Irregular verbs 4 forms. Cheat sheet for memorizing Irregular Verbs

If you've gotten to the point of learning verbs, you've already gone through a lot. But there's more to come long road to perfection. The temporary system is based on such a distinction between this part of speech as correct and incorrect. It is the latter that we will talk about and explain how to quickly learn irregular verbs.

So, we already know that with the passage of time, foreign conquests or other interactions of people, the English language also did not stand aside. This is especially true for verbs. If we study times, then we have to differentiate according to this category. Irregular Verbs found in almost every one of them.

Forms of irregular verbs in English

Where to begin? From familiarization. What types are there, when and how are they used. After all, when reading the rule, you often come across the expression 2nd form, 3rd. We will now look at what it is. Once again, it is worth recalling that there are 3 forms of irregular verbs (some linguists distinguish four).

First form is an infinitive or first column of the table. This is how the verb is used in the dictionary: run, swim, give. It is used in Present Simple, Future Simple, in interrogative and negative sentences Past Simple.

Second form - This is the simple past tense: ran, swam, gave (second column). Irregular verbs in this form in English used in the Past Simple (except for interrogative and negative sentences).

Third form- this is the past participle (Past Participle or Participle II): run, swun, given. This form of the verb is used most often. In tenses Perfect, at all times Passive Voice. You will find it in third column of the table.

Fourth form- this is the present participle (Present Participle or Participle I): running, swimming, giving. Times use her Continuous groups And Perfect Continuous. Not all tables contain a fourth column, only some do.

When considering sentences with irregular verbs, pay attention to the tense.

How are the main irregular verbs of the English language formed?

It is impossible to clearly determine that these words are changed in this way, and others in the second or third way. But it is still possible to trace a certain trend, and then it will not be a collection of words and incomprehensible forms.

By changing the vowel in the root of the word: meet - met - met; begin - began - begun.
Changing the root and adding a suffix: speak - spoke - spoken; give - gave - given.
The ending changes: send - sent - sent; build - built - built.
And some verbs are the same in all forms: cut - cut - cut; put - put - put.

How to learn irregular verbs?

Each has its own methodology, its own method, which has its own pros and cons. But first I would like to say a few generally accepted facts. First, learn all three forms at once and with translation. Irregular verbs with translation can be found in almost any grammar textbook, dictionary, on Internet resources and on our website. All full table can be downloaded. Don’t learn 10 at once, take 5, stretch them out over 3-4 days, do the exercises. Many learn in a row, in alphabetical order, some in groups (depending on the method of education). I believe that the second one is more effective and easier. Therefore, we will divide all irregular English verbs into groups.

1. Completely identical

bet	bet	bet	bet
cost	cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit	strike
hurt	hurt	hurt	damage
let	let	let	let
put	put	put	put
set	set	set	install, put
shed	shed	shed	reset
shut	shut	shut	close
spit	spit	spit	spit
split	split	split	divide, split
spread	spread	spread	distribute
trust	trust	trust	trust

2. The second and third shapes coincide - p-t

3. The second and third forms coincide - d-t

4. The root vowel changes - ew - own

5. A group of verbs with different root vowels

6. Endings aught/ought

7. Vowel alternation

become	became	become	become
come	came	come	come
run	ran	run	run

8. Alternating vowel + ending en

9. Alternation, ending en, doubling a consonant

bite	bit	bitten	bite
fall	fell	fallen	fall
forbid	forbade	forbidden	forbid
hide	hid	hidden	hide
ride	rode	ridden	ride
write	wrote	written	write
forget	forgot	forgotten	forget

10. The second and third forms coincide

	second and third
built	built	build
dig	dug	drip
find	found	find
get	got	receive
have	had	have
hear	heard	hear
hold	held	hold
lead	led	lead
leave	left	leave
lose	lost	lose
make	made	do
shine	shone	shine
shoot	shot	fire
sit	sat	sit
win	won	win
stick	stuck	stick, get stuck,
strike	struke	hit, beat
stand	stood	stand
understand	understood	understand
deal	dealt	deal with
mean	meant	to mean
sell	sold	sell
tell	told	speak
lay	laid	put
pay	paid	to pay
say	said	say
bleed	bled	bleed
feel	felt	feel
meet	met	meet
feed	fed	feed

