Most verbs make the past with -ed. Some of the most common verbs don't: each has its own past form, and you have to learn it.
They're easier to learn in groups that change in the same way.
Groups
- Same in the past: cut – cut, put – put, hit – hit, let – let, cost – cost, shut – shut.
- -ought and -aught: buy – bought, bring – brought, think – thought, catch – caught, teach – taught.
- i becomes a: begin – began, drink – drank, swim – swam, sing – sang, sit – sat.
- -ew: know – knew, grow – grew, throw – threw, fly – flew, draw – drew.
- d becomes t: build – built, send – sent, spend – spent, lend – lent.
- A shorter vowel and t: keep – kept, sleep – slept, feel – felt, leave – left, meet – met, lose – lost.
- o in the middle: get – got, write – wrote, drive – drove, ride – rode, speak – spoke, break – broke, choose – chose.
- Forms of their own: go – went, be – was/were, have – had, do – did, make – made, say – said, see – saw, come – came, eat – ate, give – gave, take – took, find – found, tell – told, hear – heard, run – ran, pay – paid.
Spelling and sound
Said sounds like "sed". The past of read is spelt read but sounds like "red". Bought, thought and caught sound alike: the gh is silent.
With did
In questions and negatives, did carries the past. The verb goes back to its base form.
Common mistakes
- × goed → went
- × buyed → bought
- × thinked → thought
- × catched → caught
- × I didn't went. → I didn't go.
Lingaku