The past tense of verbs are actions that have already been completed. Usually, verbs take the same form when they are in the past tense. Sometimes they take an irregular form. Some of these irregular past tense forms are easier than others.
Regular Past Tense
In English, most regular verbs (the action that is going on in a sentence) are turned into the past tense (the action is finished) by adding '-ed' to the end of a base form of the verb. Let's look at an example with to jump (jump is the base form of to jump):
- I jump. (present tense)
- I jumped. (past tense)
Irregular past tense verbs are verbs that do not take this form. They are formed in a different way that does not fit this pattern. Sometimes they are easier than others:
- She eats. (present tense)
- She ate. (past tense)
Sometimes irregular past tense verbs are very difficult. Even after teaching the difference of 'lie' and 'lay' many times, I still must look up the correct irregular past tense before I write the past tense of these verbs!
Irregular Past Tense Verb: To Be
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Why Are There Irregular Past Tenses Verbs?
English is a mixture of influences from Old English, Latin, Greek, German, French and Scandinavian languages. With so many languages and grammar systems, there are irregular parts of grammar, like irregular past tenses.
In fact, while there are thousands of verbs in English, there are several hundred irregular past tense verbs. However, some of them are not rarely used.