11.Have two options

burn	burnt/burned	burnt/burned	burn, burn
dream	dreamed/dreamed	dreamed/dreamed	dream
dwell	dwelt/dwelled	dwelt/dwelled	dwell, live
hang	hung/hanged	hung/hanged	hang
kneel	knelt/kneeled	knelt/kneeled	kneel down, bow down
knit	knit/knitted	knit/knitted	to knit
lean	lean/leaned	lean/leaned	lean, lean
leap	leapt/leaped	leapt/leaped	jump up, jump
learn	learned/learned	learned/learned	learn
light	lit/lighted	lit/lighted	spark off
prove	proved	proven/proved	prove
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed	sew
smell	smelt/smelled	smelt/smelled	sniff, smell
speed	sped/speeded	sped/speeded	accelerate
spell	spelled/spelled	spelled/spelled	to spell
spoiler	spoilt/spoiled	spoilt/spoiled	spoil

12. Completely different shapes

Remembering irregular verbs in English at first seems complicated matter, boring. But believe me, if you don’t reboot yourself, study using the groups that we have provided, you will easily master them. And this is very important! All irregular verbs are very often used in speech. Learn grammar and expand your vocabulary.

Our topic today is getting to know this interesting phenomenon, as forms of irregular verbs. As you know, the English language is very cunning. This language often lays all sorts of traps for us. One of them is irregular verbs. English - no only language, in which there are irregular verbs. French also rich in irregular verbs. Irregular English verbs have three or four forms?

Romanian language, German, Latin language, Greek language also contains irregular verbs. And even the Russian language is replete with them. I think you have repeatedly heard about irregular verbs in English, in other words Irregular Verbs. Why are such verbs called irregular? Everything is very simple: in the past tense they are conjugated in their own way, have their own special form, while all other verbs in the past tense have the ending -ed.

How to distinguish irregular verbs from regular ones?

For comparison, let's conjugate 3 regular regular verbs in the Past Simple:

*Work -* ra		sing
I worked	I translated	I managed
You worked	You translated	You managed
He worked	He translated	He managed
She worked	She translated	She managed
It worked	It translated	It managed
We worked	We translated	We managed
They worked	They translated	They managed

As you can see, all 3 verbs are conjugated the same way, according to the pattern of stem + ending -ed.

The situation is completely different in the case of irregular verbs. Let's conjugate 3 more verbs in the simple past tense (Past Simple), which are irregular, and here pay attention to the fact that each of these verbs has its own, absolutely different shape at the end or even at the root of a word:

*Blow* blow	*Go -* go	*Bring -* bring
I blew	I went	I brought
You blew	You went	You brought
He blew	He went	He brought
She blew	She went	She brought
It blew	It went	It brought
We blew	We went	We brought
They blew	They went	They brought

Even the naked eye can see that each of these verbs appeared in its own form, completely different from the others. The catch is that there is no a certain rule, by which you can find out the form of an irregular verb. Each of them is conjugated differently. The English language, friends, is full of tricks and underwater reefs. Another catch is that each irregular verb has not one form, but three.

Three forms of irregular verbs

So what are these three forms?

The first is the infinitive or initial (indefinite) form of the verb
The second is Past Participle I, that is, the form that corresponds to the simple past tense (Past Simple), it is also used in the 2nd and 3rd cases conditional mood(Conditional of the 2-d and of the 3-d case)
The third is Past Participle II, the one that is used in the perfect present tense ( Present Perfect) and in the past tense ( Past Perfect). The same form is used in the passive voice (Passive Voice), in the conditional mood of the 3-d case and some other grammatical rules.

Here are some examples of 3 forms of irregular verbs:

To arise - arose - arisen - to rise
To be - was, were - been - to be
To bear - bore - born - to give birth
To become - became - become - become, become
To begin - began - began - to begin
To catch - caught - caught - to catch, to catch
To choose - chose - chosen - to choose
To dig - dug - dug - dig, dig
To dream - dreamt - dreamt - dream, dream
To feel - felt - felt - to feel
To forget - forgot - forgotten - to forget
To have - had - had - to have

Now let’s look at these 3 forms using example sentences in all of the above verb tenses.

So, the simple past tense of the verb (Past Simple Tense):

Yesterday she felt herself bad ( to feel). — Yesterday she felt bad. Last Wednesday we met Jim ( to meet). — Last Wednesday we met Jim. Last night I dream you ( to dream). — Last night I dreamed of you. I was in Paris last year ( to be) — I was in Paris last year.

Present Perfect Tense:

I have just seen him ( to see). - I just saw him. Tom has already brought my books ( to bring). — Tom has already brought my books. Have you ever been in London ( to be)? - Have you ever been in London? Ann has already forgotten her boy-friend ( to forget).- Anna has already forgotten her boyfriend.

