English irregular verbs: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 18:03, 31 March 2008

Regular verbs in English have three forms:

  • the base, which is equivalent to the infinitive without 'to' and most forms of the present tense (for example, wait, to wait, I wait...)
  • the -s form, which is used for the third person singular of the present tense (he waits, she waits)
  • the past form, which is used both for the past tense and the past participle, and which consists of adding -ed to the base, or, in the case of verbs ending in -e, -d only (I waited, she was waited on)

Irregular verbs have these forms, and form the -s form regularly: bears from bear. But many of them have past participles that differ from the past tense, as is the case with béãr, bŏre, bŏrn (she bore him, he was born). (The accents, which are not part of the language, are included to show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings for a table and English phonemes for the IPA. Words in italics suggest meaning, and an equals sign is placed between homophones.) Others have associated passive adjectives like súnken, from sínk, sánk, súnk (súnken chêeks) and as in såwn-óff shótgun and neŵ-môwn låwns. Not all forms of the verbs are in common use: for example, people are still described as being behôlden to others, but the verb itself, behóld, meaning look at, is nowadays only used poetically or in jest.

Table of irregular verbs

base past past participle past passive adjective
béãr birth bŏre bŏrn
béãr suffered, carried bŏre bŏrne
bêat bêat bêaten
begín begán begún
behóld behéld behéld behôlden
bénd bént bént
berêave berêaved berêaved beréft
besêech besŏught besŏught
bíd auction bíd bíd
bíd ask báde (= bád wrong) bídden
bînd bòund bòund
bîte bít bítten
blêed bléd bléd
bléss bléssed = bléssed, blést, same pronunciation bléssed, pronounced *bléssíd
blôw bleŵ (= blûe colour) blôwn
breâk brôke brôken