A2 Elementary Past tenses
Past simple — irregular verbs
Lesson goal. After this lesson you can recall and use the past forms of the most common irregular verbs.
When to use it
- They work exactly like regular past simple verbs — only the form is different.
- These are the most frequent verbs in English: go, have, do, say, see, get, make, come.
- Without them you cannot tell a story in English.
Form
| Group | Examples | How to remember |
|---|---|---|
| change the vowel | come → came · give → gave · run → ran · sit → sat | only the middle vowel changes |
| completely different | go → went · buy → bought · teach → taught · see → saw | learn each word by heart |
| no change | put → put · cut → cut · read → read | same spelling; only read is pronounced differently |
Step by step
- Spot the past time marker.
- Ask: is this verb in the irregular list?
- Yes → use column two (the past form), no -ed.
- No → go back to the -ed rules from the last lesson.
Twelve verbs to learn first
| Base | Past | Base | Past |
|---|---|---|---|
| be | was / were | have | had |
| do | did | go | went |
| say | said | get | got |
| make | made | take | took |
| come | came | see | saw |
| know | knew | give | gave |
Examples
I went to Da Nang last summer.
She bought a new phone yesterday.
We had a great time at the party.
He told me an interesting story.
They ate pho for breakfast.
My teacher gave us a lot of homework.
Common mistakes
I goed home early. → I went home early.
go is irregular and never takes -ed. This is the most common beginner past-tense mistake.
She buyed a dress. → She bought a dress.
buy – bought. Learners over-apply the -ed rule.
I seen him yesterday. → I saw him yesterday.
saw is the past; seen is the participle, used only with have/has/had. Mixing column two and three is very common.
Memory tip
Do not memorise a hundred verbs at once. Learn five a day and write one sentence about your own life for each — far more durable than rereading a list.
Summary
- Irregular verbs change in their own way and never take -ed.
- Three groups: vowel change · complete change · no change.
- Column two is the past (saw), column three the participle (seen).
Practise this lesson
Do exercises with an explanation for every question, take mini tests and track your progress on GrammUp.