A Simple Guide To Over 100 Irregular Verbs In English 

English verb conjugation is easy compared to many other languages. In the present simple, the verbs forms are all the same, apart from the he/she/it form. 

• I play 
• you play 
• he/she/it plays 
• we play 
• they play

And the past simple isn’t that much trickier. All you need to do for most verbs is add the ‘ed’ ending to the base form. So “play” becomes “played”, just as “walk” becomes “walked”. 

But languages are never that regular and predictable! In English, just like in every language there are exceptions, and so that means plenty of irregular verbs in English. 

In this post, you’re going to discover 105 English irregular verbs so that you know their forms and can use them correctly. Let's go!

Irregular Verbs In English 

Some verbs, like “to be” are highly irregular in many languages, and English is no exception. 

Just look at its present simple forms: 

• I am 
• You are 
• He/she/it is 
• We are 
• They are 

And the past simple and past participle forms of “to be” are just as irregular: 

• Past simple: was/were 
• Past participle: been 

A quick reminder – you use the past simple to talk about finished actions in the past: 

• Yesterday, I was at home all day.  

You use the past participle to create tenses such as the present perfect or past perfect: 

• Have you ever been to Paris? (present perfect = have/has + past participle) 
• Before my trip last summer, I had never visited New York before. (past perfect = had + past participle) 

You also use the past participle to make the passive forms in English: 

• The president has been shot (present perfect passive) 
• The victims were transported to the hospital by helicopter (past simple passive) 

Speaking of the past simple and past participles, these are the verb forms that tend to be highly irregular. So let’s take a look at them in more detail. 

While irregular verbs in English are a bit less exciting than topics such as English slang words or phrasal verbs in English, they're essential for communication.

List Of Over 100 Irregular Verbs In English With Examples 

In this list, you’ll discover the 105 most common irregular verbs in English with examples. These verbs are irregular because they don’t take “ed” in the past simple and past participle forms. 

As you go through this list, you might notice that some verbs are very easy to remember, because the base form, past simple and past participle are all the same! Examples include verbs like “bet” or “cost”. 

In other cases, you’ll notice that the past simple and past participle forms are the same, but the base verb is different. This is the case with verbs like “deal/dealt/dealt” or “hold/held/held”. 

Unfortunately though, in some cases, all three verb forms are completely different, such as “begin/began/begun” or “freeze/froze/frozen”. 

Look out for these different patterns in the table below. And don’t panic if the number of verbs to learn looks overwhelming. I’ll share some strategies to learn them without memorisation shortly. 

