Don't memorise the list A→Z. These verbs fall into a handful of patterns — learn to spot the pattern and most forms follow. You need them for the Past Simple (the second form) and every perfect tense (the third form — the participle).
The easiest group: all three forms are identical. You add nothing — context (and a „yesterday” / „have”) tells you which tense it is.
| cut · cut · cut9 verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Past simple | Past participle |
| cut | cut | cut |
| put | put | put |
| let | let | let |
| set | set | set |
| hit | hit | hit |
| shut | shut | shut |
| cost | cost | cost |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| read | read | read |
The second and third forms match — only one form to learn beside the base. This is the biggest group; many end in -ought / -aught (buy → bought, teach → taught).
| make · made · made28 verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Past simple | Past participle |
| make | made | made |
| say | said | said |
| pay | paid | paid |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| find | found | found |
| buy | bought | bought |
| bring | brought | brought |
| think | thought | thought |
| teach | taught | taught |
| catch | caught | caught |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| feel | felt | felt |
| keep | kept | kept |
| leave | left | left |
| meet | met | met |
| lose | lost | lost |
| send | sent | sent |
| spend | spent | spent |
| build | built | built |
| sit | sat | sat |
| stand | stood | stood |
| understand | understood | understood |
| win | won | won |
| hold | held | held |
| tell | told | told |
| sell | sold | sold |
| get | got | got |
A tidy vowel rhythm: i in the base, a in the Past Simple, u in the participle. A handful of common verbs all march to it — hear the melody and you can guess the rest.
| sing · sang · sung5 verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Past simple | Past participle |
| sing | sang | sung |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| swim | swam | swum |
| ring | rang | rung |
| begin | began | begun |
Three distinct forms — these take the most attention, but you use them most. The participle often ends in -en (eaten, taken, written), so there's still a pattern to grab.
| go · went · gone20 verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Past simple | Past participle |
| go | went | gone |
| do | did | done |
| see | saw | seen |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| give | gave | given |
| take | took | taken |
| write | wrote | written |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| break | broke | broken |
| drive | drove | driven |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| know | knew | known |
| grow | grew | grown |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| fly | flew | flown |
| wear | wore | worn |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
The most common and most irregular verb: the Past Simple has two forms — „was” (I / he / she / it) and „were” (you / we / they). The participle is „been”.
| be · was · were · been1 verb | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Past simple | Past participle |
| be | was · were | been |