10 Irregular Verbs You Need to Know

Many learners try to use the regular past tense rule on every verb, add "-ed" and you're done. This works most of the time. But some verbs don't follow the rule at all.

These are called irregular verbs.

❌ "I goed to the store yesterday."
✅ "I went to the store yesterday."

What Makes a Verb "Irregular"

Regular verbs are easy: walk → walked, play → played, watch → watched. Just add "-ed."

Irregular verbs change completely.

There's no rule to follow, no pattern to guess. You simply have to learn each one.

10 Common Irregular Verbs You Must Know

Go → Went
"Go" is one of the most common verbs in English, so this mistake happens a lot. The past tense isn't "goed," it's a completely different word: "went." You'll use this verb constantly when talking about where you were or what you did.

❌ "I goed to the store."
✅ "I went to the store."

Eat → Ate
"Eat" changes its vowel sound instead of adding "-ed." Many learners want to say "eated" because it feels logical, but the correct form is "ate."

❌ "I eated breakfast."
✅ "I ate breakfast."

Buy → Bought
This one changes quite a lot: "buy" becomes "bought," not "buyed." You'll use this a lot when talking about shopping or things you've purchased.

❌ "I buyed a new phone."
✅ "I bought a new phone."

See → Saw
"See" becomes "saw" in the past. This is a very common verb for talking about people you met or things you noticed.

❌ "I seed my friend yesterday."
✅ "I saw my friend yesterday."

Take → Took
"Take" becomes "took," with no "-ed" added. You'll use this often for transportation ("took the bus") or actions ("took a photo").

❌ "I taked the bus."
✅ "I took the bus."

Make → Made
"Make" becomes "made." This verb is useful for talking about cooking, decisions, or things you created.

❌ "I maked dinner."
✅ "I made dinner."

Come → Came
"Come" becomes "came." This is common when talking about arriving somewhere or events in the past.

❌ "I comed home late."
✅ "I came home late."

Get → Got
"Get" becomes "got." This is one of the most flexible verbs in English, used for receiving things, arriving somewhere, or becoming something.

❌ "I getted a new job."
✅ "I got a new job."

Know → Knew
"Know" becomes "knew." You'll use this when talking about information or people you were familiar with in the past.

❌ "I knowed the answer."
✅ "I knew the answer."

Think → Thought
"Think" becomes "thought." This is a very common verb for describing opinions or ideas you had.

❌ "I thinked about it."
✅ "I thought about it."

Why This Is Hard

Irregular verbs feel unfair because there's no shortcut.

Even advanced learners still make mistakes with them sometimes.

The good news: the same 10-15 irregular verbs show up again and again in daily conversation, so once you learn those, you're covered most of the time.

Try This

Pick 3 irregular verbs from the list above. Write one sentence with each, about something that happened yesterday.

Example:

"Yesterday I went to work. I ate lunch with a friend. I saw a good movie in the evening."