English can be a tricky language for some people who have different native languages. Whenever you might think that you know decent enough English, then the language will throw a curveball at you. However, one should always keep learning new things to expand their present horizon.
Before we dive deep into the nitty gritties of English irregular verbs from learniv.com, it’s good to cover some basics first. Learniv.com provides you with an extensive database of these verbs in 23 different languages while containing all the possible and relevant word options.
You can follow this article to get to know more about the world of verbs.
What are the different forms of verbs?
To be exact, there are three forms of verbs. First comes the base or root form. You don’t need to conjugate it. It also doesn’t require any prefixes or suffixes.
For example:
- You can do whatever you want to do.
- I want to be a doctor.
The second form of the verb is known as the past simple. It‘s helpful to represent an action that has already taken place in the past.
For example:
- I have arrived at the airport.
- She hurt herself while playing badminton.
The last form of the verb is the past participle. You use it to explain a situation that has completed some action. You have to use have/has before the third form of the verb.
For example:
- Have you been to London?
- She has gone shopping.
How to differentiate between regular and irregular verbs?
Verbs are broadly categorized into two categories- regular and irregular verbs. In regular verbs, the verbs remain fairly similar over the different forms. Regular verbs follow a fixed pattern for conjugation. All you need to do is put -ed at the end of the base form of the particular verb. For instance, roll rolled and rolled.
On the other hand, the past simple and past participle of irregular verbs can be completely different from the root verb. In some cases, the words might be exactly the same. As the name suggests, for conjugation, they require a special set of rules—for example, drink-drank-drunk, get-got-got, and cut-cut-cut.
Some commonly used irregular verbs
Verbs that remain the same over the different forms:
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Cut Cut Cut
Hurt Hurt Hurt
Shut Shut Shut
Let Let Let
Bet Bet Bet
The verbs with the identical past forms:
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Sell Sold Sold
Get Got Got
Catch Caught Caught
Sleep Slept Slept
Feel Felt Felt
Keep Kept Kept
Have Had Had
Leave Left Left
Send Sent Sent
Teach Taught Taught
Verbs with identical base and third form:
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Become Became Become
Run Ran Run
Come Came Come
The verbs that are different throughout the forms:
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Blow Blew Blown
Go Went Gone
Swim Swam Swum
Fall Fell Fallen
Sing Sang Sung
Give Gave Given
Trow Threw Thrown
Fly Flew Flown
See Saw Seen
Know Knew Known
The verbs with “O” in the past forms
BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
Steal Stole Stolen
Tear Tore Torn
Get Got Gotten
Freeze Froze Frozen
Tricks to ace irregular verbs
For beginners, the task of learning irregular verbs can seem to be daunting. Get along with a platform that contains all the possible words in different languages as shown in the infographic.
If you follow a few basic tips, then you can simplify the whole process.
Learn 10 similar verbs together
It’s a prevalent learning technique, also known as chunking. Instead of trying to cram everything in one go, you try to break them in small groups. Then, you group the most similar ones together.
You can categorize them on the basis of your convenience. You can go for resembling sounds or meanings. It would be best if you classify them in a group of words that remain the same over the different forms.
Additionally, the words with the same past forms, words with the same base, and third form. Then lastly, the words that are different throughout the forms.
Begin with common ones
Approximately, there are over 200 verbs, and it’s of no use to learn all of them. Moreover, there are different irregular verbs in British and American English. So, it’s advisable to start your training with the words that you use perpetually in your daily life.
Apply in sentences
You can try to fit the words in sentences to better understand their usage as well as the meaning. It could help you to ease up the process, depending on person to person.
For example, I can eat a cake, I ate an ice cream yesterday, but I’ve already eaten chocolate.
Moreover, experts suggest that if the sentences are weird or funny that it’ll increase your learning speed.
- You can play with the words by making them rhyme or creating a story.
- Don’t forget to learn the words with their complete tense forms.
- If you’re trying to learn a new word, but you skip the other tense forms of the same word. Then it might create problems for you in the near future.
For instance, you are learning the word ‘go,’ which means to move or travel to another place.
It would be better if you would learn went (simple past tense) and gone (past participle).
Make colorful flashcards
It’s a proven fact that people learn faster when they read something written with or on a brighter background. Moreover, you can stick those cards on walls or somewhere accessible so that you can read them again and again.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
In the end, everything boils down to practice. If you don’t practice them regularly, then you might end up forgetting most of them. This, in turn, defeats the entire purpose of learning them in the first place
- Begin with doing it alone or in front of a mirror. Then, you can later involve your friends and family.
- Ask people for constructive feedback
- After you try practicing in front of your family and friends, you can ask them for feedback.
Try not to take the criticism personally and get disheartened or discouraged by it.
It’ll help you improve as well as save you from the embarrassment of speaking something wrong in front of a stranger.
