50 irregular verbs you need to know

In the English language there are some irregular verbs, which we would like to introduce to you in this article. The regular verbs are used in conjunction with auxiliary verbs and different endings, e.g. cook, cooked, cooking.  With irregular verbs, the stem of the Simple Past changes as well as the Past Participle. These irregular verbs are needed to form the past tense correctly. In this article you will find a list of the 50 most common irregular verbs with their conjugation.


Table of irregular verbs

Infinitiv

Simple Past

Past Participle

be

was/were

been

bear

bore

borne/born

beat

beat

beaten

become

became

become

begin

began

begun

bet

bet

bet

bite

bit

bitten

bleed

bled

bled

break

broke

broken

bring

brought

brought

buy

bought

bought

cast

cast

cast

catch

caught

 

choose

chose

 

come

came

 

cost

cost

 

cut

cut

cut

do

did

done

drink

drank

drunk

drive

drove

driven

eat

ate

eaten

fall

fell

fallen

feed

fed

fed

feel

felt

felt

find

found

found

fly

flew

flown

forget

forgot

forgotten

get

got

got/gotten

give

gave

given

go

went

gone

have

had

had

hear

heard

heard

hit

hit

hit

keep

kept

kept

know

knew

known

let

let

let

make

made

made

read

read

read

ring

rang

rung

see

saw

seen

speak

spoke

spoken

stick

stuck

stuck

swim

swam

swum

take

took

taken

teach

taught

taught

tell

told

told

think

thought

thought

understand

understood

understood

win

won

won

write

wrote

written

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Tips for learning irregular verbs

At the beginning, this seems to be quite a lot of vocabulary. Unfortunately, there is no way around learning them by heart. We'll give you 5 tips on how to manage to learn the irregular verbs:

Flashcards: Through apps like Quizlet you can create your own flashcards or search millions of learning sets from existing users. The advantage through such apps are that you can learn from anywhere. No matter if you are on the train or waiting for a friend. After all, you have your smartphone with you most of the time!
Listening: For example, you can record yourself reciting vocabulary using your smartphone. You can then listen to what you say at any time. This way you can easily learn the vocabulary without much effort!
Repeat regularly: You can read through the words once every night before you go to sleep. You can then repeat this in the morning and see how many words you still remember.
Use regularly and intensively: In order not to forget the vocabulary, you should also try to use it regularly. You can, for example, write a story in English or talk to other people in English and use these verbs. This way you will remember them longer.

We hope that we have given you an overview of the most important irregular verbs in English. With the help of our tips you can learn these words in an easy way!