past
tense determines its
classification as regular or
irregular. A regular verb takes
the –d or –ed ending to denote
the past tense.
Irregular verbs do not take
the –d or –ed ending. They are
inflected in various other
ways to indicate past tense.
Examples
Regular
believe → believed
smile → smiled
Irregular
run → ran
eat → ate
An irregular verb forms its past
and past participle by
 changing vowels (run-- ran)
or consonants (build– built)
 or by changing vowels and
consonants (catch – caught)
 or by making no changes (burst,
cost)
Principal Parts of Verbs
Every verb has four basic parts,
which are called its principal parts.
You must know all of these in order
to form the different tenses
correctly.
•Present (aka Infinitive)
•Past
•Present Participle
•Past Participle
Present (aka Infinitive)
existing or happening now
know
take
write
to know
to take
to write
Past
existed or happened in the past
knew
took
wrote
Present Participle
The present participle of a verb
always ends in –ing.
knowing
taking
writing
Past Participle
The past participle of a verb
always requires a helping verb
(have, has, had).
had known
have taken
has written
Practice
Present
Past
Past
Participle
begin
1. __________
have begun
freeze
2. __________
have frozen
write
blow
wrote
4. __________
3. _________
have blown
drive
drove
5. _________
wear
wore
6. _________
sing
7. __________
have sung
ride
8. __________
have ridden
Present
Practice
Past
Past Participle
begin
1.
have begun
freeze
2.
have frozen
write
wrote
blow
4.
drive
drove
5.
wear
wore
6.
sing
7.
have sung
ride
8.
have ridden
3.
have blown
Practice
Present
choose
go
run
throw
come
see
speak
burst
Past
chose
10. _________
11. _________
threw
came
saw
15. _________
16. _________
Past
Participle
9. _________
have gone
have run
12. ________
13. ________
14. ________
have spoken
have burst
Practice
Present
choose
go
run
throw
come
see
speak
burst
Past
Past
Participle
chose
10.
11.
threw
came
saw
15.
16.
9.
have gone
have run
12.
13.
14.
have spoken
have burst
Practice
Present
Past
swim
sink
break
bring
swam
sank
19. _________
20. _________
Past
Participle
17. ________
18. ________
have broken
have brought
Practice
Present
Past
Past
Participle
swim
sink
break
bring
swam
sank
19.
20.
17.
18.
have broken
have brought