Irregular Verbs List | Learn English (2024)

FAQs

How to learn the irregular verbs in English? ›

Note In UK English, “learn” is an irregular verb, meaning that the past tense is not formed by adding the standard “-ed” suffix. In US English, “learn” is a regular verb (i.e., the past tense is formed by adding “-ed”).

As always, the more you will practice, the faster you will learn them. Make sentences, repeat them, put lists where you can easily see them, make flashcards, play mini games, learn a song about them… (yes, there are songs that help you learn the irregular verbs!)

Have students act out each irregular verb as you call it out. For example, for "write" have them pretend to hold a pencil and write. For "drive" have them mime turning a steering wheel. This kinesthetic approach really cements the verbs into their memory.

“Irregular Verb” If you can form the simple past tense and past participle of a verb simply by adding “–ed” or “–d” to it, then it's a regular verb. A verb that doesn't follow these patterns is an irregular verb.

What exactly is an irregular verb? The short answer is that a verb is irregular if you can't change it to past tense just by adding “-ed” or “-d” to the end. In order to use these verbs correctly, you have to memorize their past simple and past participle forms, since they don't fit into the usual pattern.

The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called preterite) or the past participle.

Why is learn irregular? ›

The past tense and past participle of most verbs are formed by adding -ed or -d to the end of the root form of the verb—as is done when forming learned from learn. Verbs whose past and past participles follow this general rule are called regular verbs, whereas verbs that don't act this way are called irregular verbs.

An irregular verb is defined as “a verb that does not follow the usual rules of grammar. For example, 'eat' is an irregular verb because its past tense is 'ate' and its past participle is 'eaten', not 'eated',” according to the Macmillan Dictionary.

Irregular verbs, for instance, are rule-breakers. They don't follow the standard rules for making them past tense. While you can learn a few patterns, eventually you'll need to work on memorizing each form.

In effect, children tend to learn irregular forms as individual vocabulary words rather than by applying specific phonologic or morphologic rules to the different base morphemes.