English has lots of different verbs that don’t follow the same rules as other verbs. This is because English has changed a lot over time, and has mixed with other languages. English used to have two ways of making past verbs. One (that we still have today) is by adding -ed to the verb. The other (which has created many irregular verbs) was by changing the vowel sound in the middle of the verb. Also, when different groups of people started speaking English, they brought their own words and ways of talking, which made English even more different. This is why we have so many verbs that don’t follow the rules.
As a result, the only way to know what verbs are irregular in the past in English is by memorizing them. Here is a list of some of the most common irregular verbs in English:
- go – went
- see – saw
- eat – ate
- drink – drank
- give – gave
- take – took
- know – knew
- fly – flew
- come – came
- do – did
- be – was/were
- say – said
- make – made
- have – had
- get – got
- find – found
- leave – left
- lose – lost
- put – put
- send – sent
- break – broke
- buy – bought
- catch – caught
- choose – chose
- draw – drew
- drive – drove
- feel – felt
- fight – fought
- forget – forgot
- forgive – forgave
- freeze – froze
- hang – hung
- hear – heard
- hide – hid
- hold – held
- hurt – hurt
- keep – kept
- lead – led
- let – let
- lie – lay
- light – lit
- pay – paid
- read – read
- run – ran
- say – said
- see – saw
- seek – sought
- sell – sold
- send – sent
- sing – sang
