English irregular verbs

Regular verbs in English have four forms:

• the base, which is equivalent to the infinitive without 'to' and most forms of the present tense (for example, wait, to wait, I wait)
• the -s form, which is used for the third person singular of the present tense (he waits, she waits)
• the -ing form, used for the present participle and gerund (I'm waiting, waiting is boring; in most cases the base sheds a final e: compare sínging with síngeing)
• the past form, which is used both for the past tense and the past participle, and which consists of adding -ed to the base, or, in the case of verbs ending in -e, -d only (I waited, she has waited)

Irregular verbs have these forms, and form the -s and -ing forms regularly: béar, béars, béaring. But the past tense and/or past participle are not formed regularly, as is the case with béar, bŏre, bŏrn (shê bŏre hím, hê was bŏrn). (The accents, which are not part of the language, are included to show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings for a table and English phonemes for the IPA. Words in italics suggest meaning, and an equals sign is placed between homophones.) Others have associated passive adjectives like súnken, from sínk, sánk, súnk (súnken chêeks) and as in såwn-óff shótgun and neŵ-môwn låwns, and these are included here in cases where their form is different from the past participle (regular verbs with this feature are also included). Not all the forms are in common use: for example, people are still described as being behôlden to others, but the verb itself, behóld, meaning look at, is nowadays only used poetically or in jest.

Table of irregular verbs

base	past tense	past participle	adjective
béar birth	bŏre	bŏrn
béar suffer, carry	bŏre	bŏrne
bêat	bêat	bêaten
begín	begán	begún
behôld	behéld	behéld	behôlden
bénd	bént	bént
berêave	berêaved	berêaved	beréft
besêech	besŏught	besŏught
bíd auction	bíd	bíd
bíd ask	báde (= bád wrong)	bídden
bînd	bòund	bòund
bîte	bít	bítten
blêed	bléd	bléd
bléss	bléssed	bléssed = blést	bléssed, pronounced *bléssíd
blôw	bleŵ (= blûe colour)	blôwn
breâk	brôke	brôken
brêed	bréd	bréd
bríng	brŏught	brŏught
buíld	buílt	buílt
bürn	bürnt, bürned	bürnt, bürned
bürst	bürst	bürst
buy	bŏught	bŏught
cāst	cāst	cāst
cátch (-s form cátches)	cåught	cåught
chîde	chîded, chíd	chîded	chídden
choôse	chôse	chôsen
clêave	clôve	clôven	cléft
clíng	clúng	clúng
clôthe	clôthed	clôthed	clád
còme	câme	còme
cóst	cóst	cóst
crêep	crépt	crépt
cút	cút	cút
dêal	déalt	déalt
díg	dúg	dúg
dîve	dîved (AmE also has dôve, cf. dòve bird)	dîved
do (*doô; -s form dòes *dúzz)	díd	dòne (= dún colour)
dråw	dreŵ	dråwn
drêam	dréamt, drêamed	dréamt, drêamed
drínk	dránk	drúnk	drúnken
drîve	drôve	dríven
dwéll	dwélt	dwélt
êat	âte AmE, BrE *ét	êaten
fåll	féll	fållen
fêed	féd	féd
fêel	félt	félt
fîght	fŏught	fŏught
fînd	fòund	fòund
flêe	fléd	fléd
flíng	flúng	flúng
flŷ (-s form flîes)	fleŵ	flôwn
forbéar	forbŏre	forbŏrne
forbíd	forbáde, forbâde, forbád	forbídden
forsâke	forsoòk	forsâken
frêeze	frôze	frôzen
gét	gót	gót BrE, AmE gótten
gíld	gílded	gílded	gílt
gíve	gâve	gíven
gô (-s form gôes)	wént	góne
grînd	gròund	gròund
grôw	greŵ	grôwn
háng	húng	húng (except for hánged executed)
háve (-s form hás)	hád	hád
hêar	hëard	hëard
hêave	hêaved, hôve	hêaved, hôve
heŵ	heŵed	heŵed	heŵn
hîde	híd	hídden
hít	hít	hít
hôld	héld	héld
hürt	hürt	hürt
kêep	képt	képt
knêel down (= Nêil person)	knélt (*nélt)	knélt
knôw knowledge (= nô not)	kneŵ ( = neŵ fresh)	knôwn
lây put cf. lîe	lâid	lâid
lêad	léd	léd
lêan	léant, lêaned	léant, lêaned
lêap	léapt, lêaped	léapt, lêaped
lëarn	lëarnt, lëarned	lëarnt, lëarned
lêave	léft	léft
lénd	lént	lént
lét	lét	lét
lîe down	lây	lâin
lîght	lít, lîghted	lít, lîghted
lose (*loôz, cf. loôse insecure *loôss)	lóst	lóst
mâke	mâde	mâde
mêan	méant	méant
mêet	mét	mét
mêet	mét	mét
môw	môwed	môwed	môwn
pây	pâid	pâid
plêad	BrE plêaded, AmE pléd	BrE plêaded, AmE pléd
prècìs (*prâycêe)	prècis’d (*prâycêed)	prècis’d
prove (oô)	proved (oô)	proved (oô), prôven (or oô)	prôven (or oô)
pùt	pùt	pùt
quít	quít, quítted	quít, quítted
rêad	réad (= réd colour)	réad
rénd	rént	rént
rîde	rôde	rídden
ríng	ráng	rúng
rîse	rôse	rísen
rót	rótted	rótted	rótten
rún	rán	rún
såw	såwed	såwed, såwn	såwn
sây	said (é)	said (é)
sêe	såw	sêen
sêek	sŏught (= BrE sŏrt)	sŏught
séll	sôld	sôld
sénd	sént	sént
sét	sét	sét
sew (ô)	sewed (ô)	sewed, sewn (ô)
shâke	shoòk	shâken
shêar	shêared	shêared	shŏrn
shéd	shéd	shéd
shîne	shóne	shóne
shoe (= shoô away)	shód	shód
shoôt	shót	shót
shôw	shôwed	shôwn
shrínk	shránk	shrúnk
shrîve	shrôve	shríven
shút	shút	shút
síng	sáng	súng
sínk	sánk	súnk
sít	sát	sát
slây	sleŵ	slâin
slêep	slépt	slépt
slîde	slíd	slíd
slíng	slúng	slúng
slínk	slúnk	slúnk
slít	slít	slít