Table of English Irregular Verbs

Table of Irregular Verbs: The 100 Most Common

The order is by frequency, not alphabetically. Learn them this way.

Three cards with arrows between them next to a school notebook — One verb — three cards: V1, V2, and V3 are learned together.

Top 30 essentials: learn these first

V1 (Infinitive)	V2 (Past Simple)	V3 (Past Participle)	Translation
be	was / were	been	to be
have	had	had	to have
do	did	done	to do
say	said	said	to say
go	went	gone	to go
get	got	got	to get
make	made	made	to make, create
know	knew	known	to know
think	thought	thought	to think
take	took	taken	to take
see	saw	seen	to see
come	came	come	to come
give	gave	given	to give
find	found	found	to find
tell	told	told	to tell
become	became	become	to become
leave	left	left	to leave, go away
feel	felt	felt	to feel
put	put	put	to put
bring	brought	brought	to bring
begin	began	begun	to begin
keep	kept	kept	to keep, store
write	wrote	written	to write
run	ran	run	to run
read	read	read	to read
eat	ate	eaten	to eat
drink	drank	drunk	to drink
speak	spoke	spoken	to speak
buy	bought	bought	to buy
sleep	slept	slept	to sleep

With read, all three forms are spelled the same, but V2 and V3 are pronounced [red], not [reed]. In American English, the V3 form of get is gotten.

40 more mid-frequency verbs

V1	V2	V3	Translation
break	broke	broken	to break
build	built	built	to build
catch	caught	caught	to catch
choose	chose	chosen	to choose
cost	cost	cost	to cost
cut	cut	cut	to cut
draw	drew	drawn	to draw
drive	drove	driven	to drive
fall	fell	fallen	to fall
fly	flew	flown	to fly
forget	forgot	forgotten	to forget
grow	grew	grown	to grow
hear	heard	heard	to hear
hit	hit	hit	to hit
hold	held	held	to hold
hurt	hurt	hurt	to hurt, cause pain
learn	learnt / learned	learnt / learned	to learn, find out
lend	lent	lent	to lend
let	let	let	to let, allow
lose	lost	lost	to lose
mean	meant	meant	to mean
meet	met	met	to meet
pay	paid	paid	to pay
ride	rode	ridden	to ride
ring	rang	rung	to ring
rise	rose	risen	to rise
sell	sold	sold	to sell
send	sent	sent	to send
show	showed	shown	to show
sing	sang	sung	to sing
sit	sat	sat	to sit
spend	spent	spent	to spend
stand	stood	stood	to stand
swim	swam	swum	to swim
teach	taught	taught	to teach
throw	threw	thrown	to throw
understand	understood	understood	to understand
wake	woke	woken	to wake up, wake
wear	wore	worn	to wear
win	won	won	to win

30 less common ones: for middle school and B1 level

V1	V2	V3	Translation
beat	beat	beaten	to beat, defeat
bite	bit	bitten	to bite
blow	blew	blown	to blow
deal	dealt	dealt	to deal with
dig	dug	dug	to dig
feed	fed	fed	to feed
fight	fought	fought	to fight
forgive	forgave	forgiven	to forgive
freeze	froze	frozen	to freeze
hang	hung	hung	to hang
hide	hid	hidden	to hide
lay	laid	laid	to put, lay
lead	led	led	to lead
lie	lay	lain	to lie
light	lit	lit	to light
quit	quit	quit	to quit
set	set	set	to set
shake	shook	shaken	to shake
shine	shone	shone	to shine
shoot	shot	shot	to shoot
shut	shut	shut	to shut
sink	sank	sunk	to sink
slide	slid	slid	to slide
spread	spread	spread	to spread
steal	stole	stolen	to steal
stick	stuck	stuck	to stick, get stuck
strike	struck	struck	to strike
sweep	swept	swept	to sweep
swing	swung	swung	to swing
tear	tore	torn	to tear

The pair lie–lay–lain (to lie) and lay–laid–laid (to put) is confusing even for native speakers. In grades 5–7, you can postpone it.

What the three forms are and when each is used

Irregular verbs form the second and third forms not with the usual “+ed” rule, but in their own way. The forms work the same way for all verbs:

Form	Used for	Example
V1 — Infinitive	present tense, infinitive, future	I go to school every day.
V2 — Past Simple	past tense: the action happened and finished	I went to school yesterday.
V3 — Past Participle	Perfect tenses and the passive voice	I have gone. / The book was written in 2020.

V3 never stands alone — only after have/has/had or forms of be. If your child hasn’t studied the Perfect tenses yet, learn V3 “for later,” as part of the trio. To see how V1 and V2 work in sentences, read the articles Present Simple in simple words and the verb to be (was/were are irregular forms too).

How to learn irregular verbs without rote memorization

Alphabetical order gives the brain nothing to hold on to. Four things actually work: grouping, rhythm, intervals, and small batches.

