Basic Tenses: Irregular Verb

This page shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive:	+		subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
negative:	-		subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
question:	?		auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:

base verb	past	past participle	present participle -ing
sing	sang	sung	singing

		past	present	future
SIMPLE do + base verb (except future: will + base verb)	+	I did sing I sang	I do sing I sing	I will sing
	-	I did not sing	I do not sing	I will not sing
	?	Did I sing?	Do I sing?	Will I sing?
SIMPLE PERFECT have + past participle	+	I had sung	I have sung	I will have sung
	-	I had not sung	I have not sung	I will not have sung
	?	Had I sung?	Have I sung?	Will I have sung?
CONTINUOUS be + -ing	+	I was singing	I am singing	I will be singing
	-	I was not singing	I am not singing	I will not be singing
	?	Was I singing?	Am I singing?	Will I be singing?
CONTINUOUS PERFECT have been + -ing	+	I had been singing	I have been singing	I will have been singing
	-	I had not been singing	I have not been singing	I will not have been singing
	?	Had I been singing?	Have I been singing?	Will I have been singing?

Tips

The basic structure of tenses for regular verbs and irregular verbs is exactly the same (except to be). The only difference is that with regular verbs the past and past participle are always the same (worked, worked), while with irregular verbs the past and past participle are not always the same (sang, sung). But the structure is the same! It will help you a great deal to really understand that.

Irregular Verbs List

This is a list of some irregular verbs in English. Of course, there are many others, but these are the more common irregular verbs.

V1 Base Form	V2 Past Simple	V3 Past Participle
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
show	showed	showed/shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

You may also like to see this list of common regular verbs in English.

Regular Verbs

English regular verbs change their form very little (unlike irregular verbs). The past tense and past participle of regular verbs end in -ed, for example:

work, worked, worked

But you should note the following points:

1. Some verbs can be both regular and irregular, for example:

learn, learned, learned
learn, learnt, learnt

2. Some verbs change their meaning depending on whether they are regular or irregular, for example "to hang":

regular	hang, hanged, hanged	to kill or die, by dropping with a rope around the neck
irregular	hang, hung, hung	to fix something (for example, a picture) at the top so that the lower part is free

3. The present tense of some regular verbs is the same as the past tense of some irregular verbs:

regular	found, founded, founded
irregular	find, found, found