Useful List Of Irregular Verbs (PDF Included)

Did you know that there are hundreds of irregular verbs in English? Having a strong understanding of irregular verbs is important for English language learners but learning irregular verbs can be particularly challenging for them. This is because irregular verbs are not conjugated in the same way as regular verbs, and so students must memorize and practice using these verbs a lot.

To help you teach or learn these verbs, we have put together this comprehensive list of irregular verbs. The irregular verbs listed below include their base form, past tense form, and past participle form. Below, you’ll also find a free PDF list of irregular verbs that you can download, print, and distribute to students. Before we look at the list, let’s quickly go over what exactly irregular verbs are.

What Are Irregular Verbs?

Irregular verbs are those verbs that do not follow the standard conjugation rules. Most verbs in English are regular verbs, which means they form their past tense and past participle forms by adding -ed, -d, or -ied to the base form of the verb (e.g. work – worked – worked / like – liked – liked / cry – cried – cried). However, there are many irregular verbs that do not follow this pattern and so students have to learn these verbs separately.

Irregular Verbs List

Here is a list of common irregular verbs in English. The list below includes the base form and shows how to form the past tense and past participle forms of these verbs.

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
be	was/were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burnt/burned	burnt/burned
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got/gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt/kneeled	knelt/kneeled
knit	knit	knit
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

Irregular Verbs List PDF

Here is a free PDF list of irregular verbs. Feel free to download, print, and distribute to your students.

Tips For Teaching Irregular Verbs

Teaching irregular verbs to students can be difficult, especially because there are so many of them. However, there are some ways you can make learning irregular verbs easier and more fun for students. Here are some tips on how to teach irregular verbs.

Teach Irregular Verbs That Follow The Same Pattern Together

Although irregular verbs don’t follow the normal conjugation rules, there are many irregular verbs that follow a similar pattern. So, instead of teaching the irregular verbs in alphabetical order, you can teach groups of irregular verbs that follow a similar pattern. This will make it much easier for students to learn and remember the past tense and past participle forms of these irregular verbs.

Start Each Lesson Learning A New Irregular Verb

One of the main obstacles to learning irregular verbs is the fact that there are so many of them. For students, it can be overwhelming and, let’s face it, boring to learn a big list of irregular verbs at once. So, a great way to help students learn irregular verbs is to make learning a new irregular verb each lesson part of your classroom routine. You can even use a different vocabulary game each lesson to make learning irregular verbs fun!

Use Games To Teach Irregular Verbs

There are lots of ways you can use games to teach irregular verbs. For example, the above activity is a ‘telepathy game’ in which students must ‘read the teacher’s mind’ to guess the answer. This activity is great for practicing irregular verbs as it gives lots of example sentences.

Another example of a game you can play to teach irregular verbs is the ‘matching game.’ This game is great for helping students to memorize words in a fun way. Using this matching game template, input some irregular verbs and their past tense form. Then, have students work in teams to find the matching pair.

Practice With Irregular Verb Exercises

The best way to help students master irregular verbs is to have them practice, practice, practice! You can find lots of interactive exercises and printable worksheets for practicing irregular verbs online. We even have some on Games4esl. Here are some fun irregular verb exercises students can use to practice irregular verbs and the past simple tense.

I hope you found this list of irregular verbs useful and got some good tips on how to teach these verbs to your students. Before you go, don’t forget to check out all the free resources we have available, including ESL worksheets, PowerPoint Games, PowerPoint Lessons, ESL Games, and lots more.