1. Irregular
Verbs

2. What are they?
The way a verb forms its past
tense determines its
classification as regular or
irregular. A regular verb takes
the –d or –ed ending to denote
the past tense.

3. Irregular verbs do not take
the –d or –ed ending. They are
inflected in various other
ways to indicate past tense.

4. Examples
Regular
believe → believed
smile → smiled
Irregular
run → ran
eat → ate

5. An irregular verb forms its past
and past participle by
 changing vowels (run-- ran)
or consonants (build– built)
 or by changing vowels and
consonants (catch – caught)
 or by making no changes (burst,
cost)

6. Principal Parts of Verbs
Every verb has four basic parts,
which are called its principal parts.
You must know all of these in order
to form the different tenses
correctly.
•Present (aka Infinitive)
•Past
•Present Participle
•Past Participle

7. Present (aka Infinitive)
existing or happening now
know to know
take to take
write to write

8. Past
existed or happened in the past
knew
took
wrote

9. Present Participle
The present participle of a verb
always ends in –ing.
knowing
taking
writing

10. Past Participle
The past participle of a verb
always requires a helping verb
(have, has, had).
had known
have taken
has written

11. Practice
Present Past Past
Participle
begin 1. __________ have begun
freeze 2. __________ have frozen
write wrote 3. _________
blow 4. __________ have blown
drive drove 5. _________
wear wore 6. _________
sing 7. __________ have sung
ride 8. __________ have ridden

12. Practice
Present Past Past Participle
begin 1. have begun
freeze 2. have frozen
write wrote 3.
blow 4. have blown
drive drove 5.
wear wore 6.
sing 7. have sung
ride 8. have ridden

13. Practice
Present Past Past
Participle
choose chose 9. _________
go 10. _________ have gone
run 11. _________ have run
throw threw 12. ________
come came 13. ________
see saw 14. ________
speak 15. _________ have spoken
burst 16. _________ have burst

14. Practice
Present Past Past
Participle
choose chose 9.
go 10. have gone
run 11. have run
throw threw 12.
come came 13.
see saw 14.
speak 15. have spoken
burst 16. have burst

15. Practice
Present Past Past
Participle
swim swam 17. ________
sink sank 18. ________
break 19. _________ have broken
bring 20. _________ have brought

16. Practice
Present Past Past
Participle
swim swam 17.
sink sank 18.
break 19. have broken
bring 20. have brought