Irregular Verbs

Pattern a, b, b - Bare Stem Different from Simple Past Tense and Past Participle

by Sally Jennings

"Yesterday" is used to show the past, "now" for the present, and "tomorrow" for the future in these sample sentences. Where two forms are shown as "form 1/form 2", form 1 is the most frequently used. Many of these verbs must have an object, for example: John brought (object) yesterday. = John brought a cake yesterday.

Column One
   Bare Stem
   Use for Present Tense - for 3rd person singular only, add "s" to bare stem - singular subject (verb + s) now.
      John loses now.
      Jane loses now.
      He loses now.
      She loses now.
      It loses now.
   All others, do not add "s" to the bare stem - subject (verb) now.
      They lose now.

Column Two
   Simple Past Tense - do not add anything to verb - subject (verb) yesterday.
      John lost yesterday.
      They lost yesterday.

Column Three
   Past Participle - do not add anything to verb.
      Use for Present Perfect - subject has/have (verb), note: use "has" for 3rd person singular only, all others use "have":
         John has lost. He has lost.
         They have lost.

      Use for Past Perfect - subject had (verb).
         John had lost yesterday.
         They had lost yesterday.

      Use for Future Perfect - subject will have (verb) tomorrow.
         John will have lost tomorrow.
         They will have lost tomorrow.

Column One	Column Two	Column Three
Bare Stem	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
Present Tense add "s" only for 3rd person singular He (verb + s) now. They (verb) now.	He (verb) yesterday. It (verb) yesterday. They (verb) yesterday.	He has (verb). It has (verb). They have (verb). He had (verb) yesterday. He will have (verb) tomorrow.
bend	bent	bent
bind	bound	bound
bleed	bled	bled
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burnt/burned
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
cling	clung	clung
creep	crept	crept
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
grind	ground	ground
hang	hung	hung
hear	heard	heard
hold	held	held
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leap	leaped/leapt	leapt/leaped
learn	learned/learnt	learnt/learned
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
misspell	misspelled	misspelled
mow	mowed	mowed/mown
pay	paid	paid
plead	pled	pled
say	said	said
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled/spilt	spilt/spilled
spin	spun	spun
stand	stood	stood
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
sweep	swept	swept
swing	swung	swung
teach	taught	taught
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
understand	understood	understood
uphold	upheld	upheld
weep	wept	wept
wind	wound	wound
win	won	won
withhold	withheld	withheld
withstand	withstood	withstood
wring	wrung	wrung

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