Regular and irregular verbs

Regular and Irregular verbs

Regular and Irregular verbs

English Course Basic 5Teacher Judith Valdivia

Regular verbsMany English verbs areregular, which means that they form their different tenses according to an established pattern. Such verbs work like this:

Verb3rd person singularpresent tense3rd person singularpast tensepast participlepresent participlelaughhe/she laughshe/she laughedlaughedlaughing

lovehe/she loveshe/she lovedlovedloving

boohe/she booshe/she booedbooedbooing

worklistendesignenjoydescribe

Irregular verbsThere are many irregular verbs that dont follow the normal rules.

Here are the forms of some of the most common irregular verbs:Verb3rdperson singularpresent tense3rdperson singularpast tensepast participlepresent participle

beiswasbeenbeing

beginbeginsbeganbegunbeginning

bitebitesbitbittenbiting

breakbreaksbrokebrokenbreaking

buybuysboughtboughtbuying

choosechooseschosechosenchoosing

comecomescamecomecoming

digdigsdugdugdigging

dodoesdiddonedoing

drinkdrinksdrankdrunkdrinking

eateatsateeateneating

fallfallsfellfallenfalling

feelfeelsfeltfeltfeeling

findfindsfoundfoundfinding

getgetsgotgotgetting

gogoeswentgonegoing

growgrowsgrewgrowngrowing

havehashadhadhaving

Knowthe difference between the simple past tense and the past participle.

Simple Past Tense

A simple past tense verb always has just one part. You need no auxiliary verb to form this tense.

Look at these examples:

Because dinner time was near, my dog Oreo bit the spine of Moby-Dick and pulled the novel off my lap.

Since Denise had ignored bills for so long, she wrote out checks for an hour straight.

Despite the noise, jolts, and jerks, Alex slept so soundly on the city bus that he missed his stop.Past Participle

Many multipart verbs, however, require the past participle after one or more auxiliary verbs.

Read these sentences:

Raymond had bitten into the muffin before Charise mentioned that it was her infamous chocolate-broccoli variety.

had = auxiliary verb; bitten = past participle

Once Woody has written his essay for Mr. Stover, he plans to reward himself with a packet of Twinkies.

has = auxiliary verb; written = past participle

Cynthia might have slept better if she hadn't watched The Nightmare on Elm Street marathon on HBO.

might, have = auxiliary verbs; slept = past participle

For regular verbs, knowing the distinction between the simple past and past participle is unnecessary because both are identical.

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ConclusionThe distinction between regular verbs and irregular verbs is a very simple one:

Regular VerbsThose verbs that form their past participle with d or ed are regular verbs. These verbs do not undergo substantial changes while changing forms between tenses.

Irregular VerbsThose verbs that undergo substantial changes when changing forms between tenses are irregular verbs. The changed forms of these verbs are often unrecognisably different from the originals.

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