Regular and Irregular Verbs in English with Examples

In English, verbs are divided into two main types: regular verbs and irregular verbs. Understanding the difference between these types can help improve your language skills. Both are crucial for forming sentences correctly and are widely used in both written and spoken English.

What Are Regular Verbs?

In English grammar, regular verbs are verbs that follow a predictable pattern when forming their past tense and past participle forms. For basic grammar learners, this means that regular verbs are easier to learn and use because they add the ending “-ed” to the base form of the verb to show something happened in the past.

Rules for Regular Verbs

Regular verbs are verbs that follow a set pattern to form their past tense and past participle. In English, most regular verbs form these by adding “-ed” or “-d” to the base form of the verb. Here’s a guide to understanding these rules with examples.

Basic Rule: Add “-ed”
For most regular verbs, simply add “-ed” to make the past tense.

• play → played, jump → jumped, work → worked, ask → asked

Verbs Ending in “e”: Add “-d”
If a verb already ends in “e,” just add “-d” instead of “-ed.”

• love → loved, move → moved, dance → danced, bake → baked

Verbs Ending in Consonant + “y”: Change “y” to “i” and Add “-ed”
When a verb ends with a consonant + “y,” change the “y” to “i” and add “-ed.”

• cry → cried, carry → carried, fry → fried, try → tried

Note: If the verb ends in vowel + “y,” like play or enjoy, just add “-ed” without changing anything.

Verbs Ending in Short Vowel + Consonant: Double the Consonant and Add “-ed”
If a verb has a short vowel (like “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” or “u”) and ends in a single consonant, double the consonant first, then add “-ed.”

• stop → stopped, plan → planned, hug → hugged, beg → begged

Verbs Ending in Long Vowel + Consonant: Just Add “-ed”
If a verb ends with a long vowel sound (like need or fail) and a consonant, just add “-ed.”

• need → needed, fail → failed, clean → cleaned, rain → rained

List of Regular Verbs

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
Accept	Accepted	Accepted
Add	Added	Added
Ask	Asked	Asked
Bake	Baked	Baked
Call	Called	Called
Clean	Cleaned	Cleaned
Close	Closed	Closed
Collect	Collected	Collected
Cook	Cooked	Cooked
Dance	Danced	Danced
Deliver	Delivered	Delivered
Dry	Dried	Dried
Enjoy	Enjoyed	Enjoyed
Erase	Erased	Erased
Fix	Fixed	Fixed
Help	Helped	Helped
Jump	Jumped	Jumped
Kiss	Kissed	Kissed
Laugh	Laughed	Laughed
Learn	Learned	Learned
Listen	Listened	Listened
Look	Looked	Looked
Love	Loved	Loved
Move	Moved	Moved
Need	Needed	Needed
Open	Opened	Opened
Paint	Painted	Painted
Play	Played	Played
Post	Posted	Posted
Practice	Practiced	Practiced
Pull	Pulled	Pulled
Push	Pushed	Pushed
Rain	Rained	Rained
Reach	Reached	Reached
Relax	Relaxed	Relaxed
Remember	Remembered	Remembered
Reply	Replied	Replied
Share	Shared	Shared
Shop	Shopped	Shopped
Show	Showed	Showed
Smoke	Smoked	Smoked
Start	Started	Started
Stay	Stayed	Stayed
Stop	Stopped	Stopped
Talk	Talked	Talked
Touch	Touched	Touched
Travel	Traveled	Traveled
Visit	Visited	Visited
Wait	Waited	Waited
Walk	Walked	Walked
Watch	Watched	Watched

What Are Irregular Verbs?

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the standard rule of adding “-ed” to form the past tense or past participle. Unlike regular verbs, they have unique past forms that can vary significantly from their base forms. Because irregular verbs don’t follow a predictable pattern, they have to be memorized individually.

Rules for Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the standard rules for forming their past tense and past participle. While there are no strict rules like with regular verbs, some common patterns can help you understand how irregular verbs change:

Completely Different Forms

Some irregular verbs change completely when moving from the base form to the past tense and past participle.