Past Perfect Tense:

I noticed that I had forgotten my keys ( to forget). — I noticed that I forgot my keys. He understood that he had lost his documents ( to lose). — He realized that he had lost his documents.

Passive Voice:

The dog is fed by me ( to feed). — The dog was fed by me (I fed the dog). Made in France ( to make). - Made in France.

Conditional mood of the 2nd and 3rd cases (Conditional). The second and third forms appear here:

If I had money, I would buy a car ( to have). — If I had money, I would buy a car ( real condition). If I had money, I would have bought a car ( to have, to buy).- If I had money, I would buy a car (unreal condition, past tense).
How to learn all forms of irregular verbs?

Cheat sheet for memorizing Irregular Verbs

As mentioned above, there are no rules by which the forms of irregular verbs are formed; everyone has their own. But we hope that this poetic form will help you quickly remember these irregular verbs:

To write-wrote-written
To eat-ate-eat
To speak-spoke-spoken
To break-broken-broken

To come-come-come
To become-became-become
To run-run-run
To swim-swam-swum

To know-knew-known
To throw-threw-thrown
To blow-blew-blown
To fly-flown

Tossing-sang-sung
To ring-rang-rung
To hide-hid-hidden
To bite-bit-bitten

To send-sent-sent
To spend-spent-spent
To sleep-slept-slept
To keep-kept-kept

To tell-told-told
To sell-sold-sold
To teach-taught-taught
To catch-caught-caught

To fight-fought-fought
To think-thought-thought
To buy-bought-bought
To bring-brought-brought

To cut-cut-cut
To shut-shut-shut
To cost-cost-cost
To lose-lost-lost

To lead-led-led
To feed-fed-fed
To feel-felt-felt
To hold-held-held

From this funny poetic form we see that some irregular verbs have the same letter combinations, which allows them to rhyme and thereby make it easier for us to remember them.

"Fourth" form of irregular verbs

Exists conventional wisdom that there is also a 4th form of irregular verbs. This 4th configuration is formed according to the scheme stem + ending -ing. It defines the Present Participle, that is, the present participle in tenses such as the present long time (Present Continuous) and past continuous tense ( Past Continuous). In other words, it is present and past tense imperfect form. It follows from this that there are not 3, but 4 forms of irregular verbs. But this 4th configuration is, as it were, unofficial.

Let's look at this very 4th form using examples of sentences with the Present Continuous:

The same 4th form in sentences with Past Continuous.

English is a language of exceptions, where when learning something new grammar rule students are faced with a dozen buts in which this rule does not apply. One of these rules is the use of irregular verbs in the past tense. For many English learners, this topic is a nightmare. But you can’t do without them, because these are the realities of English! However there is good news- modern English is gradually getting rid of irregular verbs, replacing them with regular ones. Why and how - we'll look at it in the article.

Why are English verbs irregular?

Not only foreigners, but also native speakers themselves experience difficulty in using irregular verbs. But nevertheless, for English philologists, the non-standardity of this part of speech is not a drawback, but a reason for pride. They believe that irregular verbs are a cultural monument that perpetuates the history of the English language. The explanation for this fact is the Germanic roots of the origin of irregular verbs, which makes British English a traditional variant of the language. For comparison, Americans are trying hard to get rid of irregular shape, remaking it into the correct one. Therefore the list non-standard verbs increases for those who learn both versions of the language. Thus, the incorrect version is ancient, which is reflected in prose and poetry.

How many forms does a verb have in English?

Speaking about verbs in English, it should be noted that they have 3 forms:

infinitive, aka ;
I, or Participle I, - this form used in the simple past tense (Past Simple) and the 2nd and 3rd cases of the conditional mood (Conditional of the 2-d and of the 3-d case);
Past Participle II, or Participle II, for the simple perfect tense of the past tense (Past Perfect), passive voice(Passive Voice) and the conditional mood of the 3-d case.

The table "Three in English" is presented later in the article.

What are regular and irregular verbs? Education rules

Regular verbs- these are those in which past form(Past Simple) and the form Participle II (Participle II) are formed by adding -ed endings To initial form. The table "Three verb forms in English. Regular verbs" will help you better understand this rule.

There are some features when forming Participle I and Participle II:

if the verb ends with the letter -e, then adding -ed does not double it;
The consonant in monosyllabic verbs is duplicated when added. Example: stop - stopped (stop - stopped);
if the verb ends in -y with a preceding consonant, then y changes to i before adding -ed.

Verbs that do not obey are called irregular general rule during the formation of temporary forms. In English, these include the Past Simple and Participle II verb forms.

