Past simple: irregular verbs
Learn the most common irregular past forms — went, saw, had, made — and practise them in real sentences.
In this lesson you will
- Learn 30 common irregular past forms
- Group irregular verbs to remember them
- Use them to talk about past events
Learn
Many common verbs are irregular: they don’t add -ed. You need to learn them: go → went, see → saw, have → had, make → made.
It helps to learn them in groups with similar patterns: buy → bought, bring → brought, think → thought; know → knew, grow → grew, throw → threw; sing → sang, drink → drank, swim → swam; put, cut, hit, let, cost don’t change.
The irregular form is used only in positive sentences. In negatives and questions we use did + base verb (next lesson).
Learn a few verbs every day and use them in sentences about your own life — that’s the fastest way to remember them.
| Base | Past | Base | Past |
|---|---|---|---|
| go | went | buy | bought |
| see | saw | think | thought |
| have | had | take | took |
| make | made | give | gave |
| get | got | come | came |
| say | said | write | wrote |
| eat | ate | leave | left |
| meet | met | put | put |
Examples
- We went to the beach and swam in the sea.
- I saw my cousin at the airport.
- She bought a new laptop.
- They ate dinner at a small restaurant.
Vocabulary
went
past of go
bought
past of buy
thought
past of think
took
past of take
left
past of leave
“The train left at nine.”
Practice
Complete the sentence.
Listening: A weekend away
Audio isn’t available in this browser — read the transcript instead.
Ana: How was your weekend?
Ben: Great! We drove to the mountains on Saturday.
Ana: Did you stay in a hotel?
Ben: No, we took a tent. We slept by a lake.
Ana: Sounds cold!
Ben: It was! But we made a fire and I caught two fish.
1.How did they travel?
2.Where did they sleep?
3.How many fish did Ben catch? (number)
Speaking
Talk about your last holiday: where you went, how you got there, what you saw, ate and bought.
Writing
Write a short diary entry about a special day (60–80 words) using at least eight irregular verbs.
Lesson quiz
I ___ a great film last night.
Review
Key points
- Irregular verbs don’t add -ed.
- Learn them in groups (bought/brought/thought).
- Some don’t change: put, cut, cost, let.
What you learned
- ✓ I know common irregular past forms.
- ✓ I can describe past events with them.
- ✓ I have a strategy for learning them.
Grammar reference: Past simple