In yesterday’s lesson, we learned that past tense verbs usually add –ed.
Today I walk. Yesterday I walked.
Irregular past tense verbs do not follow that rule. Irregular verbs completely change their form.
Look at these examples:
Today I eat. Yesterday I ate.
Today I run. Yesterday I ran.
The only way to know how to make past tense with irregular verbs to to memorize their past tense.
Here are some of the most common verbs with an irregular past tense:
Today I break./ Yesterday I broke.
bring/brought
draw/drew
drive/drove
fight/fought
find/found
give/gave
lose/lost
make/made
ring/rang
say/said
spend/spent
teach/taught
throw/threw
write/wrote
A few verbs stay the same in both present tense and past tense.
Today I put the groceries away. Yesterday I put the groceries away.
Today I hurt my foot. Yesterday I hurt my foot.
Today I shut the door. Yesterday I shut the door.
Today I set the basket on the counter. Yesterday I set the basket on the counter.
The verb read has the same spelling for both present and past tense, but present tense sounds different from past tense.
Today I read the cookbook. Here, read has a long -e sound here. Like feed.
Yesterday I read the cookbook. In past tense, read sounds like the color word red.
English can be a confusing language. Learning about past tense verbs reminds us of that.
Irregular past tense verbs must be practiced. The more you use these verbs, the easier they will be to remember.