Regular and irregular verbs in English. Three verb forms in English. Main characteristics of regular verbs

Today's material will again be devoted to the great and powerful English verb. Why is the predicate in an English sentence given so much attention? Because it not only expresses any actions, but also indicates the time of their implementation. To be able to correctly convey the time of events, you need to know what regular verbs and irregular verbs are in English. This article will help you understand this important topic.

The British are very attentive to the delimitation of temporal moments, which is associated with a large number of different verb forms and combinations. Let us remember the system of these times.

There are four main aspects to the English language:

• Simple ( simple steps);
• Continuous ( ongoing processes);
• Perfect ( completed actions);
• Perfect Continuous ( actions are still in progress, but certain results have already been achieved).

And in each of these points, the Present, Past and Future tenses are distinguished accordingly.

The classification into regular and irregular verbs in English is associated with the formation of the past in and all types of tenses in. So let's get to the point.

In English grammar there is a general rule for constructing speech structures related to the past. According to this grammatical norm, every verb expressing past events must take the ending –ed. Moreover, this ending is the same for both the form in the Present Simple and for the past participle (Participle I), with the help of which constructions in the Perfect are formed.

Infinitive	Transformation	Past tense
ask	+ed	asked
want		wanted
visit		visited

But sometimes it happens that the original use of words is firmly entrenched in speech and does not want to obey any newfangled rules. This is what happened with English verbs. Due to historical traditions, about 470 words are an exception to this rule. Accordingly, this is where the division into regular and irregular verbs of the English language comes from.

And if everything is clear about regular verbs, then the question arises, to what norm do irregular English verbs obey? But none. There is absolutely not a single rule that at least somehow generalizes the principles of changing them.

Some irregular verbs in the English language have forms that completely coincide with the infinitive. For others, everything seems to be written the same, but unexpectedly it reads differently. For others, 2 types of verb forms coincide, and for others, all three types have a different form.

Infinitive	Past Simple	Past Participle
put	put	put
read [read]	read [ed]	read [ed]
shoot	shot	shot
shake	shook	shaken

To learn how to easily compose sentences with such verbs, there is no other way than to learn all forms by heart.

As we have already noted, the English language has approximately 470 irregular verbs. But we naturally do not call for teaching them all. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the most commonly used ones, of which, ironically, there are also many.

To facilitate understanding of this topic and further language learning, in the next section we will provide lists of popular English verbs of regular and irregular form. Skill comes with practice, so after a few lessons you will automatically use these words without thinking long about the rules and exceptions.

Popular regular verbs and irregular verbs in English

Let's look at 50 verbs of each type, most often used by the English in everyday speech.

Regular verbs

Infinitive	Past simple = participle I	Translation
answer	answered	reply
ask	asked	ask, ask
believe	believed	trust, believe, believe
call	called	call, call
change	changed	replace, change
clean	cleaned	clean, tidy up
close	closed	close
cook	cooked	prepare
cry	cried	scream, cry
dance	danced	dance
decide	decided	decide
explain	explained	explain
finish	finished	complete, finish
hate	hated	hate
help	helped	to help
hope	hoped	hope
interest	interested	be interested
join	joined	connect, join
jump	jumped	jump
laugh	laughed	laugh
listen	listened	listen
live	lived	live
look	looked	take a look, look
love	loved	be in love
manage	managed	manage, cope
miss	missed	miss, miss
move	moved	move, move
need	needed	need
open	opened	open
paint	painted	to paint, to paint
pass	passed	pass, pass
play	played	play
prefer	preferred	prefer, serve
promise	promised	promise, assure
realize	realized	realize, understand
remember	remembered	remember, memorize
serve	served	serve, serve
start	started	start off
stop	stopped	stop
study	studied	study
talk	talked	talk, talk
touch	touched	touch
travel	travelled	travel
try	tried	try
use	used	use
walk	walked	go for a walk
want	wanted	want
wash	washed	wash, wash
watch	watched	look
work	worked	work

