Past Simple: irregular verbs

Rules

• Rule 1: no -ed, the verb changes

  Irregular verbs don't take -ed. The verb has a new past form: *go → went, eat → ate, have → had*.

  Pattern: subject + past form

  Example: She ate a banana after school.

  Example: We had a great time.

• Rule 2: the same for every subject

  Just like regular verbs, the past form is the same for every subject. There is no -s with he / she / it.

  Example: I took a photo. He took a photo too.

  Example: They came home late.

• Rule 3: similar verbs, similar patterns

  Some verbs change in groups; learning them together helps: i → a: swim → swam, sing → sang, drink → drank -ought / -aught: buy → bought, bring → brought, think → thought Watch out: read is spelled the same but sounds like “red” in the past!

  Example: We sang a song together.

  Example: I thought about you.

Common mistakes

• We goed to the park. → We went to the park.

  go is irregular → went.

• She eated all the cake. → She ate all the cake.

  eat → ate.

• He wents home. → He went home.

  There is no -s in the past.