grammarGRAMMAR


What are irregular verbs?


What is the difference between regular and irregular verbs?

A regular verb follows a typical pattern in its conjugation. For example, verbs such as close, live, watch, visit and play are regular. They consistently take s, ed and ing in the simple present, past simple, past participle and present participle. Check the following chart:

Infinitive Simple Present Simple Past Past participle Present Participle
close close(s) closed closed closing
live live(s) lived lived living
watch watch(es) watched watched watching
visit visit(s) visited visited visiting
play play(s) played played playing

Irregular verbs, on the other hand, don't follow the above pattern. They are inconsistent in their conjugation. Their simple past and past participle forms have different endings. See the chart below.

Infinitive Simple Present Simple Past Past participle Present Participle
come come(s) came come coming
cut cut(s) cut cut cutting
do do(es) did done doing
go go(es) went gone going
speak speak(s) spoke spoken speaking
spend spend(s) spent spent spending
write write(s) wrote written writing

Since the simple past and the past participle forms of irregular verbs are unpredictable, they have to be learned by heart.

Here is a list of irregular verbs

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