English irregular verbs

This article includes alistof the irregular forms in common use. For a more complete list, seeList of English irregular verbs.

TheEnglish languagehas manyirregular verbs,approaching 200 in normal use – and significantly more ifprefixedforms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns thepast tense(also calledpreterite) or thepast participle.The otherinflectedparts of the verb – the third person singular present indicative in-[e]s,and the present participle and gerund form in-ing– are formed regularly in most cases. There are a few exceptions: the verbbehas irregular forms throughout the present tense; the verbshave,do,andsayhave irregular-[e]sforms; and certaindefective verbs(such as themodal auxiliaries) lack most inflection.

Irregular verbs inModern Englishinclude many of the most common verbs: the dozen most frequently used English verbs are all irregular. New verbs (includingloansfrom other languages, and nouns employed as verbs) usually follow the regular inflection, unless they are compound formations from an existing irregular verb (such ashousesit,fromsit).

Irregular verbs typically followed more regular patterns at a previous stage in thehistory of English.In particular, many such verbs derive fromGermanic strong verbs,which make many of their inflected forms throughvowel gradation,as can be observed in Modern English patterns such assing–sang–sung.Theregular verbs,on the other hand, with their preterites and past participles ending in-ed,follow theweak conjugation,which originally involved adding adental consonant(-tor-d). Nonetheless, there are also many irregular verbs that follow or partially follow the weak conjugation.

For information on the conjugation of regular verbs in English, as well as other points concerning verb usage, seeEnglish verbs.

Development

Most English irregular verbs are native, derived from verbs that existed inOld English.Nearly all verbs that have beenborrowedinto the language at a later stage have defaulted to the regular conjugation. There are a few exceptions, however, such as the verbcatch(derived fromOld Northern Frenchcachier), whose irregular forms originated by way of analogy with native verbs such asteach.

Most irregular verbs exist as remnants of historicalconjugationsystems. When some grammatical rule became changed or disused, some verbs kept to the old pattern. For example, before theGreat Vowel Shift,the verbkeep(then pronounced /keːp/, slightly like "cap", or "cape" without the/j/glide) belonged to a group of verbs whose vowel was shortened in the past tense; this pattern is preserved in the modern past tensekept(similarlycrept,wept,leapt,left). Verbs such aspeep,which have similar form but arose after the Vowel Shift, take the regular-edending.

The force ofanalogytends to reduce the number of irregular verbs over time, as irregular verbs switch to regular conjugation patterns (for instance, the verbchideonce had the irregular past tensechid,but this has given way to the regular formationchided). This is more likely to occur with less common verbs (where the irregular forms are less familiar); hence it is often the more common verbs (such asbe,have,take) that tend to remain irregular. Many irregular verbs today have coexisting irregular and regular forms (as withspeltandspelled,dreamtanddreamed,etc.).

In a few cases, however, analogy has operated in the other direction (a verb's irregular forms arose by analogy with existing irregular verbs). This is the case with the example ofcatchgiven above; others includewearandstring,which were originallyweak verbs,but came to be conjugated like the similar-sounding strong verbsbearandswing.

InAmerican English,the regular forms of verbs account for more than 90% of instances, whereasBritish Englishhas a regular form frequency of 69% according to a 1991 study.

The verb forms described in this article are chiefly those that are accepted instandard English;many regional dialects have different irregular forms, such assneak–snuckanddive-dove,common in the United States, as opposed to standardsneakedanddivedrespectively. In particular, it is fairly common in some types of non-standard speech to use (standard) past tenses as past participles, and vice versa; e.g. "have went" instead of "have gone" inSouthern American English.

Groups

The irregular verbs of Modern English form several groups with similar conjugation pattern and historical origin. These can be broadly grouped into two classes – the Germanicweakandstronggroups – although historically some verbs have moved between these groups. There are also a few anomalous cases: the verbsbeandgo,which demonstratesuppletion;the verbdo;and the defectivemodal verbs.

