How to learn irregular verbs: groups that stick
Learning irregular verbs from A to Z is slow. Most of them follow a few sound patterns, and each pattern brings five or ten verbs with it. Here are all the groups, with audio, and any of them can go into your dictionary.
Words & phrases15 groups
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Four shapes of irregular verbs
Every irregular verb has one of four shapes. The letters show which forms match.
- AAAAll three the sameput · put · put
- ABBSecond and third the samethink · thought · thought
- ABAFirst and third the samecome · came · come
- ABCAll three differentbegin · began · begun
Irregular verbs by group
Each group with its sound pattern and its verbs, most useful first. Tap a speaker to hear the three forms, tick the verbs you want and add them to your dictionary.
AAA · All three the same
All three the same
cut · cut · cut · Short verbs ending in -t or -d. Nothing changes: today I cut, yesterday I cut, I have cut.
- put · put · putto move something into a place
- cut · cut · cutto divide with a knife or scissors
- let · let · letto allow
- set · set · setto put something in a place; to prepare a table
- hit · hit · hitto touch with force
- hurt · hurt · hurtto cause pain; to feel pain
- cost · cost · costto have a price
- shut · shut · shutto close
- quit · quit · quitto leave a job; to stop doing something
- spread · spread · spreadto cover a surface with something soft
- bet · bet · betto risk money on what will happen
- burst · burst · burstto break open suddenly
- cast · cast · castto throw; to make a shadow appear
- split · split · splitto divide into parts
- upset · upset · upsetto make someone unhappy
- broadcast · broadcast · broadcastto send out on TV or radio
- forecast · forecast · forecastto say what will happen in the future
- bid · bid · bidto offer a price at an auction
- shed · shed · shedto lose skin, hair or leaves naturally
- slit · slit · slitto make a long, thin cut
- thrust · thrust · thrustto push suddenly and hard
- reset · reset · resetto set again, usually back to the start
ABB · Second and third the same
-ought and -aught
buy · bought · bought · Both forms end in -ought or -aught and sound the same: /ɔːt/.
- think · thought · thoughtto have an opinion; to use your mind
- bring · brought · broughtto take someone or something with you to a place
- buy · bought · boughtto get something by paying for it
- catch · caught · caughtto take hold of something moving through the air
- teach · taught · taughtto help someone learn
- fight · fought · foughtto use force against someone
- seek · sought · soughtto try to find or get
-d becomes -t
send · sent · sent · The final -d turns into -t in both forms.
- send · sent · sentto make something go to someone
- spend · spent · spentto use money or time
- build · built · builtto make a building or other structure
- lend · lent · lentto give something for a time, to be returned
- bend · bent · bentto move your body or a thing so it is not straight
- rebuild · rebuilt · rebuiltto build again
A long vowel gets short, plus -t
keep · kept · kept · The vowel shortens and -t is added: keep /iː/ → kept /e/.
- feel · felt · feltto experience an emotion or a sensation
- keep · kept · keptto continue to have something
- leave · left · leftto go away from a place
- mean · meant · meantto have a meaning
- lose · lost · lostto no longer have something
- sleep · slept · sleptto rest with your eyes closed
- deal · dealt · dealtto take action to solve a problem
- sweep · swept · sweptto clean with a brush
- weep · wept · weptto cry
- creep · crept · creptto move slowly and quietly
- kneel · knelt · kneltto go down on your knees
- oversleep · overslept · oversleptto sleep longer than you meant to
ee and ea become e
meet · met · met · The long /iː/ shortens to /e/. Read keeps its spelling and only sounds /red/.
- meet · met · metto see and talk to someone for the first time
- lead · led · ledto be in charge of a group
- read · read · readto look at words and understand them
- feed · fed · fedto give food to a person or animal
- bleed · bled · bledto lose blood
- breed · bred · bredto keep animals to produce young ones
- flee · fled · fledto escape from danger
- speed · sped · spedto drive faster than allowed
- mislead · misled · misledto make someone believe something untrue
-ay becomes -aid
pay · paid · paid · Spelled -aid; said is the one that sounds different: /sed/.
- say · said · saidto speak words
- pay · paid · paidto give money for something
- lay · laid · laidto put something down carefully
- repay · repaid · repaidto pay back money you owe
-ind becomes -ound
find · found · found · Four verbs, one sound: /aʊnd/.
- find · found · foundto discover where something is
- bind · bound · boundto tie together; to fix a book's pages in a cover
- grind · ground · groundto crush into very small pieces or powder
- wind · wound · woundto turn something round and round
The vowel becomes u
win · won · won · The second and third forms take /ʌ/, as in dug and stuck.
- win · won · wonto be first in a game or competition
- hang · hung · hungto put something on a hook so it is held from above
- stick · stuck · stuckto fix with glue
- strike · struck · struckto stop working as a protest; to hit
- swing · swung · swungto move backwards and forwards from a fixed point
- dig · dug · dugto make a hole in the ground
- spin · spun · spunto turn round quickly
- sting · stung · stungto hurt with a small sharp point, as a bee does
- string · strung · strungto hang things in a line
- cling · clung · clungto hold on to something tightly
- fling · flung · flungto throw something carelessly or with force
- sling · slung · slungto throw or hang something loosely
ABA · First and third the same
The third form is the base
come · came · come · Only the middle form changes; the third is the same as the first.