1. Group them by pattern

Most verbs change according to a few patterns — so a child learns not 100 separate words, but 6–7 templates:

Pattern	Examples
AAA — nothing changes	cut–cut–cut, put–put–put, let–let–let, cost–cost–cost, hit–hit–hit, hurt–hurt–hurt, set–set–set, shut–shut–shut
ABA — the first and third forms are the same	come–came–come, become–became–become, run–ran–run
i → a → u	sing–sang–sung, drink–drank–drunk, swim–swam–swum, ring–rang–rung, begin–began–begun
-ought / -aught — V2 = V3	bring–brought–brought, think–thought–thought, buy–bought–bought, catch–caught–caught, teach–taught–taught, fight–fought–fought
-ew → -own	know–knew–known, grow–grew–grown, throw–threw–thrown, blow–blew–blown, fly–flew–flown, draw–drew–drawn
short -t form — V2 = V3	sleep–slept–slept, keep–kept–kept, feel–felt–felt, leave–left–left, send–sent–sent, spend–spent–spent

Outside these patterns are go–went–gone, be–was–been, do–did–done — but these show up in every text and tend to stick on their own.

A boy sorting colorful sticky notes into groups on a large sheet of paper — Six colors instead of a hundred separate words.

2. Rhythm and chanting

Say the trios like a chant: “sing-sang-sung, ring-rang-rung, drink-drank-drunk.” Two minutes on the way to school gives more than half an hour over a table.

3. Spaced repetition

A form repeated once is forgotten in a few days. Review after 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days — and don’t reread, recall: you say V1, your child says V2 and V3. How to use flashcards is explained in the article about spaced repetition and the Leitner method.

This is exactly where most families stop: after a week, no one keeps up with a “1–3–7–14–30” schedule on the fridge. In Mova, words are repeated automatically using the Leitner method — the app remembers which word to show when, a mistake brings it back tomorrow, and you don’t have to count or remind anyone.

4. 5–7 verbs a week

Monday: one group with the same pattern, 5–7 verbs, one spoken sentence with V2 for each (“I slept well”).
Tuesday: review #1 — V1 from you, the trio from the child.
Thursday: review #2 + a sentence with V3, if the child already knows Perfect tenses.
Sunday: review #3 mixed with older groups.
Then — after 14 and 30 days.

That way, the top 30 can be learned in 5 weeks, the top 50 in 2 months — and for good.

The plan works as long as someone keeps it going. If you honestly know that by week three no one will remember Tuesday’s review, you can hand the daily routine over to Mova: games, social media, and videos on your child’s iPhone open only for minutes earned through an English lesson, the time is added up automatically (“Super” on a test — 30 min, “Good” — 20 min), and you can see progress in the web dashboard. The chants with the trios are still up to you — two minutes on the way to school.

Common mistakes

goed, catched, thinked. A normal stage: just echo the correct form (“You went?”) and move on.
Mixing up V2 and V3: “I have saw.” This is fixed with sentence practice: V2 stands alone (I saw), V3 only comes after have/be (I have seen).
Trying to learn all 200 alphabetically. That means starting with rare verbs like arise, awake, bear.
Forms without translation or context. Every trio should live in at least one sentence.
A cram session before a test. 50 verbs in one evening last until morning.

How many irregular verbs does a student actually need?

There are about 200 active irregular verbs, and close to 470 if you count archaic ones. But the top 50 cover practically everything a student will meet in a textbook, cartoon, or game.

A rough guide by age:

Grades 3–5 (A1): the top 30 essentials — enough for Past Simple at school;
Grades 6–8 (A2): top 50–70;
Grade 9 and up (B1): all 100 — the rest are picked up through reading.

To see where your child is now, read the article about a child’s English level by age and grade.

How Mova helps with irregular verbs

The method usually breaks down at consistency: by week two, review gets dropped. Mova keeps the daily routine going for you — no score tables or reminders:

A lesson every day — otherwise the phone stays locked. Games and videos on your child’s iPhone open only for minutes earned through an English lesson.
A daily rule matched to the level — as the level grows, it reaches Past Simple and Present Perfect.
Verbs in text, not just in a table. Read & Write — a short text and questions about it, with answers by text or voice.
Words repeated at 1–3–7–14–30 day intervals, a mistake means tomorrow again.
No cram marathons. If the test isn’t passed, the next attempt is in an hour, with different questions.

What it doesn’t do: there’s no separate trainer for the three forms — in the word test, any form counts as correct, so keep the table and the chants for yourself.

A girl doing an English lesson on an iPhone, with a sheet of grouped verbs beside her — The table is for the three forms; the daily lesson is what keeps it from being dropped.

Frequently asked questions

How many irregular verbs are there in English altogether?

Including outdated ones, about 470; in active use, around 200. In everyday speech, the top 50–100 do most of the work.

What does the “3rd column” in a table of irregular verbs mean?

It’s the Past Participle (V3), used for Perfect tenses (I have done) and the passive voice (It was made). It is not used without have/has/had or be.

How can you memorize irregular verbs quickly?

Group them by pattern (cut–cut–cut, sing–sang–sung), say the trios rhythmically, and review after 1–3–7–14–30 days. 5–7 verbs a week gets you through the top 50 in two months.

Does a student need to memorize all 100 verbs by heart?

No. Up to A2 level, the first 30 are enough; the top 50 cover almost all school texts.

What app helps with learning irregular verbs?

The one that keeps learning consistent. In Mova, the English lesson is daily — without it, games on the iPhone won’t open — words are repeated at intervals, and the daily rule progresses up to Past Simple. It doesn’t train the three forms separately, though — for that, use the table above.

Want English to be a daily habit instead of a cram session before a test? Try Mova for free.

Read also:

Irregular Verbs: A Table + How to Learn Them Without Rote Memorization