Form and Use Regular and Irregular Verbs

Section 1

Why Do Verbs Change?

Every sentence you say or write has at least one verb — a word that shows action or a state of being. When you say "I jump," you use a verb. But what happens when you want to tell someone about yesterday? You say "I jumped." The verb changes to show when the action happened.

People have been changing verbs for thousands of years. Let's peek at how our language grew!

Long, Long Ago

Early humans started using sounds and words to share ideas. Verbs were some of the very first words — words like "eat," "run," and "go."

Old English (~1,000 years ago)

English was very different back then! Verbs changed in many unusual ways. Some of those strange patterns are still with us today — those are our irregular verbs.

Modern English (now!)

Today, most new verbs follow a simple rule: add -ed for the past tense. These are called regular verbs. But the old, tricky ones — like "go → went" — are still important to learn.

So here's the big question: how do you know which verbs follow the -ed rule and which ones do their own thing? That's exactly what this lesson is all about!

Section 2

Core Ideas About Verbs

Before we dive in, let's make sure we understand four important ideas. These are the building blocks for everything else in this lesson.

What Is a Verb?

A verb is a word that shows action (like "run" or "paint") or a state of being (like "is" or "was"). Every sentence needs one!

What Is Verb Tense?

Tense tells us when something happens. The three main tenses are past, present, and future.

Regular Verbs

Regular verbs follow a pattern. To make the past tense, you add -ed (or just -d) to the end. Example: walk → walked.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed rule. They change in their own special way. Example: run → ran. You have to memorize these!

✦ KEY TAKEAWAY

Think of regular verbs like cookies made with a cookie cutter — they all come out the same shape (add -ed). Irregular verbs are like cookies shaped by hand — each one looks a little different. Both kinds taste great, but the hand-shaped ones take more practice to remember!

Section 3

A Visual Map of Verb Tenses

Let's see how regular and irregular verbs look side by side. The diagram below shows how the verb changes for the past, present, and future.

Diagram showing regular verb 'walk' and irregular verb 'run' changing across past, present, and future tenses

Look closely at the diagram above. The regular verb "walk" just adds -ed to make the past tense. But the irregular verb "run" changes into a totally different word — "ran." Also notice that the future tense is the same idea for both: just put the word "will" before the verb.

Section 4

How Regular Verbs Work

Regular verbs are the easiest verbs to use because they follow a simple set of rules. Here are the three rules for adding -ed to make the past tense:

RULE 1 — MOST VERBS

verb + ed = past tense

Examples: jump → jumped, talk → talked, play → played

RULE 2 — VERBS ENDING IN "E"

verb + d = past tense

Examples: bake → baked, smile → smiled, hope → hoped

RULE 3 — VERBS ENDING IN CONSONANT + Y

change y to i, then add ed

Examples: cry → cried, try → tried, carry → carried

These three rules cover most verbs in English. When you learn a new verb and it follows these rules, you can call it a regular verb. Easy!

How Irregular Verbs Work

Irregular verbs are trickier. They do not follow the -ed rules above. Instead, the whole word changes — or sometimes it stays the same! Here are some patterns you might notice:

📝 Vowel change

sing → sang, drink → drank

📝 Whole new word

go → went, is → was

📝 No change at all

cut → cut, put → put

Since there is no single rule, you need to memorize the most common irregular verbs. The good news? You already know many of them from talking every day!

Section 5

Verb Chart: Regular vs. Irregular

Below is a chart of common verbs. The blue rows are regular verbs and the pink rows are irregular verbs. Study them carefully!

Type	Present	Past	Future
REGULAR	walk	walked	will walk
REGULAR	jump	jumped	will jump
REGULAR	play	played	will play
REGULAR	smile	smiled	will smile
IRREGULAR	run	ran	will run
IRREGULAR	go	went	will go
IRREGULAR	see	saw	will see
IRREGULAR	eat	ate	will eat
IRREGULAR	have	had	will have
IRREGULAR	come	came	will come

Not sure if a verb is regular or irregular? Use this handy flowchart!

Verbs in English

Regular verbs (most verbs!)

