How to Easily Remember Irregular Verbs in English in 5 Simple Ways

Verbs are complex aspects of the English grammar. From forming verb tenses to their conjugation, they sometimes give us thrill and confusion.

Sentences are more meaningful when verbs are correctly used. Both regular and irregular verbs in English have specific functions that make sentences right as well as their meaning. Regular verbs are easy to remember and form; however, irregular verbs in English are quite difficult and often misused in sentences.

Are you familiar with the irregular verbs in English? In this article, we will tackle how they are formed, and we will provide examples for better understanding.

First, what are irregular verbs in English?

We sometimes don’t notice that we use irregular verb forms in our sentences. Irregular verbs in English are verbs that change their form when used in the past tense. They change their spelling and even their pronunciation in the appropriate verb tense. Along with the past tense, the past participle also helps in the conjugation of the irregular verbs in English.

Some irregular verbs in English do not change their spelling and form. Some examples of irregular verbs in English are speak, take, write, run, bring, teach, and buy. There are many irregular verbs in English that are easily formed, but there are also that are confusing.

Not only that the verbs in their base form with “to” are considered irregular verbs in English. The be-verbs “am, is, and are” are also irregular verbs as they change their form depending on the tenses that they are used in.

How to easily remember irregular verbs in English?

When learning a language, particularly the English grammar, irregular verbs are often a cause of confusion to language learners. Worry no more, because there are simple ways to remember and form the irregular verbs in English.

Create a list of regular and irregular verbs; study the trick.

If you have the list of both regular and irregular verbs in English, it would be easy for you to identify and form them. Remember that regular verbs are formed by adding “-d” or “-ed” in the base form of the verb. This means that irregular verbs are formed differently – spelling and pronunciation.

Group the irregular verbs according to their form and try to use them in sentences. Group them based on similar changes in the past and participle forms.

Start learning from the shortest words.

Don’t go directly to the hardest or longest irregular verbs in English. You can start from “go,” “see,” “run,” “sit,” and “do.” You don’t need to force yourself mastering all the heavy irregular verbs. Start from small, then slowly transition to 4-letter irregular verbs, and so on. It’s slowly, but surely.

Be your own sentence master.

You can make your own silly sentences and apply the learned irregular verbs in English. For example, “The cat ate all the forgotten cookies.” If you analyze the sentence, the words ate and forgotten are irregular verbs, but actually, the word forgotten does not function as a verb. Its form however, is in the past participle.

Don’t mind your grammar; you’re still practicing. Perfect it later when you already know how to form the irregular verbs correctly in your sentences.

Why not test yourself?

Make your learning fun; turn on your memorization plans to a fun game. You can list down or pick at least 5 or 10 irregular verbs in English and put them in a flash card. Ask someone to play the game with you. For example, you can write the base form in the flash card and recite its past tense and past participle.

You can also join online quizzes to check your understanding and schemata of what you recently learned about irregular verbs in English.

Repeat, repeat, and repeat.

They say that the best way to learn a language is to repeat, repeat, and repeat it often to really stick to your mind. After learning how to form the irregular verbs in English, you make your own silly sentences and learn through games, then check if you made correctly structured sentences.

Repetition is the mother of learning, so try to list down sentences to repeat every day. There’s no need to rush.

There are many ways to practice and master the forms of irregular verbs in English. You should be focused and eager to learn them. Keep practicing and you’ll master them in no time.

How to form irregular verbs in English?

We know that unlike regular verbs, irregular verbs in English don’t stick to only one rule in forming their past or participle form. They don’t follow the adding of “-d” or “-ed” in the base form of the verb. They are formed differently.

Irregular verbs in English can be formed in the following groups:

Group 1 – verbs that have the same spelling in the past tense and past participle
Group 2 – verbs that have the same spelling in the base form, past tense, and in the past participle
Group 3 – verbs that have different spelling from their base form, past tense, and past participle

Look at the groupings below:

Group 1: verbs that have the same spelling in the past tense and past participle.

Base Verb	Simple Past Form	Past Participle Form
Bet	Bet	Bet
Burst	Burst	Burst
Cast	Cast	Cast
Cut	Cut	Cut
Hit	Hit	Hit
Hurt	Hurt	Hurt
Let	Let	Let
Put	Put	Put
Set	Set	Set
Shed	Shed	Shed
Shut	Shut	Shut
Split	Split	Split
Spread	Spread	Spread
Thrust	Thrust	Thrust

Group 2: verbs that have the same spelling in the base form, past tense, and in the past participle

Base Verb	Simple Past Form	Past Participle Form
Bend	Bent	Bent
Bind	Bound	Bound
Bring	Brought	Brought
Build	Built	Built
Burn	Burned	Burned
Buy	Bought	Bought
Catch	Caught	Caught
Dream	Dreamed	Dreamed
Find	Found	Found
Hang	Hung	Hung
Have	Had	Had
Hear	Heard	Heard
Keep	Kept	Kept
Kneel	Knelt	Knelt
Lay	Laid	Laid
Lead	Led	Led
Learn	Learned	Learned
Light	Lit	Lit
Lose	Lost	Lost
Make	Made	Made
Say	Said	Said
Spill	Spilled	Spilled
Spoil	Spoiled	Spoiled
Strike	Struck	Struck
Swing	Swung	Swung
Think	Thought	Thought
Understand	Understood	Understood

Group 3: verbs that have different spelling from their base form, past tense, and past participle

Base Verb	Simple Past Form	Past Participle Form
Arise	Arose	Arisen
Begin	Began	Begun
Bite	Bit	Bitten
Blow	Blew	Blown
Break	Broke	Broken
Drink	Drank	Drunk
Fly	Flew	Flown
Give	Gave	Given
Know	Knew	Known
Ride	Rode	Ridden
Ring	Rang	Rung
Rise	Rose	Risen
Run	Ran	Run
See	Saw	Seen
Shake	Shook	Shaken
Show	Showed	Shown
Shrink	Shrank	Shrunk
Sing	Sang	Sung
Sink	Sank	Sunk
Strive	Strove	Striven
Take	Took	Taken
Throw	Threw	Thrown
Write	Wrote	Written

Example sentences of irregular verbs in English

Below are some example sentences of irregular verbs in English. The meaning and the tense of the sentences change as the forms of the irregular verbs change to past and past participle. The past participle of the verb usually works in perfect tenses.

Take	Took	Taken
Please take the book.	She took the book.	She has taken the book.

Run	Ran	Run
I run to work every day.	I ran to work yesterday.	I have run to work today.

Think	Thought	Thought
Don’t think that I forgot my promise.	She thought I forgot my promise.	She has thought that I forgot my promise.

Test Yourself!

Make your own sentences using the following irregular verbs in English.

Base Verb	Simple Past Form	Past Participle Form
Keep	Kept	Kept
Write	Wrote	Written
Ride	Rode	Ridden
Ring	Rang	Rung
Cut	Cut	Cut
Build	Built	Built
Know	Knew	Known
Break	Broke	Broken
See	Saw	Seen
Sing	Sang	Sung