Strong verbs

Many irregular verbs derive fromGermanic strong verbs,which display the vowel shift calledablaut,and do not add an ending such as-edor-tfor the past forms. These sometimes retainpast participleswith the ending-[e]n,as ingive–gave–givenandride–rode–ridden,but in other cases this ending has been dropped, as income–came–comeandsing–sang–sung.This verb group was inherited from the parentProto-Germanic language,and before that from theProto-Indo-European language.It was originally a system of regular verbs, and inOld Englishand modernGermanthe system remains more or less regular; however in Modern English relatively few verbs continue to follow such a pattern, and they are classed as irregular.

Verbs that retain a strong-type inflection in modern English and add-[e]nin the past participle includebear,beat,beget,bite,blow,break,choose,cleave,draw,drive,eat,fall,fly,forbid,forget,forsake,freeze,get(but with past participlegotin British English),give,grow,know,lie,ride,rise,see,shake,shear,slay,smite,speak,steal,stride,strive,swear,take,tear,throw,tread,wake,weave,andwrite.

Those that do not add-[e]nin the usual past participle includebecome,begin,bind,burst,cling,come,drink,fight,find,fling,grind,hang,hold,let,ring,run,seek,shed,shine,shit,shoot,shrink,sing,sink,sit,slide,sling,slink,slit,spin,spring,stand,sting,stink,strike,swim,swing,win,windandwring.

The verbssowandswellare now usually regular in the past tense, but retain the strong-type past participlessownandswollen.Other verbs retain participles in-nfor certainadjectivaluses and distinguish them from other usage in perfect tenses ( "He is drunk" vs "drunken sailor", "The shirt has shrunk" vs "shrunken hands" or "The ship was sunk" vs "sunken cheeks" ). The participle in-nmay sometimes be limited to certain specific usage, as inmoltenused only to refer to metals (compare "molten steel" vs "melted butter" ). Sometimes the connection between the infinitive and the adjective (i.e. originally the past participle form) is not perceived as obvious any more, e.g.seethe – sodden.The verbcrowis now regular in the past participle, but the strong past tensecrewis sometimes used.

Some originally weak verbs have taken on strong-type forms by analogy with strong verbs. These includedig,dive(whendoveis used as the past tense),hide,prove(whenprovenis used as the past participle),saw(past participlesawn),sew(past participlesewn),show(past participleshown),spit,stick,strew,string,andwear(analogy withbear).

For indication of the groups of strong verbs the listed words belong to, see the table atList of English irregular verbs.

Weak verbs

Some other irregular verbs derive fromGermanic weak verbs,forming past tenses and participles with a-dor-tending (or from originally strong verbs that have switched to the weak pattern). The weak conjugation is also the origin of the regular verbs ending in-ed;however various historicalsound changes(and sometimes spelling changes) have led to certain types of irregularity in some verbs. The main processes are as follows (some verbs have been subject to more than one of these).

• Some weak verbs with long vowels in their present tense stems (such askeep) took a short vowel in the past tense and past participle (kept).
• In some weak verbs ending in a final-tor-d,this final consonantcoalesced(contracted) with the weak past ending to leave a single-tor-din the past forms.
• Some verbs ending inlornhad their past ending irregularlydevoicedto-t,and in a few verbs ending with avorzsound (leave,lose), both that sound and the past ending were devoiced. (The regular ending-edis also devoiced after voiceless consonants in regular verbs, as described underEnglish verbs § Past tense,but this is not now shown in the spelling – for example, the-edinblessedandwhippedis pronounced as at,and these words were formerly writtenblestandwhipt.The spelling-tfollowing a voiceless consonant is retained for verbs that display an irregularity, as inkeptandcost.)
• Some weak verbs continue the vowel shift calledRückumlaut( "reverse umlaut" ). Details of the history of these verbs can be found underGermanic weak verb;those with-gh-in the spelling were also affected by theGermanic spirant law.
• A few weak verbs have undergone additional contractions or vowel shortenings in their past or present tense forms.
• A few verbs are regular in their spoken forms, but have irregularspelling.

