# English Irregular Verbs ########################################################################### ## sburke@pobox.com Sean M. Burke ## Time-stamp: "2026-03-16 09:26:41 MDT" ## ## Keyed in from various sources, for a program I have half-written, to ## model English irregular verb morphology. ## ## You may find this table useful, for finding out what at least some people ## think is the way to conjugate "dive", etc. ## ########################################################################### # If there is ONE form # => It's the same in all tenses. # If there are TWO forms # => present, and then it's the same form for preterite and past-participle # If there are THREE forms # => past, present, past participle # If there are FOUR forms # => past, present, past participle, and adjectival past participle # (...) = rare, or specialized. # (A ...) means adjectival past-participle # (* ...) means archaic # totally archaic verbs are commented out, and have /\s+#\s*ARCH/ comments abide, abode arise, arose, arisen awake, awoke, awaked (awoken) # "be" is too irregular to fit in this table. # Note: "been" in some dialects it's pronounced "Ben", in others it's "bean". # Note: "am" is some dialects is pronounced like in "can", others like "Ken". bear, bore, borne (A born/borne) # Note that "X to be born" = a baby (X) is delivered. # Note that bear occurs in several idioms and forms such as: # bear/bore the brunt of... # to bear fruit # load-bearing # bloodborne # Note that it is unrelated to the verb "to bore" (about being tedious) beat, beat, beaten (beat) become, became, become # beget, begot (* begat), begotten # ARCH begin, began, begun behold, beheld, beheld (beholden) bend, bent # bereave, bereaft (bereaved) # ARCH 'bereaft' pron. as if 'bereft' # beseech, besought # ARCH beset bespeak, bespoke, bespoken # "bespoke" is adjective for "custom-made" (like a suit) bet, bet (betted) bid, bade (bad, bid), bidden (bid) bind, bound, bound, bound (ARCH bounden) bite, bit, bitten (* bit) bleed, bled blow, blew, blown break, broke, broken (broke) # Note that this is related to the plain adjective "broke" # which means: having absolutely no money breed, bred bring, brought #rhymes with "thought" build, built burn, burnt (burned) burst buy, bought cast catch, caught #rhymes with "thought" # chide, chid, chid (chidden) # ARCH choose, chose, chosen # cleave, clove (* clave, cleft, clave), cloven (cleft, cleaved) # ARCH # when meaning "split" # when meaning "cling" cling, clung # clothe, clothed (clad) come, came, come cost creep, crept (creeped) # crow, crew (crowed), crowed (crown) # ARCH cut # dare, dared (durst), dared # ARCH -- and what about "dasn't"? deal, dealt # 'dealt' pron. as if 'delt' dig, dug #dip, dipt (dipped) # ARCH do, did, done # Note that 'does' is /dUz/ (like "fuzz"), not /doz/ (cf. "goes"). draw, drew, drawn dream, dreamed (dreamt) # 'dreamt' pron. as if 'dremt' drink, drank, drunk # cf. "drunken" drive, drove, driven dwell, dwelt (dwelled) eat, ate (* eat), eaten # In some dialects, "ate" is pronounced /et/, like "bet" fall, fell, fallen feed, fed feel, felt fight, fought find, found flee, fled fling, flung fly, flew, flown # forbear, forbore, forborne # ARCH forbid, forbade, forbidden forget, forgot, forgotten forgive, forgave, forgiven forsake, forsook, foresaken freeze, froze, frozen, get, got (* gat), gotten (got) # sense difference between "got" and "gotten" # gild, gilded (gilt) # ARCH # gird, girt (girded) # ARCH give, gave, given go, went, gone grind, ground grow, grew, grown hang, hung (hanged) # supposedly, "to hang [a person]" is regular have, had hear, heard heave, heaved (hove), heaved (hove, hoven) # "heave" can be a noun: "severe concrete heave", "significant frost heave" # hove rhymes with "dove", not "love". # The normal adjective "hefty" is not a form of "heave", but is cognate. hew, hewed, hewn