- come · came · cometo move towards the speaker or a place
- become · became · becometo begin to be something
- run · ran · runto move fast on your feet
- overcome · overcame · overcometo deal with a problem and succeed
ABC · All three different
i, a, u
sing · sang · sung · The vowel moves i → a → u. Hear it once in sing and the rest follow.
- begin · began · begunto start
- drink · drank · drunkto take liquid into your mouth and swallow it
- sing · sang · sungto make music with your voice
- swim · swam · swumto move through water using your body
- ring · rang · rungto make the sound of a bell
- sink · sank · sunkto go down under water
- shrink · shrank · shrunkto become smaller
- spring · sprang · sprungto jump suddenly
- stink · stank · stunkto smell very bad
-ew and -own
know · knew · known · The past ends in -ew, the third form in -own or -awn.
- know · knew · knownto have information in your mind
- grow · grew · grownto become bigger
- throw · threw · thrownto send something through the air with your hand
- blow · blew · blownto push air out of your mouth
- fly · flew · flownto move through the air
- draw · drew · drawnto make a picture with a pen or pencil
- withdraw · withdrew · withdrawnto take money out of a bank account
- overthrow · overthrew · overthrownto remove a government or leader by force
o in the past, -en in the third
speak · spoke · spoken · The past takes o, and the third form adds -en to it.
- get · got · got, gottento receive
- forget · forgot · forgottento not remember
- speak · spoke · spokento say words; to know a language
- break · broke · brokento make something fall into pieces
- choose · chose · chosento decide which one you want
- wake · woke · wokento stop sleeping; to make someone stop sleeping
- steal · stole · stolento take something that is not yours
- freeze · froze · frozento become ice; to make very cold
- weave · wove · wovento make cloth by crossing threads
- tread · trod · troddento put your foot on something
- awake · awoke · awokento stop sleeping
i, o, i + en
write · wrote · written · The past takes o; the third form goes back to i and adds -en.
- write · wrote · writtento put words on paper or a screen
- drive · drove · drivento control a car or other vehicle
- ride · rode · riddento sit on a bike or a horse and travel on it
- rise · rose · risento go up
- arise · arose · arisento begin to happen or exist
- strive · strove · strivento try very hard
- stride · strode · striddento walk with long steps
- rewrite · rewrote · rewrittento write again in a different way
-ear, -ore, -orn
wear · wore · worn · All four rhyme in every form.
- wear · wore · wornto have clothes on your body
- tear · tore · tornto pull apart into pieces
- bear · bore · borne, bornto accept something unpleasant
- swear · swore · swornto make a serious promise; to use rude words
Learn by heart
go · went · gone · No pattern to lean on, and most are verbs you use every day. Learn these first.
- be · was, were · beento exist; used to say what or where someone is
- have · had · hadto own or hold
- do · did · doneto perform an action
- go · went · goneto move to another place
- make · made · madeto create or produce
- see · saw · seento notice with your eyes
- take · took · takento get hold of something and carry it
- give · gave · givento hand something to someone
- tell · told · toldto give information to someone
- hear · heard · heardto notice sounds with your ears
- hold · held · heldto have something in your hand
- stand · stood · stoodto be on your feet
- sit · sat · satto rest on a chair or seat
- eat · ate · eatento put food in your mouth and swallow it
- fall · fell · fallento come down to the ground suddenly
- sell · sold · soldto give something in exchange for money
- show · showed · shownto let someone see something
- lie · lay · lainto be in a flat position on a surface
- shoot · shot · shotto fire a gun
- hide · hid · hiddento put something where no one can see it
- bite · bit · bittento cut into something with your teeth
- light · lit · litto make something start burning
- shine · shone · shoneto give out light
- slide · slid · slidto move smoothly over a surface
144/144 chosen
How to learn irregular verbs so they stick
- Learn a group, not a list: say the three forms of each verb in the group aloud, then move to the next verb.
- Listen before you read. The patterns are sounds (/ɔːt/; i, a, u), and the spelling hides some of them.
- Start with the verbs you'll use. The last group, "Learn by heart", holds be, have, do and go.
- Come back to them over several days. Saved to your dictionary, they come up for review when you're about to forget them.
- Use them in your own sentences. A form you've said in a conversation is easier to recall than one you've read in a table.
FAQ
Why are some English verbs irregular?
They are among the oldest verbs in the language and kept an older way of forming the past. Newer verbs all take -ed.
Do I need to know which group a verb is in?
No. The groups are a way to learn: one pattern brings several verbs at once. Once you know the forms, the group stops mattering.
Should I learn all 168?
Start with the top 100. The rest are rarer and easy to add later, since many are prefixed forms of verbs you already know.