Group 3: regular (V2, V3) in US English, irregular in UK EnglishĬategory 2: Vowel change, irregular ending, V2=V3

This novel was written by Charles Dickens.Ĭategory 1: irregular ending with no vowel change, V2=V3 group 1: d ending changes to t, ent changes to end.

I have already written my English paper.

I will write an English essay tomorrow.

Here is a quick reminder for these verb forms: The following irregular verb tables are sorted according to V1,V2, and V3 forms. In any case, consult your dictionary if you are not sure about the exact usage. Moreover, there may also be finer nuances in meaning pertaining to the usage of the former or the latter. A general rule of thumb here is that the regular verb option (with ed, no vowel change) is more commonly used in American English, whereas the irregular option (vowel change) is still in use in British English. You may notice that in some verb parts there are two correct forms. Remember that for looking up irregulars verbs after you have learned them, you have an alphabetical list in any dictionary for easy referencing.

You may consider creating flash cards with the different groups and study them, as explained on our vocabulary strategies pages. You could also read the table headings if it helps you, or simply focus on the verbs themselves. Read through the tables and make note of the verbs you find useful for your purposes. This kind of clustering aids your memory, which will strengthen with practice. Regardless of the linguistic distinctions and classifications, which tend to be too complicated for learners, we suggest that you use the following tables, clustering together irregular verbs with similar change patterns in small groups. A user-friendly way to study English irregular verbs: The classification of verbs to weak and strong in Modern English is less important for learners, so you can suffice with the regular-irregular distinction. In strong verbs the simple past and past participle are usually distinct, with the past participle having an en ending (speak-spoke-spoken). In weak verbs, the simple past and past participle forms are identical, bearing a d or t ending (buy-bought-bought). Still, the ten most used verbs in English are irregular.Īnother distinction is between weak and strong verbs.

Irregular verbs originate mostly from Old English, while any new verb coined in later periods tends to be regular.

Some irregular verbs do not change form at all (let-let-let). However, there is a considerable number of irregular verbs (about 450, but only about 200 are in common use) that form their simple past and past participle forms with a vowel change, such as in see-saw-seen (see table below). Most verbs in English are regular verbs, meaning that they add the ed ending to form both the simple past and the past participle forms, which are identical, such as play-played-played.

American english irregular verbs list