Do NOT say ED! | IRREGULAR Verbs in English

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Do NOT say -ed with these irregular verbs! They’re tough to get right but I’ll help you master them. It will help you sound more natural and smooth when you’re speaking English—and that’s my #1 goal! 

Video Transcript:

I beginned my work day at 8:00. 

Beginned is not a word. Past tense in English, add ED. That’s the pattern. But what about when it’s not? English is full of irregular verbs each with their own way of forming the past tense, and you just have to memorize them. And a lot of them are some of the most common words in English. And some of them get pretty funky, like this word: present tense, read, [ɹid] simple past: read [ɹɛd], the spelling doesn’t change but the pronunciation does.  And now it sounds just like the color red. Today we’ll cover over more than 90 of the most common irregular verbs in English, and you’ll understand not just the spelling but the pronunciation too. You’re going to need to know this, so stick with us.  

The first one you probably know, but do you have the pronunciation down pat? The phrase ‘to have something down pat’ means to have something memorized perfectly. 

 

Present tense, base form, be. Simple past, was or were. Past participle, been. Did you hear that?  Been. This is the only word in American English that I know of where ‘ee’ makes the IH vowel. You see this and you see this and you think, “be”, “been”.  “Been” is a pronunciation in British English, but not American English.  We’re ‘bin’ or ‘Ben’. We do have the word ‘bean’ in American English and it’s spelled ea and it’s this.  

Coffee bean, or black bean or pinto bean. But this word, bin. Bin is a word B-I-N, like a bin for storage or trash and remember how I said you can also pronounce this word as ‘Ben’? That’s also a word in American English, a name, usually short for ‘Benjamin’, like my friend Ben who has been in a couple of my videos here on my channel.  

Base form, present tense – be  

I want you to be there. 

Simple past – was or were 

I was there.  We were there. 

Past participle – been  

I’ve been there. 

Be. was/were. been. 

Bear – the noun is the animal. The verb has a bunch of different meanings, like to carry the weight of or to take responsibility for.  

Base form, present tense – bear 

They have to bear so much stress. 

Simple past – bore 

They bore so much stress. 

Past participle – born 

They have born so much stress. 

Bear. bore. born. 

Beat 

We’re gonna beat them. 

beat 

We beat them last year. – same spelling, same pronunciation for simple past.  

beaten 

We’ve always beaten them. 

Beat. beat. beaten.  Notice with ‘beaten’, the T is a stop T.  You don’t hear tttt the release, that’s because it’s part of the pattern T-schwa-N, so it’s a stop T. You’ll hear that later in this video as well, like with the word ‘bitten’.  

become 

This caterpillar can become a butterfly. 

became 

The caterpillar became a butterfly. 

become 

The caterpillar hasn’t become a butterfly yet. 

Now it’s the past participle that has the same spelling and same pronunciation as the base form present tense 

Become. Became.  become. 

begin 

Every January, I begin a new exercise program. 

began 

I began my exercise program last week. 

begun 

I’ve already begun my exercise program, and it’s going great. 

Begin. began. begun. 

bet 

I bet you $20 your team loses. 

bet 

We each bet $20, and I lost. 

bet 

She’s never bet more than $20 on a game. 

Wait? Okay all of those are the same spelling and the same pronunciation.  

Bet. bet. bet. 

bite 

Mosquitos bite me all summer long. 

bit 

A mosquito bit me just now. 

bitten 

I’ve been bitten several times. 

Bite. Bit. Bitten. 

Oh hey, before we jump to number 8, I want to thank the people here on YouTube who support my channel through the membership. Just click the join button to find out how you can support my channel and get perks like audio lessons and private posts.   

bleed 

If you bleed, apply pressure to stop it. 

bled 

My finger bled a little bit when I cut it while chopping carrots. 

bled 

My finger hadn’t bled long before it stopped. 

Bleed. bled. bled. 

blow 

Let’s blow off class and go see a movie. 

blew 

We blew off class Friday and went to see a movie. 

blown 

I’ve never blown off class before today. 

Blow. blew. blown. 

Notice this word “blue”. It’s a homophone with a color.  Blue. They sound exactly the same.

break 

She doesn’t want to be the one to break the bad news. 

broke 

She broke the bad news, and it made us all sad. 

broken 

She hasn’t broken the bad news yet. 