Incorrect

Infinitive	Past Simple	Participle I	Translation
be	was/were	been	to be, to exist
become	became	become	become, transform
begin	began	begun	begin, begin
bring	brought	brought	bring, deliver
build	built	built	build
buy	bought	bought	buy, purchase
catch	caught	caught	catch, catch
come	came	come	come, come
cost	cost	cost	cost
do	did	done	do, perform
draw	drew	drawn	paint
drink	drank	drunk	drink
drive	drove	driven	drive a car
eat	ate	eaten	eat
fall	fell	fallen	fall, fall
feel	felt	felt	feel
find	found	found	find
fly	flew	flown	fly, fly
forgive	forgave	forgiven	forgive
get	got	got	receive, get
give	gave	given	give
	went	gone	go, head
grow	grew	grown	grow, grow
have	had	had	have
hear	heard	heard	hear
keep	kept	kept	keep, store
know	knew	known	know
leave	left	left	leave, leave
let	let	let	let
lie	lay	lain	lie
lose	lost	lost	lose, lose
make	made	made	do, produce
mean	meant	meant	mean, mean
meet	met	met	meet, meet
pay	paid	paid	to pay
read	read	read	read
run	ran	run	run
say	said	said	speak
see	saw	seen	see
send	sent	sent	send, send
show	showed	shown	show
sit	sat	sat	sit down, sit
sleep	slept	slept	sleep
speak	spoke	spoken	talk, talk
spend	spent	spent	spend, spend
take	took	taken	take, grab, take
tell	told	told	tell, talk, report
think	thought	thought	think
wake	woke up	woken	wake up
write	wrote	written	write

Now you are familiar with the most frequently used regular verbs and popular irregular verbs in the English language. Each table contains the minimum that beginners need. We recommend that you print this material and use it as a cheat sheet for making various proposals. After several lessons, you won’t even notice how you remember most of the words by heart.

Irregular verbs in English - what are they? How do they differ from the correct ones? How can we know whether we are going to use a correct or irregular verb? How many irregular verbs do we need in everyday speech?

In most cases, to form the past tense, we add -ed to English verbs:

play - play ed, jump - jump ed, walk - walk ed, help - help ed(for details of writing and pronunciation of regular verbs in the past tense, see)

This is a rule, which means that such verbs are regular or regular. But there are also verbs in English that do not follow this rule - irregular, irregular. There are less than 3 percent of them, but they are the most common and most often used.

Irregular verbs are a legacy of the past.

Old English was even more complex; then verbs were also conjugated. Those verbs that are now regular were previously called “weak”, but there were seven more types of strong verbs. Many of the irregular English verbs are remnants of these seven types of strong verbs. Each of these seven groups has its own pattern for forming the past tense.

For example, teach, catch in the past tense become taught, caught

choose, freeze turn into chose, froze

Some verbs do not change at all: hit And quit remain hit And quit in the past time.

Over time, the English language has become simpler, many verbs have become regular. The researchers noticed an interesting pattern: the more often a word is used, the more likely it is to remain incorrect. It's easy to see that 10 most common English verbs irregular:

• I am - I was
• I have - I had
• Do you? — Did you?

These are all monosyllabic words of Anglo-Saxon origin. Besides them

• go (went), say (said), can (could), will (would), see (saw), take (took), get (got)

There is also a process of biological evolution of species in which changes in the most important genes propagate the least. But the evolution of language has some interesting features, for example, it occurs in different ways in different English-speaking countries:
dream, burn, learn say the British.

dreamed, burned, learned Americans say

There are several such verbs that evolution, on the contrary, turned from regular to irregular, for example:
Sneaked (sneaked) at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries it began to turn into Snuck, and it hasn’t finished yet, but according to Harvard research, every year 1% of the English-speaking population “shifts” towards snuck .

Lighted started to cut to lit not so long ago, both versions of this word are still acceptable.

Conclusion- you need to learn these irregular verbs. Or you learn them by heart ( by heart ), or on an intuitive level in the process of reading and listening to audio, they are acquired by themselves. It's nice to know that it has become much easier to learn irregular verbs now; in the past there were many more of them, and all people learning English, including native speakers themselves, had to learn them one way or another.

Irregular verbs in a table with audio

The most common irregular verbs in English

If you studied English as a child, then you are familiar with long tables with three forms of irregular verbs from school. But the regular verbs of the English language, despite their frequent use in speech, for some reason are always ignored and not studied in tabular form. And in vain, because they also have special grammatical cases. In addition, by memorizing a whole list of regular verbs, we will expand our vocabulary and feel more confident when constructing sentences, without a doubt putting any verb into the form required by the context. But first, let’s remember once again what rule gave the name to such verbs.

Forms of regular English verbs

As you remember, in English grammar there are only four verb forms. Two of them do not require close study: we become familiar with the infinitive when we work on learning new words, and the present participle (Participle I) is invariably formed by adding the ending –ing. There remain two forms, according to which the division into regular English verbs and irregular ones occurs.

According to the grammatical norm*, the formation of the Past Simple (simple past) and Participle II (past participle) occurs by adding the ending –ed to the stem of the word. Accordingly, the appearance of these verb forms is the same.

*Exceptions to this rule are precisely the class of irregular verbs.

