For each verb listed, the
citation form (the bare
infinitive) is given first, with a link to the relevant
Wiktionary entry. This is followed by the
simple past tense (
preterite), and then the
past participle. If there are irregular
present tense forms (see
below), these are given in parentheses after the infinitive. (The
present participle and
gerund forms of verbs, ending in
-ing, are always regular. In English, these are used as verbs, adjectives, and nouns.) In the case of
modal verbs the present and preterite forms are listed, since these are the only forms that exist, with the present form identical for all persons. The right-hand column notes whether the verb is
weak or
strong and whether it belongs to a subclass, and links to descriptions elsewhere. Information about the development of these verbs generally can be found at
English irregular verbs; details of the etymology and usage of specific verbs can be found by consulting Wiktionary. In some cases, there are two or more possibilities for a given form. In the table, the preferred or more common usage is generally listed first, though for some words the usage is nearly equal for the two choices. Sometimes the usage depends on the
dialect. In many cases, such as
spell (
spelt vs.
spelled),
learn (
learnt vs.
learned), and
spill (
spilt vs.
spilled),
American English and
Canadian English normally use the regular form, while
British English,
Australian English,
New Zealand English and
South African English tend to favour the irregular. In other cases, such as
dive (
dived vs.
dove) and
sneak (
sneaked vs.
snuck), the opposite is true. The irregular form tends to indicate duration, whereas the regular form often describes a short-term action (
The fire burned for weeks. vs.
He burnt his finger.), and in American English, the regular form is associated with the literal sense of a verb, while the irregular form with a figurative one. The preterite and past participle forms of irregular verbs follow certain patterns. These include ending in
-t (e.g.
build,
bend,
send), stem changes (whether it is a vowel, such as in
sit,
win or
hold, or a consonant, such as in
teach and
seek, that changes), or adding the [
n] suffix to the past participle form (e.g.
drive,
show,
rise). English irregular verbs are now a closed group, which means that newly formed verbs are always regular and do not adopt any of the irregular patterns. This list contains only those verb forms which are listed in the major dictionaries as being standard usage in modern English. There are also many thousands of archaic, non-standard and dialect variants. Modern English still has remnants of formerly irregular verbs in other parts of speech. Most obviously, adjectives like
misshapen,
beholden, or
forlorn fossilize what were originally the past participles of the verbs
shape and
behold, and Old English
forleosan. However,
forleosan has fallen out of use and
shape is now regular, so these verbs are not listed, and
behold, while still irregular, can no longer be listed this participle form. ==Present tense irregular verbs==