Break. Broke. Broken.  

bring 

Can you bring a dessert? 

brought 

You all brought desserts? 

brought 

We’ve brought desserts to the office party every year.  

Bring. Brought, brought 

build 

The kids always build Lego towers at preschool. 

built 

The kids built a Lego tower again today. 

built 

The kids have never built a Lego tower at home. 

Build, built, built 

buy 

There are several items in my Amazon wish list that I’d like to buy. 

bought 

I bought two things from my wish list today. 

bought 

I have no idea how much I’ve bought on Amazon over the past 12 months. 

Buy. Bought, bought. 

catch 

I don’t want to catch a cold. 

caught 

I caught a cold. 

caught 

I’ve already caught 3 colds this winter. 

Catch. Caught, caught 

choose 

You typically choose tea over coffee, right? 

chose 

You chose tea instead of coffee this morning, right? 

chosen 

You’ve rarely chosen coffee if tea is available. 

Choose. Chose, chosen 

come 

Come over after work. 

came 

She came over after work. 

come 

Have you come over since starting the new job? 

Come. came, come. 

cost 

You cost this company a lot of money with your mistakes. 

cost 

Last year you cost this company a lot of money with your mistakes. 

cost 

You have cost this company so much money over the last five years. 

All the same: Cost. Cost, cost 

cut 

We’re going to cut that clip out of the video. 

cut 

We cut that clip out before finalizing the video. 

cut 

We’ve always cut out clips when the camera goes out of focus. 

Again, all three the same. Cut. cut, cut. 

do 

I do that all day.  

did 

I did that yesterday. 

done 

I’ve done that for years. 

Do. did, done. 

dive 

Let’s dive right in. 

Dove – now, here I should say that ‘dived’ is also acceptable, but ‘dove’ is more common in American English and ‘dived’ is more common in British English. 

So, dove, “We dove right in.”  

Dived 

We’ve never dived there; the water is too shallow. 

Dive. Dove, dived. 

draw 

Draw a picture for me. 

drew 

You drew a picture for me. 

drawn 

You’ve drawn so many pictures. 

Draw. Drew, drawn. 

drink 

First thing every morning, I drink a glass of water. 

drank 

I drank a glass of water before I ate breakfast. 

drunk 

By the end of the day, I’ve usually drunk 6 glasses of water. 

Now drunk, as an adjective, means had too much alcohol to drink, you’re in an altered state, you should not drive, you’re drunk.  

Drink. Drank, drunk. 

drive 

I don’t have to drive much for my job. 

drove 

For my previous job, I drove 30 minutes one-way every day. 

driven 

This year, I’ve only driven about 2,000 miles in this car. 

Drive. Drove, driven. 

eat 

I try to eat protein at every meal. 

ate 

Yesterday, I ate about 30 grams of protein. 

eaten 

Before this year, I had never regularly eaten protein for breakfast. 

Eat. ate, eaten. 

fall 

Don’t let me fall. 

fell 

She fell on the ice. 

fallen 

She has fallen several times today. 

Fall. Fell, fallen. 

feed 

Let’s feed the dog before we go. 

fed 

I fed him last night. 

fed 

We’ve already fed him today 

Feed. fed. Fed. 

feel 

You look like you feel better. 

felt 

You felt horrible yesterday. 

felt 

You’ve never felt so bad, have you? Also, felt is also a material, kind of textured. Actually, I coaster is made of felt. 

Felt 

Feel. Felt, felt. 

fight 

Siblings fight. 

fought 

I fought with my sisters as a kid. 

fought 

I haven’t fought with my sisters since we were kids. 

Fight, fought, fought 

find 

Let’s find your sunglasses. 

found 

His wife found them under the seat. 

found 

She’s found a lot of interesting things under the car seat since having kids. 

Find. found, found 

fly 

We’re going to fly non-stop. 

flew 

We flew through Atlanta last time. 

flown 

I’ve never flown through Nashville. 

Fly. Flew, flown. 

forget 

Don’t forget your phone. 

forgot 

I forgot my phone. 

forgotten 

I’ve forgotten my phone twice this week. 

