Regular and Irregular Verbs:

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.

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

PRESENT TENSE - PAST TENSE

Share - Shared

Scare - Scared

Dare - Dared

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

PRESENT TENSE - PAST TENSE

Want - Wanted

Shout - Shouted

Kill - Killed

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.