Regular and Irregular Verbs

The distinction between regular verbs and irregular verbs is a very simple one:

Regular Verbs

Those verbs that form their past participle with ‘d’ or ‘ed’ are regular verbs. These verbs do not undergo substantial changes while changing forms between tenses.

1. If the verb ends with a vowel, only ‘d’ is added. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Share	Shared
Scare	Scared
Dare	Dared

2. If the verb ends with a consonant, ‘ed’ is added. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Want	Wanted
Shout	Shouted
Kill	Killed

Regular and Irregular Verbs Exercise 1

Irregular Verbs

Those verbs that undergo substantial changes when changing forms between tenses are irregular verbs. The changed forms of these verbs are often unrecognisably different from the originals. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Go	Went
Run	Ran
Think	Thought

There is no way to tell what form an irregular verb is going to take in a changed tense; the only option for an English speaker is to commit the changes to memory. With practice, it will become a matter of habit.