A verb is an action word. It tells us what is being done, like “play,” “jump, and “walk.”
The past tense is when something has happened. It is done. When we talk in the past tense we need to change the verb to the past tense form.
Some verbs are easy to change into the past tense form. You simply add -ed or -ied to the end of the verb.
These kinds of verbs are called, “regular verbs” and they are the easiest to turn into the past tense.
Some verbs change completely when you turn them into the past tense. These are called, “irregular verbs.”
- throw → threw
- catch → caught
- see → saw
- go → went
- think → thought
These are some of the most common irregular past tense verbs in English:
| Verb | Past tense form |
|---|---|
| buy | bought |
| come | came |
| go | went |
| do | did |
| teach | taught |
| draw | drew |
| drink | drank |
| eat | ate |
| fall | fell |
| fly | flew |
| have | had |
| Verb | Past tense form |
|---|---|
| sell | sold |
| sing | sang |
| sit | sat |
| sleep | slept |
| take | took |
| wear | wore |
| write | wrote |
| read | read |
| run | ran |
| speak | spoke |