Study materials
You already know that the past tense adds ed to the verb. And here English says: "but not to these ones".
About two hundred verbs have forms of their own that simply have to be known. One thing helps: they are the most used words in the language, so they turn up constantly and settle in by themselves. Here are twenty-four that carry half of everyday conversation.
Why there are three forms
An irregular verb has three forms, and each one has its own place. The confusion is almost always here rather than in the list itself.
The first form is the dictionary one. It stands in the present and after did.
Did you go there?
The second form is the past tense in an ordinary statement.
I went home early.
The third form lives after have, has or had.
She has gone home.
The forms for this level
| Base form | Past Simple | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was/were | been |
| have | had | had |
| do | did | done |
| say | said | said |
| go | went | gone |
| get | got | got/gotten |
| make | made | made |
| know | knew | known |
| think | thought | thought |
| take | took | taken |
| see | saw | seen |
| come | came | come |
| give | gave | given |
| find | found | found |
| tell | told | told |
| leave | left | left |
| feel | felt | felt |
| put | put | put |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| meet | met | met |
| read | read | read |
| write | wrote | written |
| understand | understood | understood |
Two details from this table worth knowing straight away. The third form of get is usually got in British English and gotten in American. And read is spelled the same in all three forms, but the second and third are pronounced "red".
How this actually sticks
The forms are not learned one at a time. The triple is learned, out loud, and straight into a sentence.
take, took, taken
I took the bus yesterday.
I have taken this bus before.
Some verbs make life easier and are worth spotting separately. In put, hit and cut all three forms are the same. In come the third form goes back to the first. In most of the rest the second and third match each other.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is adding ed to an irregular verb.
goed, buyed, teached → went, bought, taught
The second is keeping the second form after did.
Did she saw it? → Did she see it?
The third is mixing the second form up with the third.
I have went home. → I have gone home.
All three are caught by one look at what stands before the verb. See did and it is the first form. See have, has or had and it is the third. See neither and it is the second.
Try it right now
Take three verbs from the table and say each one as a triple, out loud.
Then build two sentences with each: one about yesterday, one with have. That pair is what shows whether the form has really landed.