But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. Adding an ending has its own phonetic and grammatical nuances associated with linguistic features. The following grammar table will help you avoid incorrect formation and pronunciation of past tense forms.

Grammar rules
Rule	Example
For verbs ending in -e, the final vowel is not doubled, i.e. only the letter d is added.	ti e-tie d (tie) lik e–like d (like) queu e–queue d (stand in line)
If a word has one syllable and it ends with a consonant, then it is doubled.	kni t–kni tted (to knit) pla n– pla nned (to plan) ro b– ro bbed (rob)
The final l when adding an ending always requires duplication.	travel l– travel lled (travel)
Verbs ending " consonant+y", replace the last letter with i.	t ry-t Ried (try) hur ry– hur Ried (hurry) car ry– car Ried (carry)
Words ending in –y with a preceding vowel add the ending –ed as standard.	enj oh– enj oyed (enjoy) st ay– st ayed (stand) pray – pra yed (pray)
Pronunciation nuances
The ending is pronounced as a voiced d if it is preceded by a voiced sound.	live-li ved (live) phone - phon ed (call)
The ending is pronounced as a voiceless t if it is preceded by a voiceless sound.	swap – swap ped (exchange) finish – finish shed (end)
The ending is pronounced as a voiced id if preceded by the letters d or t.	study – stu died (study) wait-wai ted (wait)

Now we are familiar with all the important points related to the correct formation of verb forms. It's time to get acquainted with the popular representatives of this class of verbs. The table below will present the most common regular verbs with translation and their pronunciation in English.

Regular English verbs – 50 words with transcription and translation

So, we bring to your attention the basic regular verbs in English with transcription and translation.

Top 50 Regular English Verbs
Infinitive	Past Simple= Past Participle	Transcription	Translation
agree	agreed	[əˈɡriː – əˈɡriːd]	agree
allow	allowed	[əˈlaʊ – əˈlaʊd]	allow
answer	answered	[‘ɑːnsə - ɑːnsəd]	reply
arrive	arrived	[əˈraɪv – əˈraɪvd]	arrive
believe	believed		believe
call	called		call, call
close	closed		close
cook	cooked		prepare
copy	copied	[ˈkɒpi – ˈkɒpid]	copy
cry	cried		scream, cry
decide	decided		decide
defend	defended		protect
discuss	discussed		discuss
dry	dried		dry
explain	explained	[ɪkˈspleɪn – ɪkˈspleɪnd]	explain
happen	happened	[ˈhæpən — ˈhæpənd]	happen, occur
help	helped		to help
invite	invited	[ɪnˈvaɪt - ɪnˈvaɪtɪd]	invite
jump	jumped		jump
listen	listened	[ˈlɪsn – ˈlɪsnd]	listen
look	looked		look
love	loved		be in love
manage	managed		manage, cope
marry	married		marry
move	moved		move, move around
need	needed		need
offer	offered	[ˈɒfə – ˈɒfəd]	suggest
open	opened	[ˈəʊpən — ˈəʊpənd]	open
play	played		play
prefer	preferred		prefer
prepare	prepared		ready
promise	promised		promise
reach	reached		achieve
realize	realized	[ˈriːəlaɪz - ˈriːəlaɪzd]	understand, realize
remember	remembered		remember, recall
return	returned		come back
save	saved		keep
smile	smiled		smile
start	started		start off
stop	stopped		stop
surprise	surprised		surprise
switch	switched		switch
talk	talked		talk, chat
thank you	thanked	[θæŋk - θæŋkt]	thank
translate	translated		transfer
use	used		to use, to use
want	wanted		want, desire
watch	watched		look
work	worked		work
worry	worried	[ˈwʌri – ˈwʌrɪd]	worry, worry

Congratulations, we have studied over 50 words if we take into account the example verbs used in the theoretical part. Now you not only know what regular English verbs are in theory, but you can also give many practical examples of them. Be sure to continue to improve your English and see you in new classes!

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English is a language of exceptions, where when learning a new grammatical rule, students are faced with a dozen buts in which this rule does not apply. One of these rules is the use of irregular verbs in the past tense. For many English learners, this topic is a nightmare. But you can’t do without them, because these are the realities of English! However, there is good news - modern English is gradually getting rid of irregular verbs, replacing them with regular ones. Why and how - we'll look at it in the article.

Why are English verbs irregular?

Not only foreigners, but also native speakers themselves experience difficulty in using irregular verbs. But nevertheless, for English philologists, the non-standardity of this part of speech is not a drawback, but a reason for pride. They believe that irregular verbs are a cultural monument that perpetuates the history of the English language. The explanation for this fact is the Germanic roots of the origin of irregular verbs, which makes British English a traditional variant of the language. For comparison, Americans are trying hard to get rid of the irregular shape, converting it into the correct one. Therefore, the list of non-standard verbs increases for those who learn both versions of the language. Thus, the incorrect version is ancient, which is reflected in prose and poetry.

