List Of English Irregular Verbs
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irregular verbs A regular verb is any verb whose Verb conjugation, conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. Th ...
in the
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
.


Past tense irregular verbs

For each verb listed, the
citation form In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (: lemmas or lemmata) is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' are forms of the ...
(the bare
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all ...
) is given first, with a link to the relevant
Wiktionary Wiktionary (, ; , ; rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a number o ...
entry. This is followed by the
simple past The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular E ...
tense (
preterite The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...
), and then the
past participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
. If there are irregular present tense forms (see
below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...
), these are given in parentheses after the infinitive. (The
present participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
and
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ger) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as a noun. The name is derived from Late Latin ''gerundium,'' meaning "which is ...
forms of verbs, ending in ''
-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflection, inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words ...
'', are always regular. In English, these are used as verbs, adjectives, and nouns.) In the case of modal verbs the present and preterite forms are listed, since these are the only forms that exist, with the present form identical for all persons. The right-hand column notes whether the verb is
weak Weak may refer to: Songs * Weak (AJR song), "Weak" (AJR song), 2016 * Weak (Melanie C song), "Weak" (Melanie C song), 2011 * Weak (SWV song), "Weak" (SWV song), 1993 * Weak (Skunk Anansie song), "Weak" (Skunk Anansie song), 1995 * "Weak", a son ...
or
strong Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United ...
and whether it belongs to a subclass, and links to descriptions elsewhere. Information about the development of these verbs generally can be found at
English irregular verbs The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use – and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called ''preterite'') or the past participle. The ...
; details of the etymology and usage of specific verbs can be found by consulting Wiktionary. In some cases, there are two or more possibilities for a given form. In the table, the preferred or more common usage is generally listed first, though for some words the usage is nearly equal for the two choices. Sometimes the usage depends on the
dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
. In many cases, such as ''spell'' (''spelt'' vs. ''spelled''), ''learn'' (''learnt'' vs. ''learned''), and ''spill'' (''spilt'' vs. ''spilled''),
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
and
Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the Variety (linguistics), varieties of English language, English used in Canada. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or ...
normally use the regular form, while
British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
,
Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
,
New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...
and
South African English South African English (SAfE, SAfEn, SAE, en-ZA) is the List of dialects of English, set of English language dialects native to South Africans. History British Empire, British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, ...
tend to favour the irregular. In other cases, such as ''dive'' (''dived'' vs. ''dove'') and ''sneak'' (''sneaked'' vs. ''snuck''), the opposite is true. The irregular form tends to indicate duration, whereas the regular form often describes a short-term action (''The fire burned for weeks.'' vs. ''He burnt his finger.''), and in American English, the regular form is associated with the literal sense of a verb, while the irregular form with a figurative one. The preterite and past participle forms of irregular verbs follow certain patterns. These include ending in ''-t'' (e.g. ''build'', ''bend'', ''send''), stem changes (whether it is a vowel, such as in ''sit'', ''win'' or ''hold'', or a consonant, such as in ''teach'' and ''seek'', that changes), or adding the 'n''suffix to the past participle form (e.g. ''drive'', ''show'', ''rise''). English irregular verbs are now a closed group, which means that newly formed verbs are always regular and do not adopt any of the irregular patterns. This list contains only those verb forms which are listed in the major dictionaries as being standard usage in modern English. There are also many thousands of archaic, non-standard and dialect variants. Modern English still has remnants of formerly irregular verbs in other parts of speech. Most obviously, adjectives like ''misshapen'', ''beholden'', or ''forlorn'' fossilize what were originally the past participles of the verbs ''shape'' and ''behold'', and Old English ''forleosan''. However, ''forleosan'' has fallen out of use and ''shape'' is now regular, so these verbs are not listed, and ''behold'', while still irregular, can no longer be listed this participle form.


Present tense irregular verbs

Though the list of verbs irregular in the preterite or past participle is long, the list of irregular '' present tense'' verbs is very short. Excepting
modal verb A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', ''necessity'', ''possibility'' or ''advice''. Modal v ...
s like "shall", "will", and "can" that do not inflect at all in the present tense, there are only four of them, not counting compounds including them: * be: ''I am, thou art, you are, he is, we are, they are''. The contracted/reduced forms, used in unstressed positions and in particular as auxiliary verbs, are as follows: ''I’m, you’re, he’s, we’re, they’re''. * do (and compounds such as
undo Undo is an interaction technique which is implemented in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document, reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs, such as graphic processing, undo will negate the las ...
and
redo Undo is an interaction technique which is implemented in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document, reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs, such as Graphics software, graphic processing, undo w ...
): ''I do, you do, he does, we do, they do'', where "does" is pronounced (instead of ), in contrast to the used for the infinitive and the other present tense forms. The reduced forms of the verb ''do'' are pronounced /du/, /də/, /d/, or /dəz/, /dz/ for ''does'' and usually appear only in questions. The contracted forms of ''do'' are used only in the negative: ''I do not = I don't, you do not = you don't, he does not = he doesn't, we do not = we don't, they do not = they don't''. * have: ''I have, you have, he has, we have, they have''. If used as an auxiliary verb in the present perfect, past perfect or future perfect, its contracted forms can be used: ''I’ve, you’ve, he’s, we’ve, they’ve''. * say (and compounds such as gainsay and naysay): ''I say, you say, he says, we say, they say'', where "says" has the standard pronunciation (instead of ), in contrast to the used for the infinitive and other present tense forms.


References


External links

* Wiktionary's category of English irregular verbs
Complete List of 638 English Irregular Verbs
with their forms in different tenses.
Mind Our English: Strong and weak
by Ralph Berry.
English Irregular Verb List
A comprehensive list of English irregular verbs, including their base form, past simple, past participle, 3rd person singular, and the present participle / gerund.
Database of all irregular verbs
with complete conjugation and audio. {{DEFAULTSORT:English Irregular Verbs
Irregular Verbs A regular verb is any verb whose Verb conjugation, conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. Th ...
Linguistics lists
Irregular Verbs A regular verb is any verb whose Verb conjugation, conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. Th ...