The irregular weak verbs (being in normal use) can consequently be grouped as follows:

• Verbs with vowel shortening:creep,flee,hear,keep,leap,shoe(whenshodis used),sleep,sweepandweep.(Of these,creep,flee,leap,sleepandweepderive from verbs that were originally strong.)
• Verbs with vowel shortening and devoicing of the ending:deal,dream,feel,kneel,lean,leave,lose(originally strong) andmean.Some of the verbs in this and in the preceding group have alternative regular forms, such asdreamedandleaped.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants:bet,bid,cast,cost,cut,fit,hit,hurt,knit,put,quit,rid,set,shed,shut,split,spread,thrust,wedandwet.Some of these verbs have alternative regular forms, such asweddedandwetted.(The verbhoistbehaves similarly to verbs in this group, but this was originally itself a past form of the now obsolete verbhoise;similarlycladwas originally – and sometimes still is – a past form ofclothe.)
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and devoicing of the ending:bend,build,lend,rend,send,spend.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and vowel shortening:bleed,breed,feed,lead,light,meet,read(past tense and past participle also speltread,but pronounced with a short vowel /ɹɛd/), andspeed.
• Verbs with devoicing of the ending and no other irregularity:burn,dwell,learn,smell,spell,spillandspoil.Most of these have regular-edforms as alternatives.
• Verbs continuing theRückumlautpattern:bring–brought,buy–bought,seek–sought,sell–sold,teach–taught,tell–told,andthink–thought.The borrowed verbcatch(caught) has also fallen into this pattern as a result of analogy.
• Verbs with additional contractions and shortenings:have–has–had,make–made,say–says–said(wheresaysandsaidare pronounced with a short vowel/ɛ/). (The verbdohas a similar vowel shortening indoesanddone;see below.)
• Verbs irregular only in spelling:lay–laid,pay–paid(although in the meaning "let out", of a rope etc.,paymay have the regular spellingpayed).

For weak verbs that have adopted strong-type past tense or past participle forms, see the section above on strong verbs. More information on the development of some of the listed verbs can be found atList of irregular verbs.

Anomalous cases

The following verbs do not fit exactly into any of the above categories:

• Themodal verbs,which aredefective verbs– they have only apresent indicativeform and (in some cases) a preterite, lackingnonfiniteforms (infinitives, participles, gerunds),imperatives,andsubjunctives(although some uses of the preterites are sometimes identified as subjunctives). Moreover, they do not add-sin the third person singular – this is because they derive either from preterites, or from Germanicpreterite-presentverbs, which were conjugated using the (strong-type) preterite form with present tense meaning. (Additional "true" preterites with past tense meaning were formed with the addition of dentals in the manner of theweakverbs.) The chief verbs of this closed class arecan–could,may–might,shall–should,will–would,andmustandought(These last two have no preterites. They were originally preterites themselves). There are alsodareandneed,which follow the same pattern (no-s) in some contexts: "Dare he jump? She needn't worry" (darederives from a preterite-present verb, butneedis from an Old English regular verb). In some cases,used tois also listed as a modal verb. All the modal verbs both in their present and preterite forms-except fordare,needandused to-usually refer to the present or the future, not the past ( "Could you do it now? Should I ask him for help?" ). To express the past, modal verbs typically use suppletive forms (can – be able to, may – be allowed to, must – have to/be obliged to). The only two modal verbs that do distinguish the preterite forms aredareandneed(dared (durst)andneededrespectively). SeeEnglish modal verbs § Etymology.
• Two verbs (beandgo) that containsuppletiveforms, i.e. one or more of their parts came from an entirely different root. Withgothis applies to the past tensewent,which is originally from the verbwend.Withbeit applies to a number of different forms (see below). For details, seeIndo-European copula(forbe) and the article on theverbgo.Derived frombeis thedefective verbbeware,which does not inflect in normal use and which appears only in those forms in which the plain form ofbewould be used, namely the infinitive, the imperative, and thesubjunctive.
• The verbdo,which has thereduplicatedformdidfor its past tense, an irregularity that is shared with otherGermanic languages.Its past participledonecan be compared to typical strong participles in-[e]n;however both this and the third person present tensedoesfeature a short vowel in modern pronunciation:/dʌn/,/dʌz/.

