- English Grammar A1 Level - https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-grammar -

Past Simple of Irregular Verbs

Introduction

The past simple is the tense used to express situations that occurred in the past and have now concluded.

Many common verbs have irregular past forms.

Form

There is no rule that explains how to obtain the irregular form of the past simple, we just have to learn these verbs and their past forms by heart.

The most commonly used irregular verbs are:

Verb Past Simple
become became
break broke
bring brought
buy bought
do did
draw drew
drink drank
eat ate
feel felt
find found
go went
have had
hear heard
keep kept
leave left
read read
run ran
say said
see saw
teach taught
write wrote

Example

  • bought a film yesterday.
  • I broke my leg while skiing. 
  • You drank too much wine at the party.
  • He found a job in Germany.
  • She went to the mountains last week.
  • We left the party at midnight.
  • You saw a concert in the park.
  • They wrote their names on a sheet.

Use

We use the irregular past simple in the same way as the regular one, but it is formed differently.

Summary

Many verbs have irregular past simple forms.

The most commonly used are: become ⇒ became, do ⇒ did, go ⇒ went, have ⇒ had, leaveleft, read ⇒ read, see ⇒ saw

For example:
— “I left my blanket under the tree.” / “I leaved my blanket under the tree.” = The verb leave changes to left, because it is an irregular verb.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.