Top irregular verbs in English - Regent English School

Top irregular verbs in English

Although irregular verbs might seem challenging at first, the truth is you don’t need to worry too much. It’s essential to recognize which verbs are irregular and which are not, so you can avoid simple mistakes. Also, understanding the four types of irregular verbs will help you categorize them easily and get the conjugation right when speaking or writing.

Are you prepared to begin? This useful guide will explain everything you need to know about irregular verbs in English, including the most frequently used ones, along with five expert tips for mastering them. Let’s start!

What are irregular verbs in English and how many are there?

Irregular verbs are different from regular ones because they don’t follow the typical conjugation rules. Regular verbs often end with -d or -ed when changing forms. However, irregular verbs don’t follow these patterns for either the simple past or the past participle — sometimes not for both. While English has about 200 irregular verbs, many of them are not frequently used. Here, we’ve listed the most common irregular verbs for you.

Types of irregular verbs in English

Before we delve into the comprehensive list of irregular verbs in English, let’s first review the four types of irregular verbs so you know what to expect.

Irregular verbs with consistent base form, past tense, and past participle:

This type is among the most common and easiest to learn. With these verbs, you simply maintain the infinitive form for both the past tense and past participle. Examples include:

Bid
Broadcast
Set

Irregular verbs with the same past tense and past participle:

Another type involves verbs that share the same conjugation for both the simple past and past participle. These are relatively straightforward to remember, as you use the same conjugation for both tenses. Examples include:

Bend → Bent
Build → Built
Get → Got

Irregular verbs with consistent base form and past participle:

This category comprises the wildcard verbs of English. While the simple past may have a unique and often irregular conjugation, the past participle remains identical to the base verb. Although this may seem counterintuitive, the list of verbs in this category is not extensive. Examples include:

Run → Ran
Become → Became
Overcome → Overcame

Irregular verbs with distinct base form, past tense, and past participle:

Finally, we encounter verbs where each tense is entirely different from the others. Although this might appear challenging to learn, we have some tricks to help you memorize them easily. Keep reading to discover more! For now, here are examples of verbs in this category, featuring the base form followed by the simple past conjugation and the past participle:

Freeze → Froze → Frozen
Write → Wrote → Written
Eat → Ate → Eaten

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle	Example
To awake	Awoke	Awoken	I was awoken in the middle of the night by a loud bang.
To be	Was/were	Been	I think I might have already been asleep by the time you called me.
To become	Became	Become	She became the top swimmer in her high school.
To begin	Began	Begun	I rushed as much as I could, but the competition had already begun by the time I got there.
To bid	Bid	Bid	She bid him farewell on a cold, rainy night.
To bite	Bit	Bitten	Luckily, I’ve never been bitten by a snake.
To bleed	Bled	Bled	I got a nosebleed last night and bled all over my pillowcase.
To break	Broke	Broken	The handle broke as soon as I touched it.
To bring	Brought	Brought	She brought the same cookies she had brought last year!
To build	Built	Built	This house was built in the 19th century.
To burn	Burned or burnt	Burn or burnt	I made some mac & cheese, but I left it in the oven too long and burnt it to a crisp!
To buy	Bought	Bought	She bought him a new car for his birthday.
To catch	Caught	Caught	We caught our kid using his phone past his bedtime, so we had to take it away.
To choose	Chose	Chosen	The dress I had chosen is no longer in stock.
To come	Came	Come	I’m shocked, this news really came out of the blue.
To cost	Cost	Cost	Even though she bought this art piece as an investment, she had to sell it for less than what it had originally cost her.
To cut	Cut	Cut	Due to budget constraints, the school cut its arts program last year.
To dig	Dug	Dug	The dog randomly dug out a bone from the ground.
To do	Did	Done	It was too late by the time he realized what he had done.
To draw	Drew	Drawn	He was quite impressed with the results, considering he had never drawn anything like that before.
To dream	Dreamed or dreamt	Dreamed or dreamt	They finally moved into the home they had always dreamt of.
To drive	Drove	Driven	I had never driven on a coastline like this before.
To drink	Drank	Drunk	I had already drunk too much wine by the time we started having dinner.
To eat	Ate	Eaten	I was so hungry I could have eaten a whole cow!
To fall	Fell	Fallen	Nathan wasn’t careful so he fell into the river.
To feed	Fed	Fed	Even though it was a very long time, they kept me very well fed.
To feel	Felt	Felt	I felt like you weren’t listening to me.
To fight	Fought	Fought	I fought really hard to get to where I am today.
To find	Found	Found	You should check with the lost and found department to see if they have your card.
To fly	Flew	Flown	The bird flew away before the cat could catch it.
To forget	Forgot	Forgotten	I had forgotten about the homework assignment, but luckily, I remembered right before the deadline.
To forgive	Forgave	Forgiven	No need to apologize, you’re already forgiven!
To freeze	Froze	Frozen	He froze when he heard her voice.
To get	Got	Got	I got a new pair of jeans yesterday.
To give	Gave	Given	He gave me flowers on our first date!
To go	Went	Gone	Oh, she’s already gone! She left this morning.
To grow	Grew	Grown	I didn’t like the carpet at first, but it grew on me.
To have	Had	Had	I think he already had lunch, so we can start eating without him
To hear	Heard	Heard	Hey! I heard you’re coming to visit next month?
To hide	Hid	Hidden	They found a hidden treasure at the beach and became rich!
To hit	Hit	Hit	He got injured while skiing because he hit a tree.
To hold	Held	Held	My cat loves being held like a little baby.
To hurt	Hurt	Hurt	Your words really hurt me, so it will take some time for me to move on.
To keep	Kept	Kept	I kept your letter after all these years.
To know	Knew	Known	I wish I had known before I came all the way here!
To lay	Laid	Laid	They laid a strong foundation before beginning construction on the megaproject.
To lead	Led	Led	Poor management led to the bankruptcy of what once was a thriving company.
To learn	Learned	Learned	I was placed two math levels above my grade because I had already learned most of what they were studying.
To leave	Left	Left	I rushed to the airport to meet there, but she had already left by the time I got there.
To lend	Lent	Lent	Here are the books you had lent me.
To let	Let	Let	Our teacher let us out of class a few minutes early.
To lose	Lost	Lost	I can’t believe I found the jacket I thought I had lost years ago!
To make	Made	Made	This dish is what made this restaurant an international phenomenon.
To mean	Meant	Meant	I don’t know what she meant by that, but she seems upset.
To meet	Met	Met	I had never met someone like you.
To pay	Paid	Paid	As long as I’m being paid, I don’t mind staying after closing.
To prove	Proved	Proven	We’re all innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.
To put	Put	Put	I can’t find my scarf. I know I put it somewhere, but I can’t remember where!
To quit	Quit	Quit	He had already quit his job before I had a chance to convince him not to.
To read	Read	Read	He read her a bedtime story before putting her to bed.
To ride	Rode	Ridden	I’ve ridden every single rollercoaster in this theme park.
To ring	Rang	Rung	He rang me up at the cash register upstairs.
To rise	Rose	Risen	It’s very inspiring to see how you rose from the bottom.
To run	Ran	Run	You should have already run at least 20 miles in one go before you attempt to run a marathon.
To say	Said	Said	I misunderstood what she had said.
To see	Saw	Seen	That was the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.
To sell	Sold	Sold	Fortunately, the house sold in less than two weeks.
To send	Sent	Sent	I sent my bags ahead of time so they were already at the hotel when I got there.
To set	Set	Set	I set the table earlier today so we should be ready for dinner.
To show	Showed	Shown	He had already shown her the birthday party invite, so he ruined the surprise.
To shut	Shut	Shut	I forgot to shut the window and now my room is full of mosquitoes.
To sing	Sang	Sung	She sang a beautiful song at our wedding.
To sit	Sat	Sat	My mom forgot she had to pick me up from school so I just sat there and waited for her for hours.
To sleep	Slept	Slept	I hadn’t slept that well in a really long time.
To sow	Sowed	Sown	The farmers sowed diligently all day long, but soon they will be able to feast on their harvest.
To speak	Spoke	Spoken	There you have it, spoken like a true native!
To spend	Spent	Spent	I spent the whole afternoon studying Spanish, and I think it’s actually paying off!
To spin	Spun	Spun	Everything was fine at first, but things just spun out of control.
To stand	Stood	Stood	Nobody dared to help after the accident, everyone just stood there in shock.
To steal	Stole	Stolen	They stopped construction because the government found out it was being financed with stolen money.
To sting	Stung	Stung	I’m very lucky because I’ve never been stung by a bee.
To swear	Swore	Sworn	I could’ve sworn I saw you at the mall the other day.
To swim	Swam	Swum	I swam all the way to the island and back yesterday.
To take	Took	Taken	I think what I said might’ve been taken out of context.
To teach	Taught	Taught	Having taught children for over two decades, I think I can speak to children effectively.
To tear	Tore	Torn	I’m torn between these two dresses, what do you think?
To tell	Told	Told	I’ve told you a million times to always lock the door when you leave!
To think	Thought	Thought	Learning English is much easier than I thought.
To throw	Threw	Thrown	I threw my bags on the floor and ran to give him a hug as soon as I got home.
To understand	Understood	Understood	I finally understood how to conjugate verbs in Spanish after taking a few more online classes.
To wake	Woke	Woken	She woke me up right in time to make it to the airport to catch my flight.
To wear	Wore	Worn	He wore a sharp-looking suit with a striking red tie to the gala.
To win	Won	Won	They placed me with some novice players, so I had won the game before it even began.
To write	Wrote	Written	I think this might be the most beautiful story ever written.

3 best strategies for learning irregular verbs

Here are three effective strategies for mastering irregular verbs:

Organize them by type

Before tackling all irregular verbs randomly, categorize them based on their patterns. Since memorizing over 100 irregular verbs at once can be overwhelming, prioritize those most relevant to you and group them by type. This approach simplifies understanding what makes each verb irregular. It helps you recognize whether you need to alter the entire verb or just the stem, and whether the changes apply to all verb tenses or only specific ones.

Say them out loud

Memorizing irregular verbs becomes more manageable when you learn all three verb conjugations together. This not only aids in remembering which conjugations require special attention but also allows you to create a memorable rhyme. For instance, try quickly reciting these conjugations:

Freeze, froze, frozen

Begin, began, begun

Sing, sang, sung

Wear, wore, worn

Doesn’t it feel like a fun tongue twister?

Always check if a verb is irregular

Not all verbs are irregular; the vast majority follow regular conjugation rules. However, a common mistake among English learners is treating irregular verbs as regular ones. Therefore, whenever you encounter a new verb, consult a dictionary to confirm whether it’s irregular or regular.