Irregular verbs play a significant role in sentence construction. And there are certain irregular verb forms that need to be memorised. In this tutorial, we will understand essential facts about irregular verbs with related examples.
Irregular verbs do not accept the rules of English grammar while transforming to past participle and past forms. These verbs do not follow standard grammar rules while taking part in various tenses.
For example, the irregular verb 'sing' becomes 'sang' and 'sung', respectively, after transforming into simple past and past participle forms.
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Irregular verbs are different from other verb forms. Other verbs, unlike irregular verbs, take 'ed' or 'd' as a suffix to change into past or past participle. In contrast, there is no irregular verb that follows such a rule while becoming past participle or past. The only way to use correct irregular verbs is to memorise the verb forms.
I danced at the party. ('danced' is the past form of the verb 'dance'.)
I began to write letters to my mother. ('began' is the past form of the verb 'begin')
From the above examples, it is clear that irregular verb forms maintain no rule while transforming. Here, 'dance' and 'begin' are regular and irregular verbs, respectively.
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The simple present form of the irregular verb cannot be changed.
For example, the irregular verb 'sing' is 'sing' in the simple present form. There is an addition of 's' depending on the number of the noun. So, it is 'sings' with the singular noun. And if the noun is plural, then it is 'sing'.
So, the problem arises with the irregular verb forms when these are conjugated in simple past, present perfect or other tenses.
Like regular verbs, irregular verbs can be transitive or intransitive verbs. And irregular verbs can act as linking verbs, stative verbs and also action verbs. And irregular verbs follow the subject-verb-agreement to fit with the subject of the sentence or the clause.
All strong verbs are irregular, whereas some weak verbs are irregular. The vowel of the strong verb can change while transforming into the past form.
For example, 'blow' becomes 'blew'. The vowel of the weak verb does not change.
For example, 'play' becomes 'played'.
An example of the irregular weak verb is 'sleep'. Both past and past participle of 'sleep' is conjugated as 'slept'. There are irregular verbs that do not change forms while changing tenses like 'bet'.
Understanding to conjugate irregular verbs can be more complicated than regular verbs.
Here are the three groups of irregular verbs to understand irregular verb forms.
Irregular verbs that do not change spelling while changing forms are in this group. The spelling remains the same in the base, past and past participle forms. So, you must be careful while understanding the meaning of such verbs. Relating such verbs to the context of the sentence makes things easier to understand.
Here are some examples of such verbs:
| Base | Simple Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| Cut | Cut | Cut |
| Hit | Hit | Hit |
| Put | Put | Put |
| Shut | Shut | Shut |
| Set | Set | Set |
| Let | Let | Let |
| Cast | Cast | Cast |
| Burst | Burst | Burst |
| Split | Split | Split |
| Thrust | Thrust | Thrust |
| Broadcast | Broadcast | Broadcast |
| Quit | Quit | Quit |
| Hurt | Hurt | Hurt |
| Read | Read | Read |
| Spread | Spread | Spread |
The pronunciation of the irregular verb 'read' changes in the simple past and past participle forms.
Irregular verbs that have the exact spelling in the simple past and past participle forms come under this group.
Here are some of such irregular verbs:
| Base | Simple Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| Hear | Heard | Heard |
| Bend | Bent | Bent |
| Find | Found | Found |
| Bring | Brought | Brought |
| Catch | Caught | Caught |
| Fight | Fought | Fought |
| Build | Built | Built |
| Think | Thought | Thought |
| Hang | Hung | Hung |
| Buy | Bought | Bought |
| Bind | Bound | Bound |
| Lose | Lost | Lost |
| Make | Made | Made |
Irregular verbs with different spelling in each form – base, simple past, past participle, come in this group.
Some examples of such irregular verbs are the following:
| Base | Simple Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| Steal | Stole | Stolen |
| Drink | Drank | Drunk |
| Give | Gave | Given |
| Sink | Sank | Sunk |
| Fly | Flew | Flown |
| Take | Took | Taken |
| Eat | Ate | Eaten |
| Shrink | Shrank | Shrunk |
| Arise | Arose | Arisen |
| Break | Broke | Broken |
| Bite | Bit | Bitten |
| Ride | Rode | Ridden |
| Ring | Rang | Rung |
| Shake | Shook | Shaken |
| Tear | Tore | Torn |
| Wake | Woke | Woken |
| Grow | Grew | Grown |
Now we know the types of irregular verbs and their uses. We have got an overview and details of the irregular verbs from this tutorial. The lists of irregular verbs will help you to grow the vocabulary too!
Q1. What is an irregular verb?
Ans. An irregular verb neither follows nor accepts the rules of the English grammar while changing to past and past participle forms.
Q2. Why do we call it 'irregular verbs'?
Ans. Irregular verbs do not follow general rules while changing to past and past participle, unlike regular verbs. So, we call it 'irregular verbs'.
Q3. Can a weak verb be an irregular verb?
Ans. Some weak verbs can be irregular verbs. For example, weep (base), wept (simple past), and wept (past participle). So, if the vowel sound and the ending of the verb change like this, then it is an irregular weak verb.
Q4. State the difference between regular and irregular verbs.
Ans. The spelling of the irregular verbs changes differently (or sometimes does not change) while transforming into simple past and past participle forms. Regular verbs change into simple past and past participle forms by taking the suffix '-ed' or '-d'. But irregular verbs do not follow such general grammatical rules.
Q5. How many types of irregular verbs are there?
Ans. There are generally three types of irregular verbs.
Irregular verbs that have the same spelling in base, simple past and past participle forms
Irregular verbs that change spelling in both simple past and past participle forms differently
Irregular verbs that have the same spelling in both simple past and past participle forms
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