Forget. Forgot, forgotten. 

forgive 

Can you forgive me? 

forgave 

I can’t believe you forgave him. 

forgiven 

Forget about it; I’ve already forgiven you. 

Forgive, forgave, forgiven. 

freeze 

Let’s freeze the leftover chicken. 

froze 

We froze the leftovers and reheated them for dinner. 

frozen 

We had frozen the dough, so it took a while to thaw. 

Freeze, froze, frozen. 

get 

You got all A’s. 

got 

Last year you got a B in math. 

gotten 

You’ve never gotten a bad grade. 

Get. Got, gotten. 

give 

Give me a hand, please. 

gave 

I gave you lots of attention earlier. 

given 

I’ve given you all my free time today. 

Give. Gave, given. 

go 

Go away. 

went 

It went away. 

gone 

It’s gone away now. 

Go, went, gone. 

grow 

I want to grow more tomatoes. 

grew 

I grew 12 plants last summer. 

grown 

I’ve always grown tomatoes in my garden. 

Grow, grew, grown. 

hang 

Hang up your coat. 

hung 

She hung all the coats in the closet. 

hung 

We’ve always hung Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving.  

Now, I want to point out there is another definition for hang, here I’ve used the definition “to be suspend or to suspend”. We hang the coat, we hang the lights. But hang can also mean to kill someone or to kill yourself by hanging from the neck. For that definition, we do use hanged for past tense and past participle. For example, “He hanged himself.”   

Hang. hung, hung. 

Or, hang, hanged, hanged. 

have 

Have a great time! 

had 

We had a great time! 

had 

We’ve had a great time! 

Have, had, had 

hear 

I hear you’re sick. 

heard 

I heard you were sick. 

heard 

I’ve heard several people have gotten sick this week. 

Hear, heard, heard 

hide 

Please hide this chocolate from me before I eat it all. 

hid 

He hid the chocolate behind some books. 

hidden 

He has hidden several desserts from me while I’ve been on this diet. 

Hide. Hid, hidden. 

hit 

Hit the ball as hard as you can. 

hit 

He hit it as hard as he could. 

hit 

He’s hit the ball every time he’s been up to bat. 

All the same, hit, hit, hit. 

hold 

Hold this for me. 

held 

She held my bag while I went to the restroom. 

held 

I’ve held bags a lot heavier than this one. 

Hold, held, held. 

hurt 

My feet hurt right now. 

hurt 

My feet hurt for a few hours before I took some ibuprofen. 

hurt 

My feet have never hurt like that before. 

All three Hurt, hurt, hut. 

keep 

Keep trying! 

kept 

I just kept trying! 

kept 

Over the years, I’ve kept trying; that’s how I’ve gotten better at it. 

Keep. Kept, kept 

kneel 

I kneel to tie my shoes. 

knelt 

My husband knelt on one knee when he proposed to me. 

Knelt 

I’ve knelt to put on my shoes since there is no bench to sit on.  

Actually, the -ed ending in these cases is also grammatically correct, though maybe less common.  

Kneel, knelt, knelt 

Or  

Kneel, kneeled, kneeled.  

know 

Do you know about this? 

knew 

You knew about this and didn’t tell me? 

known 

How long have you known about this? 

Know. Knew, known 

lead 

You lead the way. 

led 

You led our team for 3 seasons. 

led 

You haven’t led the team before. 

Lead, led, led.   

Now, here’s something that’s confusing.  We’ve said this is lead with the EE vowel, and this is led with the EH vowel.  But this word has another pronunciation, and it’s lead with the EH vowel.  With this pronunciation it’s a different definition. It’s the chemical element, Lead. So lead, led, led, but this can also be pronounced ‘lead’. 

leave 

Leave your shoes at the door, please. 

left 

I left my shoes outside. 

left 

I’ve never left my shoes on in the house. 

Leave. Left, left 

 lend 

Would you lend me some tools? 

lent 

My dad lent me some tools for the project. 

lent 

My dad has lent me tools for various projects over the years.  

Lend, lent, lent 

let 

Let me help. 

let 

I let my son help me fix this. 

let 

I’ve only let him help one other time. 

All three, let. Let, let, let.  