• • Base Form: go → Past Tense: went → Past Participle: gone
  • Base Form: eat → Past Tense: ate → Past Participle: eaten

Similar Forms

A few irregular verbs have the same form in the present, past, and past participle.

• • Base Form: put → Past Tense: put → Past Participle: put
  • Base Form: cut → Past Tense: cut → Past Participle: cut

Vowel Changes

Many irregular verbs change the vowel in the past tense and past participle.

• • Base Form: sing → Past Tense: sang → Past Participle: sung
  • Base Form: begin → Past Tense: began → Past Participle: begun

No Change

Some irregular verbs do not change at all when moving to the past tense.

• • Base Form: hurt → Past Tense: hurt → Past Participle: hurt
  • Base Form: read (pronounced “reed”) → Past Tense: read (pronounced “red”) → Past Participle: read (pronounced “red”)

List of Irregular Verbs

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
Arise	Arose	Arisen
Be	Was/Were	Been
Become	Became	Become
Begin	Began	Begun
Bend	Bent	Bent
Bite	Bit	Bitten
Blow	Blew	Blown
Break	Broke	Broken
Bring	Brought	Brought
Build	Built	Built
Buy	Bought	Bought
Catch	Caught	Caught
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Come	Came	Come
Cost	Cost	Cost
Cut	Cut	Cut
Deal	Dealt	Dealt
Do	Did	Done
Draw	Drew	Drawn
Drink	Drank	Drunk
Drive	Drove	Driven
Eat	Ate	Eaten
Fall	Fell	Fallen
Feel	Felt	Felt
Find	Found	Found
Fly	Flew	Flown
Forget	Forgot	Forgotten
Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven
Freeze	Froze	Frozen
Get	Got	Gotten
Give	Gave	Given
Go	Went	Gone
Grow	Grew	Grown
Have	Had	Had
Hear	Heard	Heard
Hide	Hid	Hidden
Hit	Hit	Hit
Hold	Held	Held
Keep	Kept	Kept
Know	Knew	Known
Leave	Left	Left
Lose	Lost	Lost
Make	Made	Made
Meet	Met	Met
Pay	Paid	Paid
Read	Read	Read
Ride	Rode	Ridden
Ring	Rang	Rung
Rise	Rose	Risen
Run	Ran	Run
Say	Said	Said

Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Understanding the difference between regular and irregular verbs is essential for mastering English grammar. Here’s a simple explanation:

Feature	Regular Verbs	Irregular Verbs
Definition	Verbs that follow a predictable pattern when changing tense	Verbs that don’t follow a predictable pattern when changing tense
Formation of Past Tense	Add -ed or -d to the base form	Changes vary, often with a different word or vowel change
Past Participle Form	Same as past tense form (usually ends in -ed or -d)	May be different from both base and past tense forms
Examples	Base: walk → Past: walked	Base: go → Past: went → Past Participle: gone
Consistency	Consistent rules apply to most regular verbs	No set rules; forms must be memorized individually
Ease of Learning	Easier to learn due to predictable pattern	Harder to learn; requires memorization
Examples of Each	Regular: play, talk, clean → played, talked, cleaned	Irregular: see, take, sing → saw, took, sang
Common Ending Pattern	Ends in -ed for past and past participle	Varies greatly; often involves vowel or full word changes
Usage in English	More common in simpler, newer verbs	Often found in older, core vocabulary verbs

Common Mistakes to Avoid

When learning about regular and irregular verbs, there are some common mistakes to watch out for. Here are a few tips to help avoid these errors:

• Adding “-ed” to Irregular Verbs: Not all past tenses use “-ed.” For example, “go” becomes “went,” not “goed.”
• Using Base Form Instead of Past Tense: For instance, saying “He sing yesterday” instead of “He sang yesterday.”
• Confusing Regular and Irregular Patterns: Regular verbs take “-ed” (like “played”), but irregular verbs have unique changes. Don’t mix these up.
• Pronouncing “-ed” Incorrectly: For verbs like “wanted,” the “-ed” sounds like “id,” while in “played,” it sounds like “d.”

Read More

• Transitive verbs and intransitive verbs
• Auxiliary verbs