This is a list of irregular verbs in the English language.
Past tense irregular verbs
For each verb listed, the citation form (the bare infinitive) is given first, with a link to the relevant Wiktionary entry. This is followed by the simple past tense (preterite), and then the past participle. If there are irregular present tense forms (see below), these are given in parentheses after the infinitive. (The present participle and gerund forms of verbs, ending in -ing, 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 or strong 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; 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. In many cases, such as spell (spelt vs. spelled), learn (learnt vs. learned), and spill (spilt vs. spilled), American English and Canadian English normally use the regular form, while British English, Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English 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.
Verb forms Verb classNotes be (am, is, are) – was, were – been SuppletiveSee Indo-European copulabear – bore – borne/born forbear – forbore/forbare – forborne/forborn overbear – overbore/overbare – overborne/overborn underbear – underbore/underbare – underborne/underborn Strong, class 4The spelling born is used in passive or adjectival contexts relating to birth.beat – beat – beaten/beat browbeat – browbeat – browbeaten/browbeat overbeat – overbeat – overbeaten/overbeat Strong, class 7become – became – become misbecome – misbecame – misbecome Strong, class 4beget – begot/begat – begot/begotten misbeget – misbegot/misbegat – misbegotten/misbegot Strong, class 5begin – began – begun Strong, class 3bend – bent – bent overbend – overbent – overbent unbend – unbent – unbent Weak, class 1With coalescence of dentals and devoiced endingbeseech – beseeched/besought – beseeched/besought RegularOriginally weak, class 1, subclass (ii) with Rückumlaut and Germanic spirant lawbet – bet/betted – bet/betted underbet – underbet/underbetted – underbet/underbetted WeakWith coalescence of dentalsbeware – (no other forms) DefectiveFormed from be with predicate adjective, used as infinitive, imperative and subjunctive only. Inflected forms (bewares, bewared, bewaring) are considered obsolete.bid [in auctions etc.] – bid – bid outbid – outbid – outbid overbid – overbid – overbid rebid – rebid – rebid underbid – underbid – underbid WeakWith coalescence of dentalsbid [meaning to request or say] – bid/bade – bid/bidden Strong, class 5bide – bided/bode – bided/bidden Strong, class 1bind – bound – bound unbind – unbound – unbound Strong, class 3bite – bit – bittenStrong, class 1bleed – bled – bled Weak, class 1With coalescence of dentals and vowel shorteningblend – blent/blended – blent/blended WeakRegular or with devoiced endingbless – blessed/blest – blessed/blest WeakRegular with alternative (archaic) spellingblow – blew – blown overblow – overblew – overblown Strong, class 7break – broke – broken outbreak – outbroke – outbroken rebreak – rebroke – rebroken Strong, class 4breed – bred – bred inbreed – inbred – inbred interbreed – interbred – interbred overbreed – overbred – overbred Weak, class 1With coalescence of dentals and vowel shorteningbring – brought – brought Weak, class 1, subclass (i) The past and past participle show the effects of the Germanic spirant law. The present form descends originally from a separate strong verb built on the same root.build – built – built overbuild – overbuilt – overbuilt rebuild – rebuilt – rebuilt underbuild – underbuilt – underbuilt Weak, class 1With coalescence of dentals and devoiced endingburn – burned/burnt – burned/burnt sunburn – sunburned/sunburnt – sunburned/sunburnt WeakRegular or with devoiced endingburst – burst – burst Strong, class 3bust – busted/bust – busted/bust Strong, class 3Or regularbuy – bought – bought overbuy – overbought – overbought underbuy – underbought – underbought Weak, class 1, subclass (ii)With Rückumlaut and Germanic spirant lawcan [auxiliary verb] – could – (none) Preterite-presentDefective; see English modal verbscast – cast – cast broadcast – broadcast – broadcast downcast – downcast – downcast forecast – forecast – forecast miscast – miscast – miscast overcast – overcast – overcast podcast – podcast – podcast precast – precast – precast recast – recast – recast simulcast – simulcast – simulcast telecast – telecast – telecast typecast – typecast – typecast undercast – undercast – undercast upcast – upcast – upcast webcast – webcast – webcast WeakOld Norse loanword with coalescence of dentals. Many of the prefixed forms can also take -ed. catch – caught – caught WeakFrench loanword conjugated perhaps by analogy with teach–taught; regular forms are now dialectal chide – chode/chid/chided – chidden/chid/chided Strong, class 1Or regularchoose – chose – chosen mischoose – mischose – mischosen Strong, class 2clad – clad – cladDeveloped from clad, the past form of clothe (see below)cleave [meaning to split] – cleft/clove/cleaved – cleft/cloven/cleaved Strong, class 2Or weak with vowel shortening; regular when meaning "adhere"cling – clung – clung Strong, class 3clothe – clad/clothed – clad/clothed overclothe – overclad/overclothed – overclad/overclothed unclothe – unclad/unclothed – unclad/unclothed underclothe – underclad/underclothed – underclad/underclothed WeakThe regular clothed is from OE claþian, while clad (weak with coalescence of dentals) is from OE clæþan (both OE verbs having similar meaning)Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, entries for "clothe" and "clad".comb – combed – combed/kemptcome – came – come forthcome – forthcame – forthcome overcome – overcame – overcome (see also under become) Strong, class 4cost [intransitive sense] – cost/costed – cost/costed WeakFrench loanword with coalescence of dentals; regular when meaning "calculate the cost of"creep – crept/creeped – crept/creeped WeakWith vowel shortening (or regular); originally strong, class 2cut – cut – cut clearcut – clearcut – clearcut crosscut – crosscut – crosscut intercut – intercut – intercut recut – recut – recut undercut – undercut – undercut WeakWith coalescence of dentalsdare (dares/dare) – dared/durst/dare – dared/durst Preterite-presentNow most often regular except in the use of dare in place of dares in some contexts; see English modal verbsdeal – dealt – dealt misdeal – misdealt – misdealt redeal – redealt – redealt Weak, class 1With vowel shortening and devoiced endingdig – dug – dug underdig – underdug – underdugPast form dug developed by analogy with stick–stuck;The strong-type past form dug arose as a past participle in the 16th century, by analogy with stuck, and was used as a past tense from the 18th century. See Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, entry for "dig". originally weakdive – dived/dove – dived/dove WeakThe alternative dove (found mainly in American usage) arose by analogy with strong verbsdo (does ) – did – done bedo (bedoes) – bedid – bedone misdo (misdoes) – misdid – misdone outdo (outdoes) – outdid – outdone overdo (overdoes) – overdid – overdone redo (redoes) – redid – redone underdo (underdoes) – underdid – underdone undo (undoes) – undid – undone Irregular since Proto-GermanicPast tense formed by reduplication; past participle from Old English gedon; related to deed dow – dowed/dought – dowed/doughtRelated to doughtydraw – drew – drawn bedraw – bedrew – bedrawn downdraw – downdrew – downdrawn outdraw – outdrew – outdrawn overdraw – overdrew – overdrawn redraw – redrew – redrawn underdraw – underdrew – underdrawn updraw – updrew – updrawn withdraw – withdrew – withdrawn Strong, class 6Related to draft/draughtdream – dreamed/dreamt – dreamed/dreamt bedream – bedreamed/bedreamt – bedreamed/bedreamt WeakWith vowel shortening and devoiced ending (or regular)dress – dressed/drest – dressed/drest WeakWith alternative (archaic) spellingdrink – drank – drunk Strong, class 3Related to drenchdrive – drove – driven bedrive – bedrove – bedriven overdrive – overdrove – overdriven test-drive – test-drove – test-driven underdrive – underdrove – underdriven Strong, class 1Related to driftdwell – dwelt/dwelled – dwelt/dwelled bedwell – bedwelt/bedwelled – bedwelt/bedwelled outdwell – outdwelt/outdwelled – outdwelt/outdwelled Weak, class 1With devoiced ending (or regular)earn – earned/earnt – earned/earnt Weak, class 2With devoiced ending (or regular)eat – ate – eaten forfret – forfretted – forfretted/forfretten fret – fretted/frate – fretted/fretten outeat – outate – outeaten overeat – overate – overeaten undereat – underate – undereaten Strong, class 5Past tense usually though sometimes in British Englishfall – fell – fallen befall – befell – befallen Strong, class 7feed – fed – fed bottle-feed – bottle-fed – bottle-fed breastfeed – breastfed – breastfed force-feed – force-fed – force-fed hand-feed – hand-fed – hand-fed misfeed – misfed – misfed overfeed – overfed – overfed self-feed – self-fed – self-fed spoon-feed – spoon-fed – spoon-fed underfeed – underfed – underfed Weak, class 1With coalescence of dentals and vowel shorteningfeel – felt – felt forefeel – forefelt – forefelt Weak, class 1With devoiced ending and vowel shorteningfight – fought – fought befight – befought – befought outfight – outfought – outfought Strong, class 3find – found – found refind – refound – refound Strong, class 3fit – fitted/fit – fitted/fit misfit – misfitted/misfit – misfitted/misfit WeakWith coalescence of dentalsflee – fled – fled WeakWith vowel shortening; originally strong, class 2fling – flung – flung Strong, class 3By analogyfly – flew – flown outfly – outflew – outflown overfly – overflew – overflown