English irregular verbs

What is an irregular verb in English?

In English, an irregular verb is a verb with its own forms in the past simple and the past participle. It does not follow the standard rule of adding “-ed” to the end of the verb to form them.

Regular verb: to like gives he liked.
Irregular verb: to buy gives he bought.

How many irregular verbs are there in English?

Our list contains 408. The number is not fixed: some verbs are irregular in British English but regular in American English, and vice versa. To learn, for example, gives learnt in British English and learned in American English.

The total also grows with verbs derived from the same base. To read has five: lipread, misread, proofread, reread and sight-read, all conjugated like their base verb.

The same goes for verbs formed with a prefix (for-, mis-, over-, under-…): to give leads to forgive, misgive and overgive, all irregular like give.

Which English irregular verbs should you know?

To speak English fluently, it is best to know all the irregular verbs. The first step, though, is to master the 222 verbs marked “common” in the table: they are the ones used most in modern English. The 34 occasional verbs and the 152 rare ones are a bonus if you are aiming for an advanced, academic or professional level.

Why are irregular verbs important?

Irregular verbs make up a large share of the most common verbs: of the 100 most common English verbs, 48 have an irregular form, including the top 10. You cannot talk about the past without them.

The best way to remember them is to hear and use them every day. That is exactly what English courses in Malta offer: these verbs become second nature, in class and in daily life.