Base verb	Past Simple	Past Participle	Example
be	was/were	been	Yesterday, I was at home all day.
beat	beat	beaten	The record has never been beaten.
become	became	become	When I talked to him about it, he became angry.
begin	began	begun	When I arrived, the teacher had already begun the class without me.
bend	bent	bent	I bent down and afterwards I was so embarrassed because I ripped my trousers!
bet	bet	bet	He bet all his money on the team winning and then lost everything.
bite	bit	bitten	Has your dog ever bitten anyone?
blow	blew	blown	The wind blew so hard last night that the fence fell down.
break	broke	broken	That’s the third time my car has broken down this month!
bring	brought	brought	Have you brought something with you to eat at lunchtime?
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast	The head of state’s funeral was broadcast live on TV.
build	built	built	The castle was built in the 1800s.
burst	burst	burst	The little girl started crying when her balloon burst.
buy	bought	bought	I’ve never bought this brand of cereal before – I hope it’s good.
catch	caught	caught	The police haven’t caught the criminals yet.
choose	chose	chosen	Have they chosen a date for their wedding yet?
come	came	come	My parents came to our house last night for dinner.
cost	cost	cost	Be careful with that vase – it cost a lot of money.
cut	cut	cut	Due to austerity, the government has cut public spending.
deal	dealt	dealt	She shuffled the cards and then dealt them.
dig	dug	dug	They dug a big hole to plant a tree in.
do	did	done	Have you done your homework yet?
draw	drew	drawn	My daughter drew a beautiful picture yesterday so we put it on the wall.
drink	drank	drunk	He’s already drunk three cups of coffee this morning.
drive	drove	driven	I drove to work yesterday because there was a bus strike.
eat	ate	eaten	We ate at a restaurant last night.
fall	fell	fallen	Prices have fallen 10% this quarter.
feed	fed	fed	Have you fed the animals yet?
feel	felt	felt	Have you ever felt depressed?
fight	fought	fought	The battle was fought in this field over 300 years ago.
find	found	found	After searching for an hour, I finally found my phone charger.
flee	fled	fled	Her family fled their country decades ago due to war.
fly	flew	flown	A beautiful bird flew into my garden this morning.
forget	forgot	forgotten	It’s not the first time I have forgotten her name.
forgive	forgave	forgiven	Has she forgiven him for his mistake yet?
freeze	froze	frozen	It was so cold last winter that the lake froze.
get	got	got/gotten	After sending over 100 applications, I finally got a job offer.
give	gave	given	My aunt gave me money for my birthday instead of a present.
go	went	gone	We went to Spain on holiday last year.
grow	grew	grown	Wow! You have grown so much since the last time I saw you.
hang	hung	hung	Have you hung my painting on the wall yet?
have	had	had	We had a good time at the party last night.
hear	heard	heard	Have you heard the news?
hide	hid	hidden	Where have you hidden the money?
hit	hit	hit	I fainted yesterday and hit my head on the edge of the table.
hold	held	held	She held the door to the apartment building open for her neighbour.
hurt	hurt	hurt	I hurt my knee playing rugby when I was younger and it’s still painful now.
keep	kept	kept	She kept their secret for all those years.
know	knew	known	If I had known the truth, I wouldn’t have come.
lay	laid	laid	The weather was good last week so they laid the foundations of the house.
lead	led	led	The HR manager led me into a meeting room for the interview.
leave	left	left	After she left, I realised she had forgotten her keys.
lend	lent	lent	I lent him some money two months ago and he still hasn’t paid me back.
let	let	let	My parents never let me go to parties when I was younger.
lie	lay	lain	I lay awake all night last night, worrying about different things.
light	lit	lit	We lit a fire in the garden and cooked marshmallows on it.
lose	lost	lost	Our team has lost eight matches so far this season.
make	made	made	She made a fortune when she was younger and now she doesn’t have to work.
mean	meant	meant	I meant what I said yesterday.
meet	met	met	Have you two met before?
pay	paid	paid	Have you paid this month’s electricity bill?
put	put	put	I’m sure I put the money on the table last night – where has it gone?
read	read	read	Have you read any good books recently?
ride	rode	ridden	Have you ever ridden a horse?
ring	rang	rung	I rang the doorbell but nobody was in.
rise	rose	risen	Interest rates have risen to 3% this month.
run	ran	run	How many marathons have you run?
say	said	said	She said goodbye, walked out of the door and we never heard from here again.
see	saw	seen	Have you seen the latest Tarantino movie?
sell	sold	sold	She sold her car last week.
send	sent	sent	Have you sent your mother a birthday card?
shake	shook	shaken	The earthquake shook the buildings in the city, but none of them collapsed.
shine	shone	shone	The sun shone brightly all day yesterday.
shoot	shot	shot	Have you heard? The president has been shot.
show	showed	shown/showed	My parents were disappointed when I showed them my school report.
shrink	shrank	shrunk	When I washed my new T-shirt in the machine, it shrank!
shut	shut	shut	We were making a lot of noise, so she shut the door and went into another room for some peace and quiet.
sing	sang	sung	My family sang “Happy Birthday” to me on my birthday.
sink	sank	sunk	The Titanic sank in the Atlantic.
sit	sat	sat	He sat beside me on the couch and put his arm around me.
sleep	slept	slept	I’ve hardly slept all week.
speak	spoke	spoken	My parents got divorced when I was 10 and haven’t spoken to each other in years.
spend	spent	spent	They spent the money they won on the lottery within two years.
split	split	split	We split the bill at the restaurant last night.
spread	spread	spread	The virus is spread through physical contact.
stand	stood	stood	When she entered the room, everyone stood up.
steal	stole	stolen	Hundreds of bicycles are stolen every year in this city.
stick	stuck	stuck	I stuck the pieces back together with some superglue.
sting	stung	stung	She was stung by a bee.
stink	stank	stunk	I forgot to take out the bin before going on holiday and when I got back the house stank.
strike	struck	struck	He was struck by lightning twice but he survived!
swear	swore	sworn	You swore you would never tell anyone!
swim	swam	swum	I swam in the sea every day when I lived by the beach.
swing	swung	swung	I swung the bat but completely missed the ball!
take	took	taken	We took the train to Paris instead of the plane.
teach	taught	taught	Children aren’t taught good manners any more.
tear	tore	torn	Several pages have been torn out of this book.
tell	told	told	He told her the truth in the end.
think	thought	thought	I haven’t thought much about your proposition.
throw	threw	thrown	Why haven’t you thrown all this mess away yet?
understand	understood	understood	You haven’t understood a word I’ve said, have you?
wake	woke	woken	They came back late at night and woke the baby.
wear	wore	worn	I haven’t worn this dress for ages.
win	won	won	Their team won the championship last season.
write	wrote	written	She has written several best-selling books on the topic.

How To Learn Irregular Verbs In English 

While this list is a great starting point, you’re not going to be able to learn, remember and use irregular verbs just by memorising it. Even if that’s what the grammar villain tells you to do. 

In fact, the best way to learn grammar is not to learn rules, but to immerse yourself in the language. Here at StoryLearning, you immerse yourself in English by reading short stories in English. 

As you read, you’ll see the most common irregular verbs in English over and over again. So you’ll learn them naturally, without having to memorise them.