Irregular Verbs: List of 70+ Popular Irregular Verbs in English

Irregular verbs are an important part of English grammar. Unlike regular verbs, they do not follow the usual -d, -ed, or -ied spelling patterns for the past simple (V2) or past participle (V3). Because of this, many irregular verbs need extra attention when learning and using them accurately.

List of Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are verbs that don’t take on the regular –d, -ed, or -ied spelling patterns of the past simple (V2) or past participle (V3).

This is an irregular verbs list in the English language.

Base Form (V1)	Past Simple (V2)	Past Participle (V3)
swim	swam	swum
teach	taught	taught
buy	bought	bought
speak	spoke	spoken
do	did	done
sell	sold	sold
wear	wore	worn
read	read	read
hear	heard	heard
eat	ate	eaten
run	ran	run
put	put	put
go	went	gone
cut	cut	cut
fall	fell	fallen
drink	drank	drunk
fly	flew	flown
choose	chose	chosen
dream	dreamt	dreamt
freeze	froze	frozen
be	was/ were	been
come	came	come
become	became	become
find	found	found
begin	began	begun
forget	forgot	forgotten
break	broke	broken
build	built	built
catch	caught	caught
get	got	gotten
have	had	had
keep	kept	kept
lend	lent	lent
make	made	made
meet	met	met
say	said	said
send	sent	sent
give	gave	given
hide	hid	hidden
hold	held	held
know	knew	known
leave	left	left
lose	lost	lost
pay	paid	paid
see	saw	seen
set	set	set
take	took	taken
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
show	showed	shown
tell	told	told
input	input	input
shut	shut	shut
think	thought	thought
awake	awoke	awoken
sing	sang	sung
understand	understood	understood
blow	blew	blown
sit	sat	sat
win	won	won
bring	brought	brought
sleep	slept	slept
write	wrote	written
cling	clung	clung
overcome	overcame	overcome
deal	dealt	dealt
spend	spent	spent
upset	upset	upset
draw	drew	drawn
feel	felt	felt
forbid	forbade	forbidden

Types of Irregular Verbs

Base Form (V1)

The base form is used in the present tense. For most verbs in English—regular and irregular—the present tense follows the same rule: add -s or -es only for the third-person singular (he/she/it). The main exception is the verb be (am/is/are).

Past Simple (V2)

The past simple is used for completed actions in the past. Irregular verbs have their own past forms and do not follow the regular -ed pattern (for example, go → went).

Past Participle (V3)

The past participle is used in perfect tenses and the passive voice. Irregular verbs have unique past participle forms (for example, go → gone).

Usage of Irregular Verbs

In Sentences

Irregular verbs do not form the past simple and past participle with -ed. Each verb has its own forms.

• I ate breakfast this morning.
• She sang a beautiful song at the concert.
• He ran a marathon last year.

In Questions

In the past tense, questions use the auxiliary verb did. After did, the main verb stays in the base form. This rule applies to both regular and irregular verbs.

• Did you eat breakfast this morning?
• Did she sing a beautiful song at the concert?
• Did he run a marathon last year?

In Negative Statements

Negative statements in the past tense use did not (or didn’t) + the base form. This rule applies to both regular and irregular verbs.

• I did not eat breakfast this morning.
• She did not sing a beautiful song at the concert.
• He did not run a marathon last year.

Common Irregular Verb Patterns

Irregular verbs do not follow one single rule like -ed, but many of them fall into patterns that make them easier to remember.

AAA Pattern

• cut – cut – cut
• put – put – put
• shut – shut – shut
• set – set – set

ABB Pattern

• buy – bought – bought
• teach – taught – taught
• keep – kept – kept
• send – sent – sent
• build – built – built

ABA Pattern

• come – came – come
• become – became – become
• run – ran – run

ABC Pattern

• drink – drank – drunk
• begin – began – begun
• sing – sang – sung
• go – went – gone
• write – wrote – written

Common Irregular Verbs by Past Participle Ending

Some irregular verbs share similar past participle endings. This can help when learning forms, but it is important to keep V1, V2, and V3 clear.

• -en (V3): eat – ate – eaten, fall – fell – fallen, forget – forgot – forgotten, give – gave – given, take – took – taken, write – wrote – written
• -own / -nown (V3): blow – blew – blown, know – knew – known, grow – grew – grown
• -wn (V3): draw – drew – drawn, fly – flew – flown, show – showed – shown, throw – threw – thrown, withdraw – withdrew – withdrawn

Less Common Irregular Verbs

• bet – bet – bet
• broadcast – broadcast – broadcast
• creep – crept – crept
• dig – dug – dug
• leap – leapt/leaped – leapt/leaped
• sew – sewed – sewn (also: sewed)
• slay – slew – slain
• thrive – thrived/throve – thrived (also: thriven in older usage)

Last Updated on January 21, 2026