Irregular Verbs


Here's the bad news: Many common verbs that people like to use in their writing do not follow a pattern. They are "irregular". You just have to learn them!

By far the most important irregular verb to learn is the verb 'to be'.



 
 
 
 

The Verb 'to be'
Present 
Past 
Future
I am
I was
I will be
you are
you were
you will be
he is

she is 

it is
he was

she was 

it was
he will be

she will be

it will be
we are
we were
we will be
they are
they were
they will be

Here is a list of other common irregular verbs:
 

Present
Past
become became
begin began 
bring brought
build built
buy bought
catch caught
choose chose 
come  came 
dig  dug 
do  did 
draw  drew 
eat  ate 
fall  fell 
fight  fought 
fly  flew 
forget  forgot 
get  got 
give  gave 
go  went 
hurt  hurt 
know  knew 
make  made 
run  ran 
saw  sawed 
say  said 
see  saw 
sing  sang 
speak  spoke 
swim  swam 
take  took 
teach  taught 
think  thought 
throw  threw 
wear  wore 
write  wrote 

Are 'helping verbs' used with irregular verbs, too?

Yes, 'helping verbs' work with the main verb to give the reader a better idea of when the action takes place. In this example, the action will take place in the future:
 

write will write
throw will throw
say will say
know will know
fly will fly

What is a helping verb?
What is a linking verb?
What is a regular verb?