Verbs with irregular present tenses

Apart from themodal verbs,which are irregular in that they do not take an-sin the third person (see above), the only verbs with irregular present tense forms arebe,do,have,sayand an archaic verbwit(and prefixed forms of these, such asundoandgainsay,which conjugate in the same way as the basic forms).

The verbbehas multiple irregular forms. In the present indicative it hasamin the first person singular,is,which is pronounced with a Z sound, in the third person singular, andare,which is pronounced with an/α/sound, in the plural and second person singular. (Itspresent subjunctiveisbe,as in "I suggest that you be extremely careful", though that is not irregular, as all verbs use the infinitive/imperative form for the present subjunctive.) It also has two past tense forms:was,which is pronounced with an/ə/sound in US English, for the first and third persons singular, andwere,which is pronounced with an/ə/sound, for the plural and second person singular (although there are certainsubjunctiveuses in whichwerecan substitute forwas,as in "If I were you…" or "I wish I were there" ). The past participle isbeen,which is pronounced with an/ɪ/sound in US English, and the present participle and gerund forms are regular:being.For more details seeIndo-European copula.

As mentioned above, apart from its other irregularities, the verbdo,which is pronounced with an/u/sound, has the third person present indicativedoes& past participledonepronounced with short vowels:/dʌz//dʌn/.

The verbhave,which is pronounced with an/æ/sound, has a contracted third person present indicative form:has/hæz/(weak pronunciation/həz/). This is formed similarly to the verb's past tensehad.

The verbsaydisplaysvowel shorteningin the third person present indicative (although the spelling is regular):says/sɛz/.The same shortening occurs in the past formsaid/sɛd/.(Compare thediphthongin the plain formsay/seɪ/.)

The verbwitis the only non-modal verb that is also a preterite-present verb and it does not take-sin the third person. It also has a vowel shift in the present tense as in "I wot".

For shortened forms of certain verbs and of their negations ('s,'re,won't,etc.), seeEnglish auxiliaries and contractions.

Coincident forms

In regular English verbs, the past tense and past participle have the same form. This is also true of most irregular verbs that follow a variation of the weak conjugation, as can be seen in thelistbelow. Differences between the past tense and past participle (as insing–sang–sung,rise–rose–risen) generally appear in the case of verbs that continue the strong conjugation, or in a few cases weak verbs that have acquired strong-type forms by analogy – as withshow(regular past tenseshowed,strong-type past participleshown). However, even some strong verbs have identical past tense and participle, as incling–clung–clung.

In some verbs, the past tense, past participle, or both are identical in form to the basic (infinitive) form of the verb. This is the case with certain strong verbs, where historical sound changes have led to a leveling of the vowel modifications: for example,lethas both past tense and past participle identical to the infinitive, whilecomehas the past participle identical (but a different past tense,came). The same is true of the verbs listed above under§ Weak verbsas having undergone coalescence of final consonants (and without other irregularities such as vowel shortening or devoicing of the ending):bet,bid,etc. (these verbs have infinitive, past tense and past participle all identical, although some of them also have alternative regular forms in-ed). The verbread/ɹiːd/has the same spelling in all three forms, but not the same pronunciation for the past tense and past participle/ɹɛd/,as it exhibits vowel shortening.