The next verb has two different forms depending on the definition.  

First, lie – tell an untruth, something that is false. 

Don’t lie to me. 

lied 

You lied to me? 

lied 

You’ve never lied to me before! 

Lie. Lied, lied. Ok, so that’s regular. But another definition is irregular. And that’s the definition “lie”, to assume a horizontal position.  

You can lie down on the couch if you feel tired. 

lay 

She lay down for an hour yesterday. 

lain 

She’s lain down after breakfast every day this week. 

Lie, lay, lain.  

So depending on the definition it’s lie, lied, lied, or lie, lay, lain 

lose 

I lose track of time when I’m listening to music. 

lost 

I lost an hour of work time because the internet was down. 

lost 

I’ve lost 5 pounds this month. 

Lose, lost, lost 

make 

Let’s make a cake. 

made 

Who made the cake? 

made 

Have you ever made a cheesecake? 

Make, made, made 

mean 

What do you mean? 

meant 

She explained what she meant. Look here, we’ve only added a T, but the vowel changed too.  We went from ee as she to the EH as in BED. Mean, ee, meant, eh.  

meant 

They’ve never meant to make us feel bad.  

Mean, meant, meant.  EE, eh, eh happens with our next word set too. 

meet 

Let’s meet at 10. 

met 

I met your parents the other day. 

met 

I’ve never met your brother. 

Meet, met, met.  Ee, eh, eh happens yet again in our next set. 

mislead 

That statement might mislead customers. 

misled 

The advertisement misled customers. 

misled 

That company has misled customers many times. 

Mislead, misled, misled,  

pay 

You can pay me back later. 

paid 

I paid you back on Venmo. 

paid 

I’ve never paid anyone on Venmo. 

Pay, paid, paid 

put 

Put your shoes on. 

put 

I put Sawyer’s shoes on for him this morning.  

put 

Have you ever put shoes on the wrong feet? 

All three put:  put, put, put. 

proofread  

You proofread everything for me. 

Proofread. Notice the spelling doesn’t change here but the vowel does proofread, proofread, EH.  

My editor proofread everything. 

Proofread. Again with the EH vowel.   

She’s proofread everything I’ve ever published. 

Proofread, proofread, proofread.
 

So of course this is true for ‘read’ as well. We have read with an EE. 

Let’s read over it together. 

Then we have read, same spelling but past tense now with the EH vowel.  

We read it as soon as it came. 

And again, read. 

Have you read a novel in another language? 

ride 

We could ride bikes this afternoon. 

rode 

We rode bikes for two hours last week. 

ridden 

We’ve never ridden that trail. 

Ride, rode, ridden 

ring 

Sometimes my phone doesn’t ring even though the volume is all the way up. 

rang 

My phone only rang one time, so I missed the call. 

rung 

My phone has never rung during a meeting until now—oops! 

Ring, rang, rung 

 rise 

You usually rise early. 

rose 

The sun rose at 7:19 yesterday. 

risen 

After the sun has risen, we can go for a hike. 

Rise, rose, risen. Notice in all three of these words, the letter S is pronounced with a Z sound. 

run 

Let’s run a marathon. 

ran 

They ran two marathons last year. 

run 

They’ve always run a marathon during winter break. 

Run, ran, run 

say 

Say hi to her. 

said 

I said hi. 

said 

I’ve never said anything rude to her. 

Say, said, said. 

see 

See what time the movie starts. 

saw 

We saw that movie last week. 

seen 

I haven’t seen that movie yet. 

See, saw, seen 

sell 

They sell shoes made from recycled plastics. 

sold 

They sold 5,000 pairs of shoes during the holidays. 

sold 

They’ve never sold so many shoes. 

Sell, sold, sold 

send 

Send me that picture. 

sent 

I sent the picture on Messenger. 

sent 

I’ve never sent a picture on Messenger before. 

Send, sent, sent 

set 

We’re all set. 

set 

I was set to go, but our flight was cancelled. 

set 

We’ve been set to go for an hour. 

All three are the same. Set, set, set 

shoot 

He’s going to shoot some group pictures of us. 

shot 

He shot about 200 pictures. 

shot 

He’s shot dozens of group photo sessions. 

Shoot, shot, shot 

show 

Show them your receipt. 

showed 

I showed the manager my receipt. 

shown 

I’ve shown them my receipt; now I’m waiting for a refund. 

Show, showed, shown 

shut 

Shut the door. 

shut 

I shut the door already. 

shut 

I’ve already shut the door. 

All three shut: shut, shut, shut. 

sing 

Sing a little more quietly. 

sang 

She sang so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think. 

sung 

She has never sung in public. 

Sing, sang, sung 

sink 

Let’s sink all our shots today. 

sank 

She sank four three-pointers in the first half. 

sunk 

I’ve sunk almost every free throw this season. 

Sink, sank, sunk. 

sit 

Sit over there. 

sat 

I sat over there. 

sat 

She’s sat outside for most of the party. 

Sit, sat, sat 

sleep 

My kids usually sleep from about 8:00pm-7:00am. 

slept 

They slept at their grandparents’ last night. 

slept 

They’ve slept at my sister-in-law’s, too. 

Sleep, slept, slept  

speak 

I want to speak to you. 

spoke 

I spoke to him yesterday. 

spoken 

I’ve spoken to her several times. 

Speak, spoke, spoken. 

spend 

You spend too much time on your phone.  

spent 

You spent the whole day on your phone. 

spent 

How much time have you spent watching Rachel’s English videos this week? 

Spend, spent, spent. 

stand 

I stand with you on that. 

stood 

We stood with you during that difficult time. 

stood 

We’ve stood together through thick and thin. 

Stand stood stood 

steal 

I don’t want to steal your idea. 

stole 

You stole my idea. 

stolen 

I’ve never stolen your ideas. 

Steal stole stolen 

stick 

Stick with me.  

stuck 

He stuck with me when my dad was sick. 

stuck 

We’ve stuck together through some tough times. 

Stick, stuck, stuck 

swim 

We swim at the Y. 

swam 

We swam at the lake yesterday. 

swum 

We’ve swum at that pool a lot. 

Swim, swam swum 

Take 

Can you take that next door?  

Took 

He took it next door.  

Taken  

He hasn’t taken it yet.  

Take, took, taken.  

Teach 

I teach on Youtube.  

Taught 

I taught in a traditional classroom before becoming a Youtuber.  

Taught 

I’ve always taught with technology.  

Teach, taught, taught.  

Tell 

Tell us the whole story.  

Told 

You told us the whole story.  

Told 

Have you told us the whole story?  

Think 

I think so.  

Thought 

I thought so.  

Thought 

I’ve thought about it all day.  

Think, thought, thought.  

Throw 

We need to throw this out.  

Threw 

We threw it out on recycling day.  

Thrown 

We’ve already thrown out lots of stuff.  

Throw, threw, thrown.  

understand 

I understand. 

understood 

She understood. 

understood 

She’s understood more since she got hearing aids. 

Understand, understood, understood. 

undo 

Just undo that edit. 

undid 

I undid the edit. 

undone 

I’ve undone all the bad edits. 

Undo, undid, undone 

wake 

I need to wake up earlier. 

woke 

I woke up late this morning.  

woken 

Have you ever woken up and forgotten where you were? 

Wake, woke, woken. 

wear 

I’m going to wear jeans. 

wore 

I wore jeans last time. 

worn 

I’ve worn jeans every time I’ve been there. 

Wear wore worn 

win 

Let’s win this! 

won 

We won! 

won 

We’ve won the last six games. 

Win, won, won 

withdraw 

Let’s withdraw some cash in the morning. 

withdrew 

He withdrew some cash before leaving. 

withdrawn 

He has already withdrawn $200. 

Withdraw withdrew withdrawn 

write 

Write your name in the book. 

wrote 

I wrote my name in the back of the book. 

written 

I’ve written a note to you in the back of the book. 

Write, wrote, written 

Whew, that was a lot. But aren’t you glad to know so much more about these irregular verbs? I also have a series of videos on regular verbs, where you add an –ed, check that out if you haven’t because there are actually some crazy tricks to the pronunciations.  And now keep your learning going now with this video and be sure to subscribe with notifications on so you never miss a lesson. I love being your English teacher and accent coach. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 

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