Most English verbs form their past tense by adding -ed. 'Walk' becomes 'walked'. 'Talk' becomes 'talked'. 'Visit' becomes 'visited'. These are regular verbs and the rule is simple. But many of the most common English verbs are irregular — their past forms do not follow the -ed rule. 'Eat' becomes 'ate' (past simple) and 'eaten' (past participle). 'Take' becomes 'took' and 'taken'. 'See' becomes 'saw' and 'seen'. Each irregular verb has three forms — base, past simple, and past participle — and all three must be memorised. There is no rule that predicts the forms. Students who try to apply the -ed rule to irregular verbs produce errors like 'eated', 'taked', 'seed' which sound clearly wrong to native speakers. This lesson covers the most common irregular verbs at B1 level and shows how to teach them as fixed sets of three forms.
Before you start — think honestly about your own teaching and experience.
Look at the examples. Answer each question before reading the explanation — this is how your students will learn too.
Regular (add -ed):
walk → walked → walked
talk → talked → talked
visit → visited → visited
play → played → played
Irregular (no -ed rule — three different forms):
eat → ate → eaten
take → took → taken
see → saw → seen
go → went → gone
drive → drove → driven
speak → spoke → spoken
Why are some verbs regular and others irregular? Why must irregular verbs be learned one by one?
Regular verbs follow the -ed rule and can be predicted: walk + ed = walked, talk + ed = talked. The past simple and past participle are usually the same. Irregular verbs do not follow this pattern. They have three forms that often look very different from each other: 'eat' becomes 'ate' (past simple) and 'eaten' (past participle). 'Go' becomes 'went' (past simple) and 'gone' (past participle). The past simple is used for past actions ('I ate yesterday') and the past participle is used after 'have' or in passive sentences ('I have eaten', 'the food was eaten'). The forms cannot be predicted from the base verb — they must be memorised. The bad news is that many of the most common English verbs are irregular. The good news is that the set of irregular verbs is fixed — there are perhaps 100 to 150 in common use, and B1 students need maybe 50 of them well. Once memorised, the forms stay reliable.
Base form (used in present tense and after 'to'):
I eat breakfast every morning.
She wants to take a photo.
We usually see our cousins on Sundays.
Past simple (used for past actions):
I ate breakfast at seven.
She took a photo of the garden.
We saw our cousins last weekend.
Past participle (used after 'have' / 'has' / 'had' or in passive):
I have eaten breakfast already.
The photo was taken yesterday.
We have seen this film three times.
Why do students need all three forms? When is each one used?
The three forms each have specific jobs. The base form is used in the simple present (I eat, she eats) and after 'to' (to eat, want to take, going to see). The past simple is used for completed past actions: 'I ate yesterday', 'she took a photo last week', 'we saw the film at the weekend'. The past participle has two main uses: after the auxiliaries 'have', 'has', 'had' to form the perfect tenses ('I have eaten', 'she has taken', 'we had seen'); and in passive sentences where the focus is on what was done rather than who did it ('the food was eaten', 'the photo was taken', 'the film was seen by many people'). Students who only learn the base form and the past simple cannot form the perfect tenses or passive sentences correctly. They need all three forms. The past participle is often the form that gets forgotten — but it is essential for higher-level grammar.
Group 1 — same vowel change A → O:
speak → spoke → spoken
drive → drove → driven
write → wrote → written
ride → rode → ridden
Group 2 — vowel change EE → AW → EE:
see → saw → seen
(this pattern is rare)
Group 3 — same form for all three:
cut → cut → cut
put → put → put
let → let → let
hit → hit → hit
Group 4 — different past simple, same past participle as base:
come → came → come
become → became → become
run → ran → run
Group 5 — completely irregular:
be → was/were → been
go → went → gone
have → had → had
do → did → done
Does seeing the patterns help? Or do students still need to learn each verb individually?
Some patterns exist among irregular verbs and can help students learn groups together. The A-O pattern (speak/spoke, drive/drove, write/wrote) is common — once students learn one, the others follow. The 'no change' group (cut/cut/cut, put/put/put) is small but useful. But many verbs are completely individual and the patterns do not help. 'Go/went/gone' has no clear connection between the three forms. 'Be/was/were/been' is the most irregular of all. For B1 teaching, the practical approach is: teach the most common verbs as individual three-form sets, point out patterns where they help, but do not waste time on patterns that have many exceptions. Students need to practise the verbs in real sentences and over time memorise them. Lists alone do not work — verbs become memorised through repeated use in context.
| Pattern | Description | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| All three forms different | The most common irregular pattern — three forms with different vowels | eat → ate → eaten | take → took → taken | see → saw → seen | drive → drove → driven | Each form must be memorised. The vowel changes are often unpredictable. |
| A → O pattern | Vowel changes from A in base to O in both past forms | speak → spoke → spoken | write → wrote → written | drive → drove → driven | rise → rose → risen | This pattern is common. Once students know one verb in this group, others follow. |
| All three forms the same | No change at all between forms | cut → cut → cut | put → put → put | let → let → let | hit → hit → hit | shut → shut → shut | Small but useful group. The same form is used in present, past simple, and past participle. |
| Past simple = past participle | Two of the three forms are the same | have → had → had | make → made → made | say → said → said | tell → told → told | get → got → got | Past simple and past participle share one form, while base is different. |
| Base = past participle | Past simple is different but base and past participle are the same | come → came → come | become → became → become | run → ran → run | A small group. After 'have', use the same form as the base. |
| Completely irregular | No clear pattern — must be memorised | be → was/were → been | go → went → gone | do → did → done | have → had → had | The most common verbs in English. Drilling these is essential. |
| Wrong forms students produce | Common errors from applying -ed rule | eated ✗ (should be ate/eaten) | taked ✗ (took/taken) | goed ✗ (went/gone) | seed ✗ (saw/seen) | drived ✗ (drove/driven) | Watch for these — they signal the student is treating an irregular verb as regular. |
PATTERN 1 — Three forms must be learned together: Each irregular verb has a base, a past simple, and a past participle. Students should learn all three at once: 'eat / ate / eaten', 'take / took / taken', 'see / saw / seen'. Saying the three forms together as a chunk fixes them in memory. Learning only two forms is incomplete.
PATTERN 2 — When to use each form: Base = present tense and after 'to'. Past simple = completed past action ('I ate yesterday'). Past participle = after 'have/has/had' ('I have eaten') and in passive sentences ('the food was eaten'). Students who know the forms must also know which to use when.
PATTERN 3 — The A-O vowel pattern: Several common verbs share the pattern of A in the base and O in both past forms: speak/spoke/spoken, write/wrote/written, drive/drove/driven, rise/rose/risen, choose/chose/chosen. Knowing one helps with others.
PATTERN 4 — No-change verbs: A small group has the same form for all three: cut/cut/cut, put/put/put, let/let/let, hit/hit/hit, shut/shut/shut, set/set/set. These are quick wins for memorisation.
PATTERN 5 — Two-of-three the same: Some verbs have past simple = past participle: had/had, made/made, said/said, told/told, got/got. Others have base = past participle: come/came/come, run/ran/run. Spotting these patterns helps memorisation.
PATTERN 6 — Watch for over-applied -ed: The most common error is adding -ed to irregular verbs: eated, taked, goed, seed, drived. These signal the student has not learned the irregular form. Drill the correct forms repeatedly and correct errors immediately when they appear.
PATTERN 7 — Practice in context: Lists of three forms are useful but not enough. Students must use the verbs in real sentences — past stories, perfect tense conversations, passive descriptions. Only repeated use fixes the forms into automatic recall.
Irregular verbs are essential for accurate English. The most common verbs in the language — be, have, do, go, take, get, make, see, come, know — are all irregular. A student who cannot use these correctly will struggle with almost every sentence about the past or with perfect tenses. The good news is that the set is fixed and learnable. The bad news is that students often partially learn the forms (base and past simple) and miss the past participle, which is needed for the perfect tenses and passive voice. Teachers should drill all three forms together, not just two. The investment pays off across all four language skills — reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Teach irregular verbs in groups of similar pattern — speak/spoke/spoken, write/wrote/written, drive/drove/driven all share the A-O pattern. Drilling them together helps students see the pattern and remember the forms. Use real past-tense stories and present perfect conversations to practise the verbs in context, not just as lists. Saying 'eat / ate / eaten' as a fixed chunk works better than memorising each form separately.
Complete each sentence with the correct form of the irregular verb in brackets. Think about whether you need the past simple or the past participle.
Each sentence has the wrong form of an irregular verb. Find the error, write the correct form, and explain.
Use this sequence directly in class — guided discovery, no textbook needed. Tap each step to mark it done.
STEP 1 — Regular vs irregular (4 min): Write on the board two columns. Regular: walk / walked / walked, play / played / played. Irregular: eat / ate / eaten, take / took / taken. Discuss the difference. Most verbs are regular (-ed rule). Irregular verbs are different — three forms that must be memorised.
STEP 2 — The three forms (6 min): Show base / past simple / past participle for five common verbs: eat, take, see, go, write. Drill each as a chunk: 'eat ate eaten' (said quickly together). Explain when each form is used: base for present, past simple for past actions, past participle for after 'have' and in passive.
STEP 3 — Spot the pattern (6 min): Group verbs by pattern. The A-O group: speak/spoke/spoken, write/wrote/written, drive/drove/driven. The no-change group: cut/cut/cut, put/put/put, hit/hit/hit. The two-the-same group: had/had, made/made, said/said. Drill each group together.
STEP 4 — Common errors (6 min): Write the most frequent wrong forms on the board: eated ✗, taked ✗, goed ✗, seed ✗, drived ✗. Cross out each and write the correct form: ate, took, went, saw, drove. Drill the correct forms three times. Add: 'have went' ✗ → 'have gone'. 'have ate' ✗ → 'have eaten'.
STEP 5 — Tell a past story (8 min): Each student tells a short story about a recent event using at least four irregular verbs in the past simple or past participle. The class listens and counts irregular verbs — wrong forms are corrected immediately. This forces real-life use in context.
Use directly in class — copy, adapt, or read aloud. No printing needed.
For each strategy, choose the option that best describes where you are now.
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