Although many verbs in English form their past tense with -ED, some do not. These are called irregular verbs, and they include some of the most basic verbs in English. This page will explain some of the most important patterns in forming the past tense. However, the only way to know how an irregular verb will change in the past tense is to learn all of the important verbs.
The three most important irregular verbs
The three most important irregular verbs are BE, HAVE, and DO. BE is the most difficult, because its forms are different depending on the subject:
| Pronoun
|
Verb
|
| I
|
was
|
| You
|
were
|
| He / she / it
|
was
|
| We
|
were
|
| They
|
were
|
HAVE and DO are more simple:
| Base form
|
Past Tense
|
| have
|
had
|
| do
|
did
|
Other irregular verbs
Other irregular verbs fall into three main categories:
| Category
|
Examples
|
| Verbs which don't change
|
cut - cut
hit - hit
fit - fit
|
| Verbs which change their vowel
|
get - got
sit - sat
drink - drank
|
| Verbs which change completely
|
catch - caught
bring - brought
teach - taught
|
|