Irregular verbs (~200 common ones)

Regular verbs (most verbs!)Irregular verbs (~200 common ones)

Section 6

Worked Example

Let's practice changing verbs step by step. We'll use a short paragraph and fill in the correct verb forms.

Changing Verbs Step by Step

Step 1 — Read the SentenceYesterday, Emma ___ (walk) to the park. She ___ (see) a big rainbow.

Step 2 — Find the Clue WordThe word "yesterday" tells us this happened in the past. So we need the past tense of each verb.

Step 3 — Change the First Verb"Walk" is a regular verb. We add -ed to make it past tense. Walk → walked. ✓

Step 4 — Change the Second Verb"See" is an irregular verb. We can't say "seed" — that sounds wrong! The past tense of "see" is saw. ✓

Step 5 — Read the Finished SentencesYesterday, Emma walked to the park. She saw a big rainbow.

Great job! We used one regular verb and one irregular verb — both in the past tense.

Section 7

Comparing Regular and Irregular Verbs

Let's put regular and irregular verbs side by side so you can see how they're alike and how they're different.

Feature	Regular Verbs	Irregular Verbs
Past tense rule	Add -ed (or -d)	No set rule — each one is different
Easy to learn?	Yes! One pattern fits most.	Harder — you must memorize them.
How many?	Thousands of verbs!	About 200 common ones
Future tense	will + verb (same for both!)	will + verb (same for both!)
Examples	walk, talk, jump, play, help	go, see, run, eat, is, have
Common mistake	Forgetting to add -ed	Saying "goed" or "runned"

✦ KEY TAKEAWAY

Imagine you have a box of crayons. The regular verbs are like the crayons that all have labels — you know exactly what color you'll get. The irregular verbs are like mystery crayons with the labels peeled off. You need to test each one to find out what color it is! Once you learn them, though, you'll remember them forever.

Section 8

What's Coming Next?

Now that you know about regular and irregular verbs in the past, present, and future, there's even more to explore as you get older! Here's a peek at what comes next.

What You Know Now	What You'll Learn Later
Past tense: walked, ran	Past participle: has walked, has run
Simple tenses (past, present, future)	Progressive tenses: was walking, is running
Changing one verb at a time	Subject-verb agreement: she runs (not she run)

Don't worry about these yet! Just keep practicing the regular and irregular verbs you're learning now. The skills you build today are the foundation for all of that future learning. You're doing amazing work! 🌟

Section 9

Practice Problems

Time to try it yourself! Read each question carefully. When you're ready, click "Show Answer" to check your work.

PROBLEM 1 — WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

What is the difference between a regular verb and an irregular verb?

PROBLEM 2 — SORT THE VERBS

Look at these verbs in the past tense. Which ones are regular and which are irregular? played, went, helped, ate, cleaned, sang

PROBLEM 3 — FILL IN THE BLANK

Fill in each blank with the correct past tense form of the verb in parentheses. 1. The dog ___ (bark) all night. 2. We ___ (swim) in the lake yesterday. 3. She ___ (cry) when the movie ended.

PROBLEM 4 — FIX THE PARAGRAPH

This paragraph has three mistakes with verb tenses. Can you find and fix them? Last Saturday, Jake goed to the store. He buyed some apples. Then he eated one on the way home.

PROBLEM 5 — WRITE YOUR OWN!

Write three sentences about what you did yesterday. Use at least one regular verb and one irregular verb in the past tense. Then label each verb as regular or irregular.

Summary

Lesson Review

In this lesson, you learned that a verb is a word that shows action or a state of being, and that verbs change form to show tense — when something happens. Regular verbs follow a simple pattern: just add -ed (or -d) to make the past tense, like "walk → walked" and "play → played." Remember the special rule: if a verb ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to i first, like "cry → cried."

Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed rule. Instead, they change in their own special way. Words like go → went, see → saw, and eat → ate must be memorized. Both types of verbs use "will" plus the base form for the future tense (will walk, will run). Keep practicing, keep reading, and soon these verb forms will feel as natural as breathing! 🌟