Irregular verbs

The past tense and past participle of regular verbs end in -ed:

Some verbs, however, are irregular.

When we form the present perfect, past perfect or the passive, we need the past participle of the verb:
Present perfect: "I haven't had breakfast yet."
Past perfect: "She had known him for only two weeks."
Passive: "Then I discovered that the laptop had been stolen."

With some irregular verbs, all three forms are the same: for example, put and hit.
Sometimes the past tense and the past participle are the same, but different from the infinitive, such as have — had.
And sometimes all three forms are different: know — knew — known.

These verbs can be regular or irregular, particularly in British English:
burn — burned or burnt
dream — dreamed or dreamt
lean — leaned or leant (UK)
learn — learned or learnt (UK)
smell — smelled or smelt (UK)
spell — spelled or spelt (UK)
spill — spilled or spilt (UK)
spoil — spoiled or spoilt (UK)

It is really best if you learn the irregular verb forms by heart. You can find them listed in a good grammar practice book such as English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy or in a good learner's dictionary such as the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Now try the exercise on the next page.

Dagmar Taylor