irregular verb patterns

IRREGULAR VERBS ORGANIZED ACCORDING TO PATTERNS

Three different vowels in the three forms: I-A-U

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
sing    sang    sung       
drink    drank    drunk      
sink    sank    sunk      
begin    began    begun      
ring    rang    rung      
shrink    shrank    shrunk      
stink    stank    stunk      
swim    swam    swum   

Three different vowels in three different forms (other than those above in 1)

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
do*    did    done*      
fly    flew    flown      
see    saw    seen*      
write    wrote    written      
ride    rode    ridden      
drive    drove    driven      
go    went    gone*      
be, am, is*, are*    was*, were*    been*
   

Two different vowels in the three forms: first and last form are the same

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
run    ran    run      
come*    came    come*   

Third form ending in N:

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
see    saw    seen      
sow    sowed    sown      
lie    lay    lain      
show    showed    shown (-ed)      
tear    tore    torn      
wear    wore    worn      
bear    bore    born      
swear     swore    sworn      
am/is/are    was/were    been*      
throw    threw    thrown      
blow    blew    blown      
grow    grew     grown      
draw    drew    drawn      
withdraw    withdrew    withdrawn      
fly    flew    flown      
know    knew    known   


First form, second form often with different vowel,  last form with -en

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
shake    shook    shaken      
take    took     taken      
give*    gave    given      
eat     ate    eaten      
beat    beat (not different)    beaten      
ride    rode    ridden      
bite    bit    bitten      
write    wrote    written      
break    broke    broken      
strike    stroke    stricken      
weave    wove    woven      
wake    woke    woken      
rise    rose    risen      
speak    spoke    spoken      
hide    hid    hidden      
freeze    froze    frozen      
forgive*    forgave    forgiven      
forget    forgot    forgotten      
get*    got    gotten      
beat    beat    beaten      
choose    chose    chosen      
drive    drove    driven      
fall    fell    fallen      
forbid    forbade    forbidden      
arise    arose    arisen      
steal    stole    stolen   

First form, magic E, same as second form

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
make    made    made      
shine    shone    shone   

First form + second and third are the same with a different vowel sound than the first form
7a) short vowels and vowel teams with endings other than T

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
lead    led    led      
feed     fed    fed      
lay    laid    laid      
read    read    read      
sting    stung    stung      
grind    ground    ground      
wind    wound    wound      
say    said*    said*      
pay    paid*    paid*      
lay    laid*    laid*      
have    had    had      
win    won    won      
stick    stuck    stuck      
swing    swung    swung      
stand    stood    stood      
wring    wrung    wrung      
hang    hung    hung      
hang    hanged    hanged      
light    lighted    lighted      
understand    understood    understood      
strike    struck    struck      
find    found    found      
sell    sold    sold      
tell    told    told      
hold    held    held      
bleed    bled    bled      
shine    shone    shone      
breed    bred    bred      
cling    clung    clung      
dig    dug    dug      
flee    fled    fled      
slide    slid    slid      
hear    heard    heard   

7b) Second and third form end in T (mostly with vowelteam words)


INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
feel    felt    felt      
deal    dealt     dealt      
kneel    knelt    knelt      
weep     wept    wept      
shoot    shot    shot      
meet    met    met      
sleep    slept    slept      
creep    crept    crept      
leap    leapt    leapt      
keep    kept    kept      
may    might    might      
get*    got    got      
sit    sat    sat      
light    lit    lit      
dream    dreamt    dreamt      
send    sent    sent      
bend    bent    bent      
lend    lent    lent      
lose*    lost    lost      
spend    spent    spent      
mean    meant    meant   

7c) Second and third form end in  -ought, -ought

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
think    thought    thought      
bring    brought    brought      
seek    sought    sought      
buy*    bought    bought      
fight    fought    fought      
ought to    ought to    ought to   

7d) Second and third form end in  -aught, -aught (can be taught as red words)

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
catch    caught    caught      
teach    taught    taught   

7e) Second and third form end in -ould, -ould (= red words)


INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
can    could*    could*      
shall    should*    should*      
will    would*    would*   


All three forms are the same

INFINITIVE
(first form in dictionary)    SIMPLE PAST
(second form)    PAST PARTICIPLE (PP) FOR PRESENT PERFECT  (have/has & PP) & PAST PERFECT (had & PP)
(third form, sometimes also used as adjective      
must    must     must      
quit    quit    quit      
cut    cut    cut      
fit    fit    fit      
set    set    set      
split    split    split      
lit    lit    lit      
slit    slit    slit      
let    let    let      
spread    spread    spread      
upset    upset    upset      
sublet    sublet    sublet      
bet    bet    bet      
broadcast    broadcast    broadcast      
burst    burst    burst      
cost    cost    cost      
put*    put*    put*      
shut    shut    shut      
hit    hit    hit   

NOTE: * indicates that these spellings are non-phonetic; they are referred to as red words.