Common English Irregular Verbs List

English verbs have the base form (Infinitive), the simple past and the past participle. For most of the verbs (regular verbs), the simple past and the past participle are spelled the same and are created by adding -ed to the base form. However, there are many irregular verbs in English language which do not match to this pattern. Those verbs are mostly unpredictable, it is hard to derive them on the fly as you talk. There are some patterns among them (spring-sprang, drinkdrank,...), (blow-blew, know-knew,...) but it is still hard to use those patterns as rules. The only way to learn irregular verbs is to memorize them.

regular verb
A verb that forms its past tense and past participle by adding -d or -ed (or in some cases -t) to the base form. (Also known as a weak verb.) Contrast with Irregular Verb. The majority of English verbs are regular. They have four different forms: 1. 2. 3. 4. base form: the form found in a dictionary -s form: used in the singular third person, present tense -ed form: used for the past tense and past participle -ing form: used for the present participle

Examples:

"If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied." (Alfred Nobel)

"I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees." (Gilbert K. Chesterton)

"I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born." (Charlie Chaplin)

"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can." (Ernest Hemingway)

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." (Samuel Beckett)

"Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night." (Isaac Asimov)

"If I talked about Watergate, I was described as struggling to free myself from the morass. If I did not talk about Watergate, I was accused of being out of touch with reality." (Richard M. Nixon)

Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned systematically, and exceptions listed and carefully noted. Thus for example a school French textbook may have a section at the back listing the French irregular verbs in tables. Irregular verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language. In linguistic analysis, the concept of an irregular verb is most likely to be used in psycholinguistics, and in first-language acquisition studies, where the aim is to establish how the human brain processes its native language. One debate among 20th-century linguists revolved around the question of whether small children learn all verb forms as separate pieces of vocabulary or whether they deduce forms by the application of rules.[1] Since a child can hear a regular verb for the first time and immediately reuse it correctly in a different tense which he or she has never heard, it is clear that the brain does work with rules, but irregular verbs must be processed differently.

EXAMPLES: present
abide (abid) arise (aris) awake (awik) bear (ber) beat (bit)

past
abode (abud) arose (arus) awoke (awuk) bore (bor) beat (bit)

past participle
abiden (abden) arisen (arsen) awoken (awuken) born (born) beaten (biten)

meanings
* Could be conjugated as a regular verb sufrir, soportar, cumplir levantarse, surgir despertarse, despertar aguantar, soportar, parir golpear, derrotar, batir Go to examples >

become (bikm) begin (bigun) bend (bend) bet (bet)

became (bikim) began (bigan) bent (bent) bet (bet)

become (bikm) begun (bign) bent (bent) bet (bet)

convertirse en, llegar a ser, volverse, ponerse empezar doblar, torcer, inclinarse apostar

bid (bid)

bid (bid)

bid (bid)

ofrecer, pujar, licitar Go to examples

Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual (traditional) description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particleto: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition of infinitive that applies to all languages. Many Native American languages and some languages in Africa and Aboriginal Australia simply do not have infinitives or verbal nouns. In their place they use finite verb forms used in ordinary clauses or special constructions. In languages that have infinitives, they generally have most of the following properties[citation needed] : In most uses, infinitives are non-finite verbs. They function as other lexical categories usually nouns within the clauses that contain them, for example by serving as the subject of another verb.

 

   

They do not represent any of the verb's arguments. They are not inflected to agree with any subject. They cannot serve as the only verb of a declarative sentence. They do not have tense, aspect, moods, and/or voice, or they are limited in the range of tenses, aspects, moods, and/or voices that they can use. (In languages where infinitives do not have moods at all, they are usually treated as being their own non-finite mood.)

However, it bears repeating that none of the above is a defining quality of the infinitive; infinitives do not have all these properties in every language, as it is shown below, and other verb forms may have one or more of them. For example, English gerunds and participles have most of these properties as well.

Recognize an infinitive when you see one.

To sneeze, to smash, to cry, to shriek, to jump, to dunk, to read, to eat, to slurpall of these are infinitives. An infinitive will almost always begin with to followed by the simple form of theverb, like this:

TO

VERB

= infinitive

Important Note: Because an infinitive is not a verb, you cannot add s, es, ed, or ing to the end. Ever! Infinitives can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Look at these examples:
To sleep is the only thing Eli wants after his double shift waiting tables at the neighborhood caf.

To sleep functions as a noun because it is the subject of the sentence.

No matter how fascinating the biology dissection is, Emanuel turns his head and refuses to look.

To look functions as a noun because it is the direct object for the verb refuses.
Wherever Melissa goes, she always brings a book to read in case conversation lags or she has a long wait.

To read functions as an adjective because it modifies book.

Richard braved the icy rain to throw the smelly squid eyeball stew into the apartment dumpster.

To throw functions as an adverb because it explains why Richard braved the inclement weather.
What Is an Infinitive Verb?

y y y y y

Basically, an infinitive verb is a verb with the word to in front of it. to be to have to hold to sleep to dream

When you use an infinitive verb, the to is a part of the verb. It is not acting as a preposition in this case. And the verb is always just the verb. Its not conjugated in anyway no -ed, no -ing, no -s on the end.