In a few cases the past tense of an irregular verb has the same form as the infinitive of a different verb. For example,boreandfoundmay be past tenses ofbearandfind,but may also represent independent (regular) verbs of different meaning. Another example islay,which may be the past tense oflie,but is also an independent verb (regular in pronunciation, but with irregular spelling:lay–laid–laid). In fact the past tense verblayderives from acausativeof the verb from whichliederives. The two verbs are sometimes confused, withlayused in theintransitivesenses prescriptively reserved forlie.

Prefixed verbs

Nearly all of the basic irregular verbs are single-syllablewords. Their irregular inflected forms are generally single-syllable also, except for the past participles in-enlikechosenandrisen.However, many additional irregular verbs are formed by addingprefixesto the basic ones:understandfromstand,becomefromcome,mistakefromtake,and so on. As a general rule, prefixed verbs are conjugated identically to the corresponding basic verbs; e.g.understand–understood–understoodandbecome–became–become,following the patterns ofstand–stood–stoodandcome–came–come.However, there are occasional differences: in British English, for instance, the past participle ofgetisgot,(as opposed togottenas in North American English) while that offorgetisforgotten.

Only a few irregular verbs of more than one syllable cannot be analyzed as prefixed compounds of monosyllables. There isbegin–began–begun(this is from Old Englishbēgun"to be getting or be finding a way", making it equivalent tobe-+gate,but it has moved away fromgatein both form and meaning). There is alsoforsake–forsook–forsaken(this is from Old Englishforsōc"to legally act for or affair for", making it equivalent tofor-+sake,but it has moved away fromsakein both form and meaning). There is alsobeseech–besought–besought(this is from Old Englishbesēcan"to seek or inquire about", making it equivalent tobe-+seek,but it has moved away fromseekin both form and meaning); however the formbesoughtis now archaic, the verb normally being conjugated regularly (beseeched).

List

The following is a list of irregular verbs that are commonly used in standard modern English. It omits many rare, dialectal, and archaic forms, as well as most verbs formed by adding prefixes to basic verbs (unbend,understand,mistake,etc.). It also omits past participle forms that remain in use onlyadjectivally(clad,sodden,etc.). For a more complete list, with derivations, seeList of English irregular verbs.Further information, including pronunciation, can be foundin Wiktionary.The list that follows shows the base, or infinitive form, the past tense and the past participle of the verb.