How many forms does a verb have in English?

Speaking about verbs in English, it should be noted that they have 3 forms:

• infinitive, aka ;
• I, or Participle I, - this form is used in the simple past tense (Past Simple) and the 2nd and 3rd cases of the conditional mood (Conditional of the 2-d and of the 3-d case);
• Past Participle II, or Participle II, for the simple perfect tense of the past tense (Past Perfect), passive voice (Passive Voice) and conditional of the 3-d case.

The table "Three in English" is presented later in the article.

What are regular and irregular verbs? Education rules

Regular verbs are those in which the past form (Past Simple) and the form Participle II (Participle II) are formed by adding the ending -ed to the initial form. The table "Three verb forms in English. Regular verbs" will help you better understand this rule.

There are some features when forming Participle I and Participle II:

• if the verb ends with the letter -e, then adding -ed does not double it;
• The consonant in monosyllabic verbs is duplicated when added. Example: stop - stopped (stop - stopped);
• if the verb ends in -y with a preceding consonant, then y changes to i before adding -ed.

Verbs that do not obey the general rule in the formation of tense forms are called irregular. In English, these include the Past Simple and Participle II verb forms.

Irregular verbs are formed using:

ablauta, in which the root changes. Example: swim - swam - swum (swim - swam - swam);

the use of suffixes different from those accepted in the grammar of the language. Example: do - did - done (do - did - did);

identical or unchangeable form. Example: cut - cut - cut (cut - cut - cut).

Due to the fact that each irregular verb has its own inflection, they should be learned by heart.

There are a total of 218 irregular verbs in the English language, of which approximately 195 are in active use.

Recent research in the field of language shows that rare verbs are gradually disappearing from the language due to the replacement of the 2nd and 3rd forms with forms of the regular verb, that is, the addition of the ending - ed. This fact is confirmed by the table “Three verb forms in English” - the table presents a number of verbs that have both regular and irregular forms.

table of irregular verbs

The table "Three Forms of Irregular Verbs in English" includes the most frequently used verbs. The table shows 3 forms and translation.

Irregular verbs came to modern English from Old English, which was spoken by the Angles and Saxons - British tribes.

Irregular verbs evolved from so-called strong verbs, each of which had its own type of conjugation.

Researchers from Harvard found that the majority of verbs used are irregular, and they will remain so because they are used more often than others.

There is also a phenomenon in the history of the English language when a regular verb became irregular. For example, sneak, which has 2 forms - sneaked and snuck.

Not only English learners have problems with verbs, but also native speakers, as even they find themselves in awkward situations when it comes to this difficult part of speech.

One of them is Jennifer Garner, who all her life was sure that sneak was the correct verb.

She was corrected by the host of one of the programs in which the actress took part. With a dictionary in hand, he pointed out to Jennifer her mistake.

Therefore, you should not be upset if you make mistakes when using irregular verbs. The main thing is that they do not become systematic.

Regular verbs

The table "Three forms of regular verbs in English with transcription and translation" is compiled on the basis of the most frequently used verbs.

			Past Participle I and II
ask
answer
allow
agree
borrow, borrow
copy, rewrite
prepare
close
carry, drag
call, call
discuss
decide, decide
explain		explain
slide
cry, scream
finish, finish, end
shine
rub
grab
to help
happen, happen
manage
look
like
move, move
manage
to be necessary, to need
open
recall
suggest		sadgesture
study, learn
stop, cease
start off
travel
speak
transfer		translate
try, try
use
worry
walk, walk
look
work

Examples of using 3 forms of verbs with translation

Above we looked at 3 forms of verbs in English. A table with examples of use and translation will help reinforce the topic.

Here, for each grammatical construction, two examples are given - one with regular and one with irregular verbs.

Grammar design	Example in English	Translation
Past Simple	Peter worked yesterday. She felt bad last week.	Peter worked yesterday. She didn't feel well last week.
Present Perfect Tense	James has already helped me. Have you ever been to Thailand?	James has already helped me. Have you ever been to Thailand?
Past Perfect Tense	I understood that I had used my last ticket. Helen noticed that she had forgotten her documents at home.	I realized that I had used the last ticket. She realized that she had forgotten the documents at home.
Passive Voice	Amy was taken to the zoo last Sunday. A baby is sung a lullaby every night.	Amy was taken to the zoo last Sunday. The baby is sung a lullaby every night.
Conditional	If I had money, I would buy a car. If she could help us, she would have done it.	If I had money, I would buy a car. If she could help us, she would.

