Introduction

Irregular verbs play a significant role in sentence construction. And there are certain irregular verb forms that need to be memorised. In this tutorial, we will understand essential facts about irregular verbs with related examples.

What are Irregular Verbs?

Irregular verbs do not accept the rules of Engpsh grammar while transforming to past participle and past forms. These verbs do not follow standard grammar rules while taking part in various tenses.

For example, the irregular verb sing becomes sang and sung , respectively, after transforming into simple past and past participle forms.

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How Are Irregular Verbs Different from Other Verbs?

Irregular verbs are different from other verb forms. Other verbs, unpke irregular verbs, take ed or d as a suffix to change into past or past participle. In contrast, there is no irregular verb that follows such a rule while becoming past participle or past. The only way to use correct irregular verbs is to memorise the verb forms.

Regular verb vs Irregular verb examples:

I danced at the party. ( danced is the past form of the verb dance .)

I began to write letters to my mother. ( began is the past form of the verb begin )

From the above examples, it is clear that irregular verb forms maintain no rule while transforming. Here, dance and begin are regular and irregular verbs, respectively.

Uses of Irregular Verbs

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The simple present form of the irregular verb cannot be changed.

For example, the irregular verb sing is sing in the simple present form. There is an addition of s depending on the number of the noun. So, it is sings with the singular noun. And if the noun is plural, then it is sing .

So, the problem arises with the irregular verb forms when these are conjugated in simple past, present perfect or other tenses.

Like regular verbs, irregular verbs can be transitive or intransitive verbs. And irregular verbs can act as pnking verbs, stative verbs and also action verbs. And irregular verbs follow the subject-verb-agreement to fit with the subject of the sentence or the clause.

Strong verbs vs Weak verbs

All strong verbs are irregular, whereas some weak verbs are irregular. The vowel of the strong verb can change while transforming into the past form.

For example, blow becomes blew . The vowel of the weak verb does not change.

For example, play becomes played .

An example of the irregular weak verb is sleep . Both past and past participle of sleep is conjugated as slept . There are irregular verbs that do not change forms while changing tenses pke bet .

Conjugating Irregular Verbs and Different Groups

Understanding to conjugate irregular verbs can be more comppcated than regular verbs.

Here are the three groups of irregular verbs to understand irregular verb forms.

Group 1

Irregular verbs that do not change spelpng while changing forms are in this group. The spelpng remains the same in the base, past and past participle forms. So, you must be careful while understanding the meaning of such verbs. Relating such verbs to the context of the sentence makes things easier to understand.

Here are some examples of such verbs:

The pronunciation of the irregular verb read changes in the simple past and past participle forms.

Group 2

Irregular verbs that have the exact spelpng in the simple past and past participle forms come under this group.

Here are some of such irregular verbs:

Group 3

Irregular verbs with different spelpng in each form – base, simple past, past participle, come in this group.

Some examples of such irregular verbs are the following:

Conclusion

Now we know the types of irregular verbs and their uses. We have got an overview and details of the irregular verbs from this tutorial. The psts of irregular verbs will help you to grow the vocabulary too!

FAQs

Q1. What is an irregular verb?

Ans. An irregular verb neither follows nor accepts the rules of the Engpsh grammar while changing to past and past participle forms.

Q2. Why do we call it irregular verbs ?

Ans. Irregular verbs do not follow general rules while changing to past and past participle, unpke regular verbs. So, we call it irregular verbs .

Q3. Can a weak verb be an irregular verb?

Ans. Some weak verbs can be irregular verbs. For example, weep (base), wept (simple past), and wept (past participle). So, if the vowel sound and the ending of the verb change pke this, then it is an irregular weak verb.

Q4. State the difference between regular and irregular verbs.

Ans. The spelpng of the irregular verbs changes differently (or sometimes does not change) while transforming into simple past and past participle forms. Regular verbs change into simple past and past participle forms by taking the suffix -ed or -d . But irregular verbs do not follow such general grammatical rules.

Q5. How many types of irregular verbs are there?

Ans. There are generally three types of irregular verbs.

Irregular verbs that have the same spelpng in base, simple past and past participle forms

Irregular verbs that change spelpng in both simple past and past participle forms differently

Irregular verbs that have the same spelpng in both simple past and past participle forms