Irregular Verbs are formed using:

ablauta, in which the root changes. Example: swim - swam - swum (swim - swam - swam);

the use of suffixes different from those accepted in the grammar of the language. Example: do - did - done (do - did - did);

the same, or unchangeable form. Example: cut - cut - cut (cut - cut - cut).

Due to the fact that each irregular verb has its own inflection, they should be learned by heart.

There are a total of 218 irregular verbs in the English language, of which approximately 195 are in active use.

Recent research in the field of language shows that rare verbs are gradually disappearing from the language due to the replacement of the 2nd and 3rd forms with forms of the regular verb, that is, the addition of the ending - ed. This fact is confirmed by the table “Three verb forms in English” - the table presents a number of verbs that have both regular and irregular forms.

table of irregular verbs

The table "Three Forms of Irregular Verbs in English" includes the most frequently used verbs. The table shows 3 forms and translation.

Irregular verbs came to modern English from Old English, which was spoken by the Angles and Saxons - British tribes.

Irregular verbs come from the so-called strong verbs, each of which had its own type of conjugation.

Researchers from Harvard found that the majority of verbs used are irregular, and they will remain so because they are used more often than others.

There is also a phenomenon in the history of the English language when a regular verb became irregular. For example, sneak, which has 2 forms - sneaked and snuck.

Problems with verbs not only affect English learners, but also native speakers, since even they fall into awkward situations when it comes to this difficult part of speech.

One of them is Jennifer Garner, who all her life was sure that sneak was the correct verb.

She was corrected by the host of one of the programs in which the actress took part. With a dictionary in hand, he pointed out to Jennifer her mistake.

Therefore, you should not be upset if you make mistakes when using irregular verbs. The main thing is that they do not become systematic.

Regular verbs

The table "Three forms of regular verbs in English with transcription and translation" is compiled on the basis of the most frequently used verbs.

		Past Participle I and II
ask
answer
allow
agree
borrow, borrow

copy, rewrite
prepare
close

carry, drag
call, call
discuss
decide, decide
explain	explain
slide
cry, scream
finish, finish, end

shine
rub
grab
to help
happen, happen
manage
look


like
move, move
manage
to be necessary, to need
open
recall


suggest	sadgesture
study, learn
stop, cease
start off
travel
speak
transfer	translate
try, try
use
worry
walk, walk
look

work

Examples of using 3 forms of verbs with translation

Above we looked at 3 forms of verbs in English. A table with examples of use and translation will help reinforce the topic.

Here for everyone grammatical construction Two examples are given - one with regular and one with irregular verbs.

Grammar design	Example in English	Translation
Past Simple	Peter worked yesterday. She felt bad last week.	Peter worked yesterday. She didn't feel well last week.
Present Perfect Tense	James has already helped me. Have you ever been to Thailand?	James has already helped me. Have you ever been to Thailand?
Past Perfect Tense	I understood that I had used my last ticket. Helen noticed that she had forgotten her documents at home.	I realized that I had used the last ticket. She realized that she had forgotten the documents at home.
Passive Voice	Amy was taken to the zoo last Sunday. A baby is sung a lullaby every night.	Amy was taken to the zoo last Sunday. The baby is sung a lullaby every night.
Conditional	If I had money, I would buy a car. If she could help us, she would have done it.	If I had money, I would buy a car. If she could help us, she would.

Exercises

For better memorization irregular verbs you need not only to learn them by heart and repeat them, but also to perform various exercises.

Exercise 1. Here is the table "Three verb forms in English. Irregular verbs." Fill in one of the three missing forms.

Exercise 2. Here is the table "Three verb forms in English. Regular verbs." Insert forms Participle I and II.

Exercise 3. Using the tables, translate the following sentences into English.

I was reading a book.
We saw them yesterday.
The Smiths lived in London until 2000. They then moved to Manchester.
Alice was a university student in 2014.
They worked in the same company two years ago.
He just finished training.
When we were children, my mother often took us to this park.
I drove a toy car as a child.

Answers to the exercises

Exercise 1.

Exercise 2.

asked, borrowed, closed, decided, explained, helped, started, traveled, used, worked.

Exercise 3.

I read a book.
We saw them yesterday.
The Smiths lived in London till 2000. Then they moved to Manchester.
Alice was a student of Univercity in 2014.
They worked in the same company two years ago.
He has just finished training.
When we were children we took for a walk to this park.
I drove a toy car in my childhood.

Get into the habit of repeating basic forms periodically English verb. A table with irregular verbs, doing exercises and periodic repetition will help you quickly cope with the difficulties of the English language.