Center for Academic Support
Irregular Verbs
Most verbs are REGULAR: they form their past tense and past participle by adding
-d or -ed to the plain form—live, lived, lived. About two hundred English verbs are
IRREGULAR: they form their past tense and past participle in some irregular
way—break, broke, broken.
Simple Present Tense: Action that is occurring now, occurs habitually, or is
generally true.
Example: Many artists live in New York.
Example: The dishwasher breaks dishes every day.
Simple Past Tense: Action that occurred before now.
Example: Many artists lived in New York prior to last year.
Example: He broke three plates yesterday.
Past Participle: The past participle of a verb is sometimes similar in form to the
past tense but it cannot be used alone; it must be accompanied by a helping verb,
unless it is used as an adjective. The past participle can be used (1) with has or
have in the present perfect tense, (2) with had in the past perfect tense, (3) with
some form of be to create a passive-voice construction, and (4) by itself, as an
adjective, to modify a noun.
Examples: (1) Many artists have lived in New York all of their lives.
(present perfect)
(2) Those artists had lived in the suburbs. (past perfect)
(3) The plates were broken for several days before he threw
them away. (passive voice)
(4) The broken plates were thrown into the trash. (adjective—
modifies plates)
Below is a partial list of irregular verbs:
Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past
Participle
arise arose arisen
awake awoke awoken
am/is/are was/were been
bear bore borne
beat beat beaten
become became become
begin began begun
bend bent bent
bet bet bet
bind bound bound
bite bit bitten
bleed bled bled