hide, hid, hid (hidden) hit hold, held hurt keep, kept kneel, kneeled (knelt) knit, knit (knitted) know, knew, known # lade, laded, laden # ARCH (except with adj past participle) lay, laid lead, led # "led" is commonly misspelled "lead" (like the metal) # lean, leant (leaned) # leant!? leap, leaped (leapt) # "leapt" is pronounced as if it were "lept" learn, learned (* learnt), learned/learnt, learned # Namely, "learn" is regular in some dialects. # Note that "learnEd" leave, left lend, lent let lie, lay, lain, lying # This is the verb that means "to settlein a place." # But the verb "lie" which means "to tell an untruth." is regular. # ...although its agentive is "liar", not "lier". Compare with "outlier". light, lit (lighted) lose, lost make, made mean, meant # "meant" pronounced like "ment" mistake, mistook, mistaken # just like "take" mow, mowed, mown (mowed) overdo, overdid, overdone # like 'do'... pay, paid # merely orthographic -- "paid" sounds like like "payed" pen, penned (pent) # in the sense of "put into a (pig)pen" prove, proved, proven # regular in some dialects. # "proven" is pronounced like put quit # rap, rapped (rapt) # ARCH (irreg only in sense of captivate) read, read # past forms pronounced like "red" # rend, rent rev, revved # Technically this is regular, but I note it because "-vv-" is so unusual. rid, rid (ridded, * ridden) ride, rode (rid), ridden (rid) ring, rang (rung), rung rise, rose, risen # rive, rived, rived (rived) # ARCH run, ran, run saw, sawed, sawed (sawn) say, said # "said" pronounced "sed". "says" is prounced like "sez". see, saw, seen seek, sought # seethe, seethed (sod), seethed (sodden) # WHAT!? sell, sold send, sent set sew, sewed, sewed (sewn) shake, shook, shaken # shape, shaped, shaped (shapen) # shapen occurs only in 'misshapen' shave, shaved, shaved (shaven) shear, sheared (shore), shorn (sheared) shed shine, shone # In some dialects, "shone" is pronounced almost like "shahn" shit # althought in some dialects, it is: shit,shat,shat shiv, shivved # Technically this is regular, but I note it because "-vv-" is so unusual. # shoe, shod # ARCH (as a verb) shoot, shot show, showed, shown # shred, shredded, shredded (shred) shrink, shrank (shrunk), shrunk, (shrunken) # shrive, shrove, shriven shut sing, sang, sung sink, sank (sunk), sunk (A sunken) sit, sat slay, slew, slain sleep, slept slide, slid, slid (slidden, slided) sling, slung slink, slunk slit smell, smelled (smelt) smite, smote, smitted (* smit) # "smit"!?!? sow, sowed, sown (sowed) speak, spoke, spoken speed, sped spell, spelled (spelt) spend, spent spill, spilled (spilt) spin, spun (span), spun spit, spit (spat) split spoil, spoiled (spoilt) spread # 'spread' pronounced like 'spred' spring, sprang (sprung), sprung stand, stood # stave, staved (stove) # ARCH # stay, stayed (staid) steal, stole, stolen stick, stuck sting, stung stink, stank, stunk strew, stewed, strewn (strewed) stride, strode, stridden strike, struck, struck (A stricken) string, strung strive, strove, striven # strow, strowed, strowed (strown) # ARCH swear, swore, sworn sweat, sweated (* sweat) sweep, swept swell, swelled, swollen (swelled) swim, swam, swum swing, swung (swang), swung take, took, taken teach, taught tear, tore (* tare), torn tell, told think, thought thrive, thrived (throve), thrived (thriven) throw, threw, thrown thrust # toss, tossed (tost) # tost!? tread, trod (* trode), trodden (trod) understand, understood # like undo, undid, undone # like do..., overdo... upset # like 'set' wear, wore, worn weave, wove, woven weep, wept win, won wind, wound # 'wind' like 'wined', not like Earth, Wind, and Fire # 'wound' like 'bound', not like Wounded Knee withstand, withstood # like 'stand'... withdraw, withdrew, withdrawn # like 'draw' # work, worked (wrought) # ARCH wring, wrung write, wrote, written # writhe, writhed, writhed (writhen) # ARCH # end