Exercises

To better memorize irregular verbs, you need not only to learn them by heart and repeat them, but also to perform various exercises.

Exercise 1. Here is the table "Three verb forms in English. Irregular verbs." Fill in one of the three missing forms.

Exercise 2. Here is the table "Three verb forms in English. Regular verbs." Insert forms Participle I and II.

Exercise 3. Using the tables, translate the following sentences into English.

1. I was reading a book.
2. We saw them yesterday.
3. The Smiths lived in London until 2000. They then moved to Manchester.
4. Alice was a university student in 2014.
5. They worked in the same company two years ago.
6. He just finished training.
7. When we were children, my mother often took us to this park.
8. I drove a toy car as a child.

Answers to exercises

Exercise 1.

Exercise 2.

asked, borrowed, closed, decided, explained, helped, started, traveled, used, worked.

Exercise 3.

1. I read a book.
2. We saw them yesterday.
3. The Smiths lived in London till 2000. Then they moved to Manchester.
4. Alice was a student of Univercity in 2014.
5. They worked in the same company two years ago.
6. He has just finished training.
7. When we were children we took for a walk to this park.
8. I drove a toy car in my childhood.

Make it a habit to periodically repeat the basic forms of the English verb. A table with irregular verbs, doing exercises and periodic repetition will help you quickly cope with the difficulties of the English language.

Most grammar reference books pay little attention to the topic of regular English verbs. In fact, these words have their own characteristics that all students need to become familiar with.

Main characteristics of regular verbs

This group of words is distinguished by the way they form the past tense. Regular verbs add the ending -ed to the stem. The remaining cases are considered exceptions, calling those words incorrect. When attaching an ending to a stem, it is important to remember some cases of its interaction with final consonants and vowels:

• if the verb ends in -e, it is removed: manage – managed (to cope, to succeed);
• the final consonant is doubled if it is preceded by a short stressed vowel: knit – knitted (knit);
• if there is a consonant before the final -y, this letter is replaced by -i: study – studied (to study, study);
• When the letter -y at the end of a verb is preceded by another vowel, -y remains: play – played (play).

The rules for adding the ending -ed are necessary to prevent errors in writing. But the pronunciation of such verbs also varies depending on the final sound of the stem:

• the ending -ed is read as [d] if it is preceded by a vowel or a voiced consonant: allow – allowed [əˈlaʊd] (to allow), stay – remained (to remain), worry – worried [ˈwʌrid] (to worry);
• -ed conveys the sound [t] after voiceless consonants: work – worked (work), discuss – discussed (discuss);
• -ed is pronounced as when the verb ends in t or d: admit – admitted [əd’mɪtid] (to admit).

There are more regular verbs in English than irregular ones, but there is no need to remember them all. It is enough to learn the features of adding the ending of the past tense and its pronunciation.

Table of regular verbs in English

For informational purposes, students should pay attention to a small summary table of these words. It also covers the basic rules of regular verbs in English.

Initial form	Transcription	Past tense	Transcription	Translation
agree	[əˈɡriː]	agreed	[əˈɡriːd]	agree
allow	[əˈlaʊ]	allowed	[əˈlaʊd]	let
answer	[‘ɑːnsə]	answered	[‘ɑːnsəd]	reply
arrive	[əˈraɪv]	arrived	[əˈraɪvd]	arrive
believe		believed		believe
borrow	[ˈbɒrəʊ]	borrowed	[ˈbɒrəʊd]	occupy
call		called		call, call
change		changed		change
confess		confessed		to acknowledge
cook		cooked		prepare
cry		cried		cry, scream
decide		decided		decide
dry		dried		dry
explain	[ɪkˈspleɪn]	explained	[ɪkˈspleɪnd]	explain
express	[ɪksˈpres]	expressed	[ɪksˈprest]	to express
finish	[ˈfɪnɪʃ]	finished	[ˈfɪnɪʃt]	end
greet		greeted		to greet
handle		handled		address
help		helped		to help
invent	[ɪnˈvent]	invented	[ɪnˈventid]	invent
judge	[ʤʌʤ]	judged	[ʤʌʤd]	judge
knit		knitted		to knit
locate		located		settle down
love		loved		be in love
marry		married		marry
manage		managed		manage
neglect		neglected		neglect
offer	[ˈɒfə]	offered	[ˈɒfəd]	suggest
open	[ˈəʊpən]	opened	[ˈəʊpənd]	open
play		played		play
promise		promised		promise
return		returned		come back
stop		stopped		stop
talk		talked		speak
use		used		use
want		wanted		want