• a-:forabide,arise,awake,seebide,rise,wake
• be(am,is,are) –was,were–been
• be-:forbecome,befall,beset,etc. seecome,fall,set,etc.
• bear–bore–borne[speltborninpassiveand adjectival uses relating tobirth]
• beat–beat–beaten
• beget–begot–begot(ten)[Biblical past tense:begat]
• begin–began–begun
• bend–bent–bent
• bet–bet–bet[past tense and participle also sometimesbetted]
• beware–defective verb[seeanomalous casesabove]
• bid–bid–bid[as in an auction]
• bid–bade/bid–bidden/bid[meaning "request" ]
• bide–bided/bode–bided/bidden[butabidemostly uses the regular forms only]
• bind–bound–bound
• bite–bit–bitten
• bleed–bled–bled
• blow–blew–blown
• break–broke–broken
• breed–bred–bred
• bring–brought–brought
• build–built–built
• burn–burnt/burned–burnt/burned
• burst–burst–burst
• buy–bought–bought
• can–could[defective; seeanomalous casesabove]
• cast–cast–cast[prefixed formsbroadcast,forecast,etc. sometimes take-ed]
• catch–caught–caught
• choose–chose–chosen
• clad–clad/cladded–clad/cladded[cladis also sometimes used as past form ofclothe]
• cleave–clove/cleft–cloven/cleft[but regular when meaning "adhere" ]
• cling–clung–clung
• come–came–come
• cost–cost/costed–cost/costed[but regular when meaning "calculate the cost of" ]
• creep–crept/creeped–crept/creeped
• crow–crowed/crew–crowed[crewnormally used only of a cock's crowing]
• cut–cut–cut
• dare– regular except for possible third person singular presentdare(seeanomalous casesabove)
• deal–dealt–dealt
• dig–dug–dug
• dive–dived/dove–dived[the formdoveis chiefly American]
• do(does/dʌz/) –did–done
• drag–dragged/drug–dragged/drug[the formdrugis chiefly dialectal]
• draw–drew–drawn
• dream–dreamed/dreamt–dreamed/dreamt
• drink–drank–drunk
• drive–drove–driven
• dwell–dwelt/dwelled–dwelt/dwelled
• eat–ate–eaten
• fall–fell–fallen
• feed–fed–fed
• feel–felt–felt
• fight–fought–fought
• find–found–found
• fit–fit/fitted–fit/fitted
• flee–fled–fled
• fling–flung–flung
• fly–flew–flown[the formfliedis common in the baseball sense]
• for(e)-:forforgo,foresee,etc. seego,see,etc.
• forbid–forbade/forbid–forbidden
• forget–forgot–forgotten
• forsake–forsook–forsaken
• freeze–froze–frozen
• get–got–gotten/got[past participlegotinBritish English,gotteninAmerican,but seehave got]
• gild–gilded/gilt–gilded/gilt
• give–gave–given
• go–went–gone[see alsohave been]
• grind–ground–ground
• grow–grew–grown
• hang–hung/hanged–hung/hanged[the formhangedis more common in the sense ofexecution by hanging]
• have(has) –had–had
• hear–heard–heard
• hew–hewed–hewn/hewed
• hide–hid–hidden
• hit–hit–hit
• hoist–hoist/hoisted–hoist/hoisted
• hold–held–held
• hurt–hurt–hurt
• in-:forinlay,input,etc. seelay,put,etc.
• inter-:forinterlay,interweave,etc. seelay,weave,etc.
• keep–kept–kept
• kneel–knelt/kneeled–knelt/kneeled
• knit–knit/knitted–knit/knitted
• know–knew–known
• lay–laid–laid
• lead–led–led
• lean–leaned/leant–leaned/leant
• leap–leaped/leapt–leaped/leapt
• learn–learned/learnt–learned/learnt
• leave–left–left
• lend–lent–lent
• let–let–let
• lie–lay–lain[but regular when meaning "tell an untruth" ]
• light–lit/lighted–lit/lighted
• lose–lost–lost
• make–made–made
• may–might[defective; seeanomalous casesabove]
• mean–meant–meant
• meet–met–met
• mis-:formisspeak,mistake,etc. seespeak,take,etc.
• mow–mowed–mowed/mown
• must–defective[seeanomalous casesabove]
• need– regular except for possible third person singular presentneed(seeanomalous casesabove)
• off-:foroffsetseeset,etc.
• ought–defective[seeanomalous casesabove]
• out-:foroutbid,output,etc. seebid,put,etc.
• over-:foroverbid,overdo,etc. seebid,do,etc.
• pay–paid–paid[but sometimes spelt regularly when meaning "let out" (rope etc.)]
• plead–pleaded/pled–pleaded/pled
• pre-:forprepay,preset,etc. seepay,set,etc.
• prove–proved–proved/proven
