Common irregular verbs list
Where two forms are shown, both are correct in British English. American English usually prefers the -ed form.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was / were | been |
| become | became | become |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| build | built | built |
| burn | burnt / burned | burnt / burned |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| cost | cost | cost |
| cut | cut | cut |
| do | did | done |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| dream | dreamt / dreamed | dreamt / dreamed |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| feel | felt | felt |
| find | found | found |
| fly | flew | flown |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| get | got | got (American English: gotten) |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| grow | grew | grown |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| lead | led | led |
| learn | learnt / learned | learnt / learned |
| leave | left | left |
| lend | lent | lent |
| let | let | let |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| meet | met | met |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| read | read (said "red") | read (said "red") |
| rise | rose | risen |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| sell | sold | sold |
| send | sent | sent |
| sit | sat | sat |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spell | spelt / spelled | spelt / spelled |
| spend | spent | spent |
| stand | stood | stood |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| write | wrote | written |
Patterns that make them easier
Grouping verbs by pattern is easier than learning one long list.
| Pattern | Examples |
|---|---|
| All three forms the same | cut, put, let, set, cost, hit, shut, spread |
| Past simple and participle the same | buy, bring, think, teach, keep, sleep, feel, find, make, say |
| Three different forms | write, take, drive, speak, choose, begin, drink, swim |
| Base and participle the same | come, become, run |
| -ought / -aught past forms | bring, buy, fight, think, catch, teach |
British -t forms and other tricky verbs
Learnt or learned? British English uses both learnt and learned for the past forms, and the same goes for burnt, dreamt, spelt, smelt, spilt and spoilt. American English mostly uses the -ed forms. Either is correct in IELTS, but be consistent within one piece of writing.
Got or gotten? In British English the past participle of get is got: "I've got a new job." Gotten is standard American English.
Rise or raise? Rise is irregular and intransitive: "Prices rose." Raise is regular and needs an object: "The bank raised interest rates."
Lie or lay? Lie (rest flat) is lie, lay, lain. Lay (put down) is lay, laid, laid. Lie (say something untrue) is regular: lied, lied.
Common mistakes
Wrong: The unemployment rate raised to 8%.
Right: The unemployment rate rose to 8%.
Rise (rose, risen) has no object. Raise needs one.
Wrong: The number of visitors has fell since 2019.
Right: The number of visitors has fallen since 2019.
The present perfect needs the past participle, fallen.
Wrong: Our professor teached us statistics.
Right: Our professor taught us statistics.
Teach is irregular: teach, taught, taught.
Wrong: He has went to Canada for his master's.
Right: He has gone to Canada for his master's.
Went is the past simple. The present perfect uses gone.
Using this in IELTS and PTE
IELTS Writing Task 1 depends on irregular verbs of change: rise, rose, risen; fall, fell, fallen; grow, grew, grown. "The figure has rose" or "raised to" are very common errors in trend descriptions. In IELTS Speaking Part 2, you usually tell a past story, so wrong past forms such as "buyed" or "catched" stand out. PTE Write Essay and Summarise Written Text also reward accurate past forms.
5 questions
Exercise
Try each one, then open it to check your answer.
1. Give the past simple and past participle of choose.
chose, chosen
Choose has three different forms.
2. Correct this: "Sales have grew steadily."
Sales have grown steadily.
The present perfect needs the past participle, grown.
3. Choose: "The government (rose / raised) the minimum wage."
raised
There is an object, the minimum wage, so use raise.
4. Is "I learnt a lot" correct in British English?
Yes.
Learnt and learned are both standard in British English.
5. Give the past participle of fly.
flown
Fly is fly, flew, flown.
Frequently asked questions
How many irregular verbs are there in English?+
Around 200 are in general use, but far fewer are common. Learning the 60 or so in the table covers most everyday and exam writing.
Is it learned or learnt?+
Both are correct in British English. Learned is the usual form in American English. As an adjective meaning well educated, learned is pronounced with two syllables: "a learned professor".
What is the difference between rise and raise?+
Rise has no object and is irregular (rise, rose, risen). Raise takes an object and is regular (raise, raised, raised). Prices rise, but companies raise prices.
Is gotten correct?+
It is standard in American English. In British English, the past participle of get is got, although gotten survives in a few fixed phrases such as "ill-gotten gains".
Keep going
More grammar lessons
© 2026 BandLadder. Written and checked by the BandLadder team. You may quote or cite this page with credit to BandLadder and a link to it; republishing it in full needs our written permission. Content use policy