Irregular verbs: irregular verbs in English

It is known that the irregular verbsgenerate doubts among English language learners. This is because, unlike the regular verbs, they do not end in -ed, thus becoming the main focus in the learning of some verb tenses. With a varied ending, the irregular verbs in English they have the advantage, in relation to Portuguese, of being inflected only once, that is, their form is the same for all people (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).

In addition, the irregular verbs appear, above all, in past times — simple past — and in verbal tenses formed by past participate, that is, the perfect tenses or Panssive voice. Know the use of irregular verbs and one of the main verbs we use on a daily basis is an important and sufficient strategy for those studying English.

Read too: Phrasalverbs - andvery common expressions in english

Irregular verbs list

We separate a list that contains the main irregular verbsof the English language, highlighting the base form followed by the translation into Portuguese and with the inflection in both the

simple past how much in the past participate so you can observe the variety of endings of these verbs. Note that some endings may be the same in all three columns (e.g. put), in both (e.g. meet), or different at all (e.g. write):

base form	simple past	Past participation
Arise (appear)	Arose	arisen
Be (to be/be)	Was/were	been
Become (become)	Became	become
begin	began	begun
break	broker	broken
Bring	Brought	Brought
Catch	Pego	Pego
Choose	choose	Chosen
eat (come)	cam	Eats
Do (do)	Did	Done
Draw	Drew	Drawn
drink	Drank	drunk
eat	Until	Eaten
fall (fall)	fell	Fallen
feel	Felt	Felt
Find	Found	Found
Forget (forget)	Forgot	forgotten
get (get)	got	got
give	Gave	given
go (go)	Went	gone
have (have)	Had	Had
Keep	Kept	Kept
Know	Knew	Known
learn	learner	learner
Let (leave)	let	let
Lose (lose)	lost	lost
make	made	made
Mean	Meant	Meant
meet	Met	Met
Pay	father	father
put (put)	put	put
Read (read)	Read	Read
Run	ran	run
Say (say)	Said	Said
See (see)	saw	Seen
Sell	sold	sold
sing (sing)	Sang	Sung
sleep	slip	slip
Speak	spoke	Spoken
Spend	Spent	Spent
Swim	swan	swun
Take (take)	tool	Taken
Teach	Taught	Taught
tell (count)	Told	Told
think (think)	thought	thought
Throw	Threw	Thrown
Understand (understand)	Understood	Understood
Wear	Wore	Worn
win	Won	Won
write	wrote	written

Don't forget that the verbs have been translated in the table to make learning easier. Whenever you use them, check the dictionary for the other meanings that each of them may have, avoiding inappropriate placements.

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How to use the irregular verbs?

We use the irregular verbs for form some verb tenses. Verbs are understood to take different forms in the language. Thus, we say that some are irregular when the base form, when moving to the simple past or past participle, does not end in -ed. In this way, the tenses in English that have these two forms may have in their structure as much regular how much irregular verbs, being the ending of the verb the indicative of its regularity for the student.

See some examples:

1. Anne lived in London in 2010.
   (Anne lived in London in 2010.)
2. Anne has lived in London for five years.
   (Anne lived in London for five years.)
3. Anne was in London.
   (Anne was in London.)
4. Anne has already been to London.
   (Anne has been to London.)

In the four sentences, we have two verb tenses. Phrases 1 and 3, simple past. Sentences 2 and 4,gift perfect. Note that the regular verb live, so much in simple past how much in the past participate,Do not change (lived). On the other hand, the irregular verb well does not end in -ed, as it has the following conjugation:

base form	simple past	Past participation
To be - to be/be	was/were	been

remember that you irregular verbs have the same flex for all people, thus facilitating their learning. Observe the following examples, in the table, with the verb purchase, in English, in the simple past and in the perfect present:

base form	simple past	Past participate in the present perfect
To buy - buy	I bought you bought he she bought it we bought you bought they bought	Auxiliary verb + bought I have bought you have bought he, she, it has bought we have bought you have bought they have bought

In addition, it is worth noting that the past participle's verbal form always will be accompanied by someauxiliary verb referring to some perfect tense or passive voice in English.

Lastly, there is no specific rule for the formation of irregular verbs in English, therefore, the best way to learn them is to practice. A good practice that can help in the study is to create a list with the main verbs we use in our daily lives and which contains the base form of the verb with its translation, the simple past and the past participle. How about creating yours?!

See too:Modalverbs: know the different functions of these verbs

Examples with irregular verbs

In the following examples, you can see the irregular verbs in different verb tenses. It is noteworthy that, in time simple past, irregular bending occurs only in affirmative sentences. On the other hand, in perfect tenses or in passive voice, irregular inflection remains in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences:

→ simple past

• My mother told me a story.
  (My mother told me a story.)
• My mother didn’t tell me a story.
  (My mother didn't tell me a story.)
• Did your mother tell you a story?
  (Did your mother tell you a story?)

→ passive voice

• The house was sold for one million dollars.
   (The house sold for a million dollars.)
• The house wasn’t sold for one million dollars.
  (The house did not sell for a million dollars.)
• Was the house sold for one million dollars?
  (The house sold for a million dollars?)

→ present perfect

• She has eaten all the cake.
  (She ate the whole cake.)
• She hasnt eaten all the cake.
  (She didn't eat the whole cake.)
• Has she eaten all the cake?
  (She ate the whole cake?)

difference between the regular verbs and the irregular verbs

Unlike the irregular verbs, you regular verbs in the verbal forms of simple past It's from past participate are formed by the suffix -ed, facilitating the learning of the English language in this case. In addition, the rules related to affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences are the same as for irregular verbs, as studied in the section on examples.

Note the following examples:

→ simple past

• My mother created a story.
  (My mother created a story.)
• My mother didn’t create a story.
  (My mother didn't create a story.)
• Did your mother create a story?
  (Her mother created a story?)

→ passive voice

• The house was painted.
  (The house has been painted.)
• The house wasn’t painted.
  (The house has not been painted.)
• Was the house painted?
  (Has the house been painted?)

→ present perfect

• She has prepared a cake.
  (She made a cake.)
• She hasn’t prepared a cake.
  (She didn't bake a cake.)
• Has she prepared a cake?
  (She made a cake?)

“Irregular verbs” do not end in -ed.

solved exercises

Question 1 - (IFSE 2018) The verbs highlighted below are conjugated in simple past. Look at the alternatives and check the box where the sequence of verbs matches their normal form.

marched-grew-became

a) March-grow-become

b) March-grew-become

c) March-grown-become

d) Marched-grow-become

Resolution

Alternative A, because we have a regular past tense (march) and two irregular past tense verbs (grow and become).

Question 2 - (UECE 2015) In “...and many parents have made story time a fixture in their family routines...”, the verb tense is

a) present perfect.

b) past perfect.

c) present perfect continuous.

d) simple past.

Resolution

Alternative A, because the gift perfect is formed by the verb have + main verb in past participle made.

By Patricia Veronica Moreira
English teacher