English Grammar – Irregular Verbs exercises Exercises with Answers
Irregular verbs Exercises – Irregular verbs are used extensively in English. Using the correct past tense and past participle forms of irregular verbs is essential for grammatically accurate sentences.
These Irregular Verbs Exercises are specially curated to aid your learning and improve your language proficiency and fluency. So, have fun and good luck on your language learning journey!
- What is Irregular Verbs?
- Exercise 1- Identify incorrect verb form and write the correct one
- Pitfalls and Common Errors
- Exercise 2- Fill in the Blanks
- Exercise 3 – Choose the most appropriate verb form
- Exercise 4 – Complete the dialogues
- Conclusion
What are Irregular Verbs?
An irregular verb is a verb that doesn’t follow the usual rules for forming the past tense and past participle. Unlike regular verbs, which simply add “-ed” to the base form. For example, walk → walked, talk → talked, irregular verbs change their spelling in sometimes unpredictable ways. For example, go → went, eat → ate, sleep → slept.
Here are some of the common characteristics of irregular verbs:
- They have different forms for the present, past, and past participle tenses.
- They do not follow the “-ed” rule for forming the past tense and past participle.
- There are no set rules for how they are formed; you just have to memorize them.
Here is a comprehensive list of commonly used irregular verbs:
| V1 Base Form | V2 Simple Past | V3 Past Participle |
| be | was/were | been |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| build | built | built |
| buy | bought | bought |
| can | could | could |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| do | did | done |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| find | found | found |
| fly | flew | flown |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| know | knew | known |
| make | made | made |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| read | read | read |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| understand | understood | understood |
| write | wrote | written |
Exercise 1 – Identify the incorrect verb form and write the correct one in answer.
1. V1: get V2: getted V3: gotten
Ans. Incorrect – V2: getted Correct- got
2. V1: begin V2: beginned V3: begun
Ans. Incorrect – V2: beginned Correct- began
3. V1: bite V2: bited V3: bitten
Ans. Incorrect – V2: bited Correct- bit
4. V1: break V2: broked V3: broken
Ans. Incorrect – V2: broked Correct- broke
5. V1: choose V2: chose V3: chosed
Ans. Incorrect – V3: chosed Correct- chosen
6. V1: come V2: came V3: camed
Ans. Incorrect – V3: camed Correct- come
7. V1: do V2: did V3: did
Ans. Incorrect – V3: did Correct- done
8. V1: draw V2: drew V3: drewn
Ans. Incorrect – V3: drewn Correct- drawn
9. V1: drive V2: drived V3: driven
Ans. Incorrect – V2: drived Correct- drove
10. V1: drink V2: drank V3: dranked
Ans. Incorrect – V3: dranked Correct- drunk
11. V1: fall V2: fell V3: felled
Ans. Incorrect – V3: felled Correct- fallen
12. V1: fly V2: flew V3: flewed
Ans. Incorrect – V3: flewed Correct- flown
13. V1: forget V2: forgetted V3: forgotten
Ans. Incorrect – V2: forgetted Correct- forgot
14. V1: give V2: gived V3: given
Ans. Incorrect – V2: gived Correct- gave
15. V1: forgive V2: forgived V3: forgiven
Ans. Incorrect – V2: forgived Correct- forgave
16. V1: go V2: god V3: gone
Ans. Incorrect – V2: god Correct- went
17. V1: freeze V2: freezed V3: frozen
Ans. Incorrect – V2: freezed Correct- froze
18. V1: arise V2: arised V3: arisen
Ans. Incorrect – V2: arised Correct- arose
19. V1: awake V2: awaked V3: awoken
Ans. Incorrect – V2: awaked Correct- awoke
20. V1: blow V2: blew V3: blewed
Ans. Incorrect – V3: blewed Correct- blown
21. V1: choose V2: choosed V3: chosen
Ans. Incorrect – V2: choosed Correct- chose
22. V1: forbid V2: forbided V3: forbidden
Ans. Incorrect – V2: forbided Correct- forbade
23. V1: grow V2: growed V3: grown
Ans. Incorrect – V2: growed Correct- grew
24. V1:hide V2: hided V3: hidden
Ans. Incorrect – V2: hided Correct- hid
25. V1: overtake V2: overtook V3: overtooked
Ans. Incorrect – V3: overtooked Correct- overtaken
Pitfalls and Common Errors
When it comes to irregular verbs, several common errors can trip up learners. Here are some of the most frequent pitfalls to avoid:
- Forgetting the correct form: This is the most common error, simply using the “regular” form (-ed) for irregular verbs. Examples: “bringed” instead of “brought,” “writed” instead of “wrote.”
- Mixing up tenses: Confusing past tense for past participle, or vice versa. Examples: “She has eated all the cookies” (should be “eaten”).
- Overgeneralizing patterns: Some irregular verbs share vowel changes or consonant additions, but not all. Assuming that a pattern applies universally can lead to mistakes. Examples: “sing-sang,” “ring-rang,” but “bring-brought,” not “brang.”
Exercise 2 – Fill in the blanks
1. I ____ soundly after a long day’s journey. (sleep)
Ans. slept
2. She ______ three languages fluently. (speak)
Ans. spoke
3. We ______ a happy birthday song for him. (sing)
Ans. sang
4. They _____ all the cookies before dinner! (eat)
Ans. ate
5. He ______ as fast as his legs could carry him. (run)
Ans. ran
6. She _______ a beautiful poem about love. (write)
Ans. wrote
7. We ____ him a gift for his graduation. (give)
Ans. gave
8. They _______ a shooting star streak across the sky. (see)
Ans. saw
9. He _____ a deep breath and calmed down. (take)
Ans. took
10. She ____ a delicious cake for the party. (make)
Ans. made
11. We ______ to the beach for a picnic. (go)
Ans. went
12. They ______ asleep on the couch watching TV. (fall)
Ans. fell
13. He _______ the ball before it hit the ground. (catch)
Ans. caught
14. She _____ them to the airport on time. (drive)
Ans. drove
15. We _____ a sandcastle on the beach. (build)
Ans. built
16. They ____ a hidden treasure in the attic. (find)
Ans. found
17. He _____ a book before bed every night. (read)
Ans. read
18. She _______ a new pair of shoes. (buy)
Ans. bought
19. We ____ our friends at the cafe. (meet)
Ans. met
20. They _____ their way in the forest. (lose)
Ans. lost
21. He ______ to turn off the lights. (forget)
Ans. forgot
22. She _____ her finger while cooking. (cut)
Ans. cut
23. We _____ lemonade on the porch swing. (drink)
Ans. drank
24. They _____ the match. (win)
Ans. won
25. He _____ in the pool on a hot summer day. (swam)
Ans. swam
Exercise 3 – Choose the most appropriate verb form to complete each sentence.
1. I ________ the movie last night, and it was hilarious!
a) saw b) seen c) see d) seeing
Answer: a) saw
2. Today, she ________ up early in the morning to go for a run.
a) get b) gets c) got d) getting
Answer: c) got
3. They ________ the ball over the fence and it landed in the neighbor’s yard.
a) throw b) threw c) thrown d) throwing
Answer: b) threw
4. We ________ at the beach all day and got sunburnt.
a) lay b) laid c) lie d) lying
Answer: b) laid
5. He ________ his homework before dinner, just like his mother had asked.
a) do b) did c) done d) doing
Answer: b) did
6. They ________ to go to the concert, but the tickets were sold out.
a) went b) wented c) go d) gone
Answer: a) went
7. I ________ her a beautiful bouquet of flowers for her birthday.
a) give b) gave c) given d) giving
Answer: b) gave
8. We ________ pizza for dinner last night, but I would have preferred pasta.
a) eat b) ate c) eaten d) eating
Answer: b) ate
9. She had________ the book three times already, and she loved it every time.
a) read b) red c) reads d) reading
Answer: a) read
10. He ________ the door and walked out without saying goodbye.
a) shut b) shuted c) shuts d) shutting
Answer: b) shut
11. I ________ her a message, but I’m not sure if she ever saw it.
a) send b) sent c) sending d) sended
Answer: b) sent
12. We ________to the museum before it closed, and it was really fascinating.
a) go b) went c) gone d) going
Answer: b) went
13. She ________ him a funny joke, and he couldn’t stop laughing.
a) tell b) told c) tells d) telling
Answer: b) told
14. She ________ him a new shirt for his birthday, and he loved it.
a) give b) gave c) given d) giving
Answer: b) gave
15. They ________ the competition, and they were awarded a gold medal.
a) win b) won c) wins d) winning
Answer: b) won
16. I ________ the candle before I left the room
a) lit b) light c) lighted d) lighten
Answer: a) lit
17. You ________ hurt her feelings with your comment.
a) may b) mayed c) might d) mighted
Answer: c) might
18. He ________ to say “thank you,” but forgot.
a) mean b) meant c) meaned d) meaning
Answer: b) meant
19. The children ________ early this morning to play in the snow.
a) leave b) left c) leaved d) lefted
Answer: b) left
20. You need to ________ attention to the details if you want a good grade.
a) pay b) paid c) pain d) payed
Answer: a) pay
21. I have never ________ a horse before.
a) ride b) ridden c) rode d) rided
Answer: b) ridden
22. The sun ________ brightly all day long.
a) shine b) shined c) shone d) shoned
Answer: c) shone
23. The earthquake ________ the entire house.
a) shook b) shake c) shaked d) shaken
Answer: a) shook
24. The dough had not yet ________ when I took it out of the oven.
a) rise b) rose c) risen d) rised
Answer: c) risen
25. Under the harsh sunlight, the flower’s petals ______ and wilted.
a) shrink b) shrank c) shrunk d) shrinked
Answer: c) shrunk
Exercise 4 – Complete the dialogues.
1. Woman talks about her trip to Italy.
Man: How was your summer vacation?
Woman: Great! I ____ (A- go) to Italy with my family. It was so fun there! We met lots of nice people and _____ (B- eat) really delicious food.
Man: Where did you stay?
Woman: We stayed at a hotel on the beach so we ____ (C- wake) up every day to the sunrise over the water. Each day we _______ (D- swim) in the ocean and took long walks on the beach. At night, we sat and watched the stars. We ____ (E- see) so many stars!
Ans-
- went
- ate
- woke
- swam
- saw
2. Sarah and David at a park bench.
Sarah: Hey David, what ____ (A- do) you do this weekend?
David: Hi Sarah! I went to the beach with my family. We ____ (B- build) sandcastles.
Sarah: Wow, that sounds amazing! I mostly stayed home and _______ (C-read) a book. It was a mystery novel, and it ______ (D-keep) me guessing until the very end!
David: Cool! Do you want to join me for a game of frisbee now? I just _____ (E- buy) it.
Sarah: Sure! But I must warn you, I am not very good at catching.
Ans.
- did
- built
- read
- kept
- bought
3. School Library
Maya: Hey Alex, have you started working on our history project yet?
Alex: Hey Maya! Yeah, I _______ (A- begin) researching last night. But it’s kind of confusing – so many events happened during that period!
Maya: I know, right? I ______ (B- find) the same thing. Maybe we should split up the tasks and each focus on a specific aspect?
Alex: Excellent idea! What if I ______ (C-choose) cultural aspects and you handled the political aspects?
Maya: Sounds good! Let’s ____ (D- meet) back here tomorrow and share our findings. Then we can _____ (E-put) everything together.
Ans.
- began
- found
- chose
- meet
- put
4. Homework Help
Lily: Have you ____(A-choose) a topic for your history project, John?
John: I almost did, but I am _____ (B-stuck) on a question about the Roman Empire.
Lily: Hmm, maybe I can help! What ____ (C-do) you write about?
John: I have _____ (D-write) about the rise of Julius Caesar. Here, have a look at it.
Lily: I think you have ______ (E-forget) to describe his assassination.
John:
Ans.
- chosen
- stuck
- did
- written
- forgotten
5. Lakeside picnic
Rohan: This spot is perfect! Let’s just ____ (A-lie) down on the grass and enjoy the view.
Riya: Sounds good. But shouldn’t we _____ (B-lay) out a blanket first? The grass _____ (C-may) be damp.
Rohan: Good point! Here, I’ll lay it down for us.
Riya: Have you ever _____ (D-lie) here at night?
Rohan: Yes, I sometimes stargaze. Have you ever _____ (E-see) the Big Dipper?
Rohan: Yes, It is the easiest star pattern to locate.
Ans.
- lie
- lay
- might
- lain
- seen
Conclusion
Over 200 irregular verbs exist in English, forming a significant portion of our daily vocabulary. Don’t be discouraged by their number, but focus on learning the most commonly used ones first.Ultimately, learning irregular verbs is a journey, not a destination, so, embrace the process and be patient with yourself. Keep practicing, and soon you’ll find yourself using these verbs effortlessly!
Also See :
Exercises on Verbs Rules (True or False), Verb Exercises
Exercises of Tenses
Exercises of Simple Present Tense