Grammar: "irregular verbs" on the web-site for teachers and learners of English as a secondary language from a German point of view

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Use of "to do"

Unregelmäßige Verben im Englischen - so called "irregular" verbs

The so-called " irregular verbs" aren't as " irregular" as they seem to be. In linguistic history they originally belonged to different conjugations which died when the language developed. The following lists show regularities which are not always linguistically based, some are only didactically put together because they are similar in form.

"irregular" verbs

Donkey verbs

Infinitive	Past tense	Past participle
to begin	began	begun
to drink	drank	drunk
to ring	rang	rung
to shrink	shrank	shrunk
to sing	sang	sung
to sink	sank	sunk
to spin	span	spun
to swim	swam	swum

Chicken verbs

to bet	bet	bet
to cost	cost	cost
to cut	cut	cut
to hit	hit	hit
to hurt	hurt	hurt
to let	let	let
to put	put	put
to set	set	set
to shut	shut	shut
to split	split	split
to spread	spread	spread

naught + nought

to bring	brought	brought
to buy	bought	bought
to catch	caught	caught
to fight	fought	fought
to seek	sought	sought
to teach	taught	taught
to think	thought	thought

....-t, ..-t verbs

to bend	bent	bent
to build	built	built
to burn	burnt	burnt
to deal	dealt	dealt
to dream	dreamt	dreamt
to feel	felt	felt
to keep	kept	kept
to learn	learnt	learnt
to lean	leant	leant
to leave	left	left
to lend	lent	lent
to mean	meant	meant
to meet	met	met
to send	sent	sent
to shoot	shot	shot
to sit	sat	sat
to sleep	slept	slept
to smell	smelt	smelt
to spell	spelt	spelt
to spend	spent	spent

..-d,..-d verbs

to bleed	bled	bled
to feed	fed	fed
to find	found	found
to have	had	had
to hear	heard	heard
to hold	held	held
to lay	laid	laid
to lead	led	led
to pay	paid	paid
to read	read	read
to rewind	rewound	rewound
to say	said	said
to sell	sold	sold
to stand	stood	stood
to tell	told	told
to understand	understood	understood

1-2-1 verbs

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

1-2-2 verbs

to dig	dug	dug
to get	got	got
to hang	hung	hung
to lose	lost	lost
to make	made	made
to shine	shone	shone
to win	won	won

....-en verbs

to bite	bit	bitten
to break	broke	broken
to choose	chose	chosen
to drive	drove	driven
to eat	ate	eaten
to fall	fell	fallen
to forget	forgot	forgotten
to freeze	froze	frozen
to give	gave	given
to hide	hid	hidden
to rewrite	rewrote	rewritten
to ride	rode	ridden
to rise	rose	risen
to shake	shook	shaken
to speak	spoke	spoken
to steal	stole	stolen
to take	took	taken
to wake	woke	woken
to write	wrote	written

w, ...-n

to blow	blew	blown
to draw	drew	drawn
to fly	flew	flown
to grow	grew	grown
to know	knew	known
to lie	lay	lain
to see	saw	seen
to show	showed	shown
to swear	swore	sworn
to throw	threw	thrown
to wear	wore	worn

really irregular verbs

to be	was	been
to do	did	done
to go	went	gone

Table of Contents "irregular verbs" HOMEPAGE back to
Grammar:
Analysis grid go on to
Use of "to do"