English Verb Forms Regular And Irregular Verbs

When I teach English grammar, one of the first things students ask is: “Why does English have two types of verbs?” The answer is simple but important. Most English verbs follow a predictable pattern — you add -ed to make the past tense. But about 200 irregular verbs break the rules. If you want to write and speak English correctly, you need to recognize both types and know how they work.

I’ll explain what makes a verb regular or irregular, show you the principal parts of the most common verbs, provide tables you can print and keep at your desk, and walk through examples across all tenses. By the end, you’ll have a reference you can use whenever you’re unsure.

What Are Regular Verbs?

Regular verbs are the backbone of English. They follow a simple, predictable pattern: take the base form of the verb and add -d or -ed to create both the past tense and the past participle.

The Four Principal Parts of a Regular Verb

Every English verb has four principal parts, no matter how simple or complex:

1. Base form 🔊 🎤 — the dictionary form of the verb (play, walk, study)
2. Third person singular present — what you use with “he,” “she,” or “it” (plays, walks, studies)
3. Simple past 🔊 🎤 — formed by adding -d or -ed (played, walked, studied)
4. Past participle 🔊 🎤 — used with have/has/had or in passive voice (played, walked, studied)

Example with “talk”: I talk / he talks / I talked / I have talked.

Common Regular Verbs Reference Table

Base Form	Third Person Singular	Past Tense	Past Participle
walk	walks	walked	walked
talk	talks	talked	talked
play	plays	played	played
watch	watches	watched	watched
study	studies	studied	studied
arrive	arrives	arrived	arrived
ask	asks	asked	asked
bake	bakes	baked	baked
believe	believes	believed	believed
dance	dances	danced	danced

Example 1 (Present): She walks to school every morning.

Example 2 (Past): Yesterday he walked ten kilometers.

Example 3 (Present Perfect): They have walked this trail many times.

Example 4 (Passive): The rules are followed by all students.

Example 5 (Continuous): We are walking in the park right now.

What Are Irregular Verbs?

Irregular verbs are the troublemakers of English grammar. They do not follow the -d/-ed pattern. Instead, they have unique past-tense and past-participle forms that must be memorized. There are roughly 200 irregular verbs in English, but you only need to master the top 20 to cover 80% of everyday conversation and writing.

The Four Principal Parts of an Irregular Verb

Irregular verbs still have four principal parts, but the past and past participle take unique forms:

Example with “eat”: eat (base) / eats (3rd singular) / ate (past) / eaten (past participle).

Example with “go”: go (base) / goes (3rd singular) / went (past) / gone (past participle).

The 20 Most Common Irregular Verbs

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle	Meaning
be	was / were	been	to exist
have	had	had	to possess
do	did	done	to perform
say	said	said	to speak
go	went	gone	to travel
take	took	taken	to grab
come	came	come	to arrive
see	saw	seen	to perceive
know	knew	known	to understand
make	made	made	to create
get	got	got / gotten	to obtain
give	gave	given	to hand over
find	found	found	to discover
think	thought	thought	to consider
tell	told	told	to inform
become	became	become	to change into
leave	left	left	to depart
feel	felt	felt	to sense
write	wrote	written	to compose
eat	ate	eaten	to consume

More Irregular Verbs: Extended List

Here are additional irregular verbs you’ll encounter regularly:

• begin → began → begun
• break → broke → broken
• bring → brought → brought
• build → built → built
• buy → bought → bought
• catch → caught → caught
• choose → chose → chosen
• drink → drank → drunk
• drive → drove → driven
• fall → fell → fallen
• fly → flew → flown
• forget → forgot → forgotten
• grow → grew → grown
• hear → heard → heard
• keep → kept → kept
• lead → led → led
• lose → lost → lost
• meet → met → met
• pay → paid → paid
• read → read → read
• ride → rode → ridden
• ring → rang → rung
• rise → rose → risen
• run → ran → run
• sell → sold → sold
• send → sent → sent
• sing → sang → sung
• sit → sat → sat
• sleep → slept → slept
• speak → spoke → spoken
• spend → spent → spent
• stand → stood → stood
• swim → swam → swum
• teach → taught → taught
• tear → tore → torn
• understand → understood → understood
• wear → wore → worn
• win → won → won

How to Use Verb Forms in Tenses

The principal parts of verbs combine with auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) to create different tenses and aspects. Here’s how it works:

Simple Present

Use the base form or third person singular:

Example: I play / She plays the piano.

Simple Past

Use the past tense form:

Example 1 (Regular): They walked home yesterday.

Example 2 (Irregular): He ate breakfast this morning.

Present Perfect

Use have/has + past participle:

Example 1 (Regular): She has played guitar for five years.

Example 2 (Irregular): He has eaten three apples today.

Past Perfect

Use had + past participle:

Example 1 (Regular): They had walked ten miles before we arrived.

Example 2 (Irregular): She had gone home by the time I called.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

✗ Incorrect: I have went to the store.

✓ Correct: I have gone to the store.

Why: With have, use the past participle (gone), not the past tense (went).

✗ Incorrect: She writed the letter yesterday.

✓ Correct: She wrote the letter yesterday.

Why: Write is irregular. The past tense is “wrote,” not “writed”.

✗ Incorrect: We have eat lunch already.

✓ Correct: We have eaten lunch already.

Why: With have, use the past participle (eaten), not the base form (eat).

Sample Dialogue

Related Articles

• ↑ Master Pillar: English Grammar
• Modal Verbs in English Grammar — how to use can, should, must, and other modal verbs
• Gerunds and Infinitives — when to use -ing forms and infinitives
• Phrasal Verbs — how verbs combine with particles like “up,” “down,” “out”
• English Verb Tenses — complete guide to present, past, and future
• ↑ Back to pillar: English Verbs (Pillar)

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