• put–put–put[prefixed forms input and output sometimes take -ed]
• quit–quitted/quit–quitted/quit
• re-:forredo,remake,etc. seedo,make,etc.
• read/riːd/–read/rɛd/–read/rɛd/
• rend–rent–rent
• rid–rid/ridded–rid/ridded/ridden
• ride–rid/rode–ridden
• ring–rang–rung
• rise–rose–risen
• run–ran–run
• saw–sawed–sawn/sawed
• say(says/sɛz/) –said–said
• see–saw–seen
• seek–sought–sought
• sell–sold–sold
• send–sent–sent
• set–set–set
• sew–sewed–sewn/sewed
• shake–shook–shaken/shook
• shall–should[defective; seeanomalous casesabove]
• shear–sheared/shore–shorn/sheared
• shed–shed–shed
• shine–shone/shined–shone/shined
• shit–shat/shit/shitted–shat/shit/shitted
• shoe–shoed/shod–shoed/shod
• shoot–shot–shot
• show–showed–shown/showed
• shrink–shrank/shrunk–shrunk
• shrive–shrove–shriven
• shut–shut–shut
• sing–sang–sung
• sink–sank–sunk
• sit–sat–sat
• slay–slew/slayed–slain/slayed
• sleep–slept–slept
• slide–slid–slid
• sling–slung–slung
• slink–slunk–slunk
• slit–slit–slit
• smell–smelled/smelt–smelled/smelt
• smite–smote–smitten
• sneak–sneaked/snuck–sneaked/snuck[snuckis chiefly American, and is regarded as informal. It was first cited in 1887]
• sow–sowed–sown/sowed
• speak–spoke–spoken
• speed–sped/speeded–sped/speeded
• spell–spelled/spelt–spelled/spelt
• spend–spent–spent
• spill–spilled/spilt–spilled/spilt
• spin–span/spun–spun
• spit–spat/spit–spat/spit[the formspitrather thanspatis common in America]
• split–split–split
• spoil–spoiled/spoilt–spoiled/spoilt
• spread–spread–spread
• spring–sprang/sprung–sprung
• stand–stood–stood
• stave–staved/stove–staved/stove
• steal–stole–stolen
• stick–stuck–stuck
• sting–stung–stung
• stink–stank–stunk
• strew–strewed–strewn/strewed
• stride–strode–stridden/strode
• strike–struck–struck/stricken
• string–strung–strung
• strive–strove/strived–striven/strived
• swear–swore–sworn
• sweat–sweated/sweat–sweated/sweat
• sweep–swept–swept
• swell–swelled–swollen/swelled
• swim–swam–swum
• swing–swang/swung–swung
• take–took–taken
• teach–taught–taught
• tear–tore–torn
• tell–told–told
• text–texted/text–texted/text
• think–thought–thought[Thunkis a pseudo-archaic past participle by analogy to Drink/Drunk]
• thrive–thrived/throve–thrived/thriven
• throw–threw–thrown
• thrust–thrust/thrusted–thrust/thrusted
• tread–trod–trodden/trod
• un-:forunbend,unweave,etc. seebend,weave,etc.
• under-:forunderlie,undergo,understand,etc. seelie,go,stand,etc.
• up-:forupsetseeset,etc.
• wake–woke–woken
• wear–wore–worn
• weave–wove–woven
• wed–wed/wedded–wed/wedded
• weep–wept–wept
• wet–wet/wetted–wet/wetted
• will–would[defective; seeanomalous casesabove]
• win–won–won
• wind–wound–wound[but regular in the meanings connected with air and breath]
• with-:forwithdraw,withhold,withstand,seedraw,hold,stand
• wring–wrang/wrung–wrung
• write–wrote–written

In language acquisition

Steven Pinker's bookWords and Rulesdescribes how mistakes made by children in learning irregular verbs throw light on themental processesinvolved inlanguage acquisition.The fact that young children often attempt to conjugate irregular verbs according to regular patterns indicates that their processing of the language involves the application of rules to produce new forms, in addition to the simple reproduction of forms that they have already heard.

See alsoRegular and irregular verbs § Linguistic study.

External links

• List of English Irregular Verbs (with search feature)
• Complete 638 English Irregular Verbs
• conjugationConjugation of regular and irregular verbs
• Morphological Classification of the English Irregular Verbs
• Classification of English Irregular Verbs per groups
• English Irregular Verbs with audio (multilingual translations)
• Database of allirregular verbswith complete conjugation and audio.