The most basic of English verbs: BE, MAKE, DO, GIVE, etc. are all irregular, which means that they have a different form: they do not follow the “-ED” ending when we use the Simple Past or Past Participle. This can be confusing for English learners, even those at higher levels of English!

How can you improve your understanding and use of Irregular Verbs? Many students choose to look at list and memorize. Can you complete this chart?

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
awake		awoken
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become		become
begin		begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break		broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned or burnt	burned or burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come		come
cost	cost	cost
cut		cut
dig	dug	dug
do		done
draw		drawn
dream	dreamed or dreamt	dreamed or dreamt
drive		driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat		eaten
fall		fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight		fought
find	found	found
fly		flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get		got (sometimes gotten)
give	gave	given
go		gone
grow		grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide		hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt		hurt
keep	kept	kept
know		known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learned or learnt	learned or learnt
leave		left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make		made
mean	meant	meant
meet		met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read		read
ride		ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise		risen
run	ran	run
say		said
see	saw	seen
sell		sold
send	sent	sent
show	showed	showed or shown
shut	shut	shut
sing		sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep		slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand		stood
swim	swam	swum
take		taken
teach		taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think		thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear		worn
win	won	won
write		written

This will only help you to a certain extent. The best practice is of course speaking using these verbs, as you do every day in the CISL classroom. But for a little extra practice, here is an article about California history. It is missing some Simple Past irregular verbs. Can you complete the blanks?

California History + Irregular Verbs in English

Adapted from Info Please. Access the complete article here. 

The first voyage (1542) to Alta California (Upper California), as the region north of Baja California (Lower California) came to be known, was commanded by the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who explored San Diego Bay and the area farther north along the coast. In 1579 an English expedition headed by Sir Francis Drake landed near Point Reyes, N of San Francisco, and claimed the region for Queen Elizabeth I. In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno, another Spaniard, explored the coast and Monterey Bay.

Colonization was slow, but finally in 1769 Gaspar de Portolá, governor of the Californias, _______________ (lead) an expedition up the Pacific coast and established a colony on San Diego Bay. The following year he explored the area around Monterey Bay and later returned to establish a presidio there. Soon afterward Monterey _______________ (become) the capital of Alta California. Accompanying Portolá’s expedition _______________  (be) Father Junipero Serra, a Franciscan missionary who founded a mission at San Diego. Franciscans later founded several missions that extended as far N as Sonoma, N of San Francisco. The missionaries _______________ (seek) to Christianize the Native Americans but also forced them to work as manual laborers, helping to build the missions into vital agricultural communities (see Mission Indians). Cattle raising was of primary importance, and hides and tallow _______________ (be) exported. The missions have been preserved and are now open to visitors.

Russian and U.S. Settlement

Russian fur traders had penetrated south to the California coast and established Fort Ross, north of San Francisco, in 1812. Jedediah Strong Smith and other trappers made the first U.S. overland trip to the area in 1826, but U.S. settlement did not become significant until the 1840s. In 1839, Swiss-born John Augustus Sutter arrived and established his “kingdom” of New Helvetia on a vast tract in the Sacramento valley. He did much for the overland American immigrants, who began to arrive in large numbers in 1841. Some newcomers _______________ (meet) with tragedy, including the Donner Party, which was stranded in the Sierra Nevada after a heavy snowstorm.

Political events in the territory moved swiftly in the next few years. Under the influence of the American explorer John C. Frémont, U.S. settlers _______________ (set) up (1846) a republic at Sonoma under their unique Bear Flag. On July 7, 1846, Commodore John D. Sloat captured Monterey, the capital, and claimed California for the United States.

The Gold Rush

While establishing a sawmill for John Sutter near Coloma, James W. Marshall discovered gold and touched off the California gold rush. The forty-niners, as the gold-rush miners were called, _______________ (come) in droves, spurred by the promise of fabulous riches from the Mother Lode. San Francisco rapidly became a boom city, and its bawdy, lawless coastal area, which became known as the Barbary Coast, _______________ (give) rise to extralegal community groups formed to suppress civil disorder. American writers such as Bret Harte and Mark Twain have recorded the violence and human tragedies of the roaring mining camps.

Statehood and Immigration

With the gold rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government. In 1849, California entered the Union as a free, non-slavery state. San Jose became the capital. Monterey, Vallejo, and Benicia each served as the capital before it was moved to Sacramento in 1854.

A railroad-rate war (1884) and a boom in real estate (1885) fostered a new wave of overland immigration. Cattle raising on the ranchos gave way to increased grain production. Vineyards were planted by 1861, and the first trainload of oranges was shipped from Los Angeles in 1886.

Industrialization and Increased Settlement

Los Angeles _______________ (grow) rapidly in this period and, in population, soon surpassed San Francisco, which suffered greatly after the great earthquake and fire of 1906. Improvements in urban transportation stimulated the growth of both Los Angeles and San Francisco; the cable car and the electric railway _______________ (make) possible the development of previously inaccessible areas.

Successive waves of settlers arrived in California, attracted by a new real-estate boom in the 1920s and by the promise of work in the 1930s. California’s population has continued to grow since then, each year attracting more immigrants than any other state in the country.

Answers

V1 Base Form	V2 Past Simple	V3 Past Participle
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned or burnt	burned or burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed or dreamt	dreamed or dreamt
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (sometimes gotten)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learned or learnt	learned or learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
show	showed	showed or shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

How did you do? For extra practice, check out our article on the Simple Past.

Cover photo: “Capitol Building MG 1600 Sans watermark” by PeteBobb – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capitol_Building_MG_1600_Sans_watermark.jpg#/media/File:Capitol_Building_MG_1600_Sans_watermark.jpg