Present Tense	Past Tense	Past Participle
abide am arise awake beat begin behold bend bereave beseech bet bind bite bleed blow break breed bring build burst buy catch choose climb cling come cost creep deal dig do draw drink drive dwell eat fall feed feel fight find flee fling flow fly forget forsake freeze give get go grind grow hang hide hold hurt keep kneel know lay lead leave lend lie (to recline) light lose make mean meet pay prove put rid ride ring rise run say see seek set shake shrink sing show sink sit slay slide sow speak spread spring steal strew stride strike strive swear swell swim swing take teach tear throw thrust tread wear weave wet wring write	abode was arose awoke beat began beheld bent bereft, bereaved besought bet bound bit bled blew broke bred brought built burst bought caught chose climbed clung came cost crept dealt dug did drew drank drove dwelt ate fell fed felt fought found fled flung flowed flew forgot forsook froze gave got went ground grew hung hid held hurt kept knelt, kneeled knew laid led left lent lay lighted or lit lost made meant met paid proved put rid rode rang rose ran said saw sought set shook shrank sang showed sank sat slew slid sowed spoke spread sprang stole strewed strode struck strove swore swelled swam swung took taught tore threw thrust trod wore wove wet wrung wrote	abode been arisen awaked beaten begun beheld bent bereft, bereaved besought bet bound bitten bled blown broken bred brought built burst bought caught chosen climbed clung come cost crept dealt dug done drawn drunk driven dwelt eaten fallen fed felt fought found fled flung flowed flown forgotten forsaken frozen given got gone ground grown hung, hanged hidden held hurt kept knelt, kneeled known laid led left lent lain lighted or lit lost made meant met paid proved put rid ridden rung risen run said seen sought set shaken shrunk sung shown sunk sat slain slid, slidden sowed, sown spoken spread sprung stolen strewn stridden struck, stricken striven sworn swelled, swollen swum swung taken taught torn thrown thrust trodden worn woven wet wrung written

Troublesome Verbs Explained

Some languages have four or five conjugations (sets of verb forms). English has just two, and they are very simple. All verbs that have come into the language within recent times (within four or five hundred years) add -d or -ed to a common form to indicate past time:

print, printed; paint, painted; phone, phoned.

Most of the very old, simple verbs change the main vowel sound to form the past tense and past participle:

drink, drank, drunk; ride, rode, ridden;
sing, sang, sung; buy, bought, bought.

1) The -ed verbs, because they require the help of an additional syllable, are sometimes called the weak verbs, or sometimes referred to as regular verbs.

2) Because the other verbs make the changes within themselves, without the help of an added syllable, we call them the strong verbs, or sometimes referred to as irregular verbs.

Principal Parts — The weak verbs have only four different forms: call, calls, calling, called.

The strong verbs have usually five forms, like: ring, rings, ringing, rang, rung. But observe: bring, brings, bringing, brought.

In this word the past tense and past participle are the same: I brought; I have brought.

Three of these forms are called the principal parts.

Present Tense	Past Tense	Past Participle
ring bring call carve	rang brought called carved	rung brought called carved

Knowing these three forms of any verb, you can use a verb, or make a verb phrase, to express any idea that the verb is capable of expressing. The other two forms differ only by the addition of an -s or an -ing to the present tense form.

Only a few verbs are troublesome to writers of the English language. You may have trouble with only two or three out of the list above.

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