Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs,
irregular verbs are those
verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of
conjugation in the
languages in which they occur.
English Irregular verbs
English has 283 irregular verbs, believed to be the most of any widely spoken contemporary language.
Almost all iregular English verbs do not conform to standard methods of forming past participles and/or past tenses. With these verbs other conjunctions and inflections – such as the present 3rd person singular -s or -es, and present participle -ing – broadly follow the same rules of spelling as the regular verbs.
The exceptions is the verb to be and also defective verbs which cannot be conjugated into certain tenses.
All English irregular verbs are native, originating in Old English. They also tend to be the most commonly used verbs. The ten most commonly used verbs in English are all irregular.
All loanwords from foreign languages are regular. So are verbs that have been recently coined and all nouns used as verbs use standard suffixes. Almost all of the least commonlly used words are also regular, even though some of them may have been irregular in the past.
Formation of irregular verbs
Most irregular verbs exist as remnants of historical conjugation systems. In the past what is today an exception actually followed a set rule, when that rule was discontinued some verbs kept the old conjugation. An example of this is the word kept, which before the Great Vowel Shift fell into a class of words where the vowel in keep, then pronounced kehp, was shortened in the past tence. Similar words, such as peep, that arose after the Vowel Shift, use the regular -ed suffix. Groups of irregular verbs include:\n*The remaining strong verbs, which display ablaut among their several tenses. E.g. ride/rode/ridden. These verbs are inherited from the parent Germanic language, and ultimately, from Indo-European. Many strong verbs have a past participle in -en or -n rather than -ed.\n*Weak verbs that have been subjected to sound changes over the course of the history of English that have rendered them irregular. Many of these acquired a long vowel in the present stem, but kept a short vowel in the preterite and past participle. E.g. hear/heard/heard\n*Weak verbs that end in a final -t or -d that made the addition of the weak suffix -ed seem redundant. E.g. cost/cost/cost \n*A handful of surviving preterite-present verbs. These can be distinguished from the rest because their third person simple present singular (the he, she, or it form) does not take a final -s. These are the remnants of what was once a fairly large Indo-European class of verbs that were conjugated in the preterite or perfect tense with present tense meaning. All of the surviving verbs of this class are auxiliary verbs or quasi-auxiliaries. E.g. can/could/could\n*Verbs that contain suppletive forms, which form one or more of their tenses from an entirely different root. Be is one of these, as is go/went/gone.
Other than historical legacy, other irregular verbs have been changed due to ease of pronunciation so that it is shorter or more closely corresponds to how it is spelt.\n*A number of verbs whose irregularity is chiefly due to the peculiarities of English spelling; e.g., lay/laid/laid\n*Past tense ending -ed written phonetically when devoiced to -t; e.g. burn/burnt/burnt (which also has a regular conjugation with a [d] pronunciation.)\n*Weak verbs that have been the subject of contractions. E.g. have/had/had
There are fewer strong verbs and irregular verbs in modern English than there were in Old English. Slowly over time the number of irregular verbs is decreasing. The force of analogy tends to reduce the number of irregular verbs over time. This fact explains why irregular verbs tend to be the most commonly used ones, verbs that are more rarely heard are more likely to switch to being regular. For instance, a verb like ablate was once irregular but today ablated is the standard usage. Today irregular and standard forms often coexist, a sign that the irregular form may be on the wane. For instance, seeing spelled instead of spelt or strived instead of strove is common.
On the other hand, contraction and sound changes can increase their number. Most of the strong verbs were regular, in that they fell into a conventional plan of conjugation, in Old English; there are so few of them left in contemporary English that they seem irregular to us. This has even been observed in languages constructed to not have exceptions. The few people who are native speakers of Esperanto have, after only one generation, been observed to use contractions that have created a group of irregular verbs.
Common irregularities
Common irregularities include:\n* Change whatever existing vowel to [O], orthographically represented by ou or au, e.g. \n** beseech → besought\n** bring → brought\n** buy → bought\n** catch → caught\n** seek → sought\n** teach → taught\n** think → thought\n* Change whatever existing vowel to [oU] (American English) or [@U] (British English), orthographically represented by o with a word-final e, e.g. \n** break → broke \n** choose → chose\n** freeze → froze\n** speak → spoke \n** steal → stole\n*: Then, to form past participle, add nasal suffix -en, e.g., broke → broken\n* No change, e.g., bet, bid, burst, cast, cost, cut, fit, hit, hurt, knit, let, put, quit, rid, set, shed, shit, shut, split, spread, sweat, thrust, wed, wet.
List of irregular English verbs
The present tense comes first, next the preterite, and the past participle comes last:
- awake awoke awoken \n*(be, am, is, are) (was, were) been \n*bear bore born/borne \n*beat beat beaten \n*become became become \n*begin began begun \n*bend bent bent \n*beset beset beset\n*bet bet bet \n*bid bade/bid bidden/bid \n*bind bound bound \n*bite bit bitten \n*bleed bled bled \n*blow blew blown \n*break broke broken \n*breed bred bred \n*bring brought brought \n*broadcast broadcast broadcast\n*build built built \n*burn burned/burnt burned/burnt \n*burst burst burst \n*buy bought bought \n*can could could\n*cast cast cast \n*catch caught caught \n*choose chose chosen \n*cling clung clung \n*come came come \n*cost cost cost \n*creep crept crept \n*cut cut cut \n*deal dealt dealt \n*dig dug dug \n*dive dived/dove dived \n*do did done \n*draw drew drawn \n*dream dreamt dreamt\n*drive drove driven \n*drink drank drunk\n*eat ate eaten \n*fall fell fallen \n*feed fed fed \n*feel felt felt \n*fight fought fought \n*find found found \n*fit fit fit \n*flee fled fled \n*fling flung flung \n*fly flew flown \n*forbid forbade forbidden\n*forget forgot forgotten \n*forego forewent foregone\n*forgive forgave forgiven \n*forsake forsook forsaken \n*freeze froze frozen \n*get got got/gotten \n*give gave given \n*go went gone \n*grind ground ground \n*grow grew grown \n*hang hung hung (but hanged for a person)\n*have had had \n*hear heard heard \n*hide hid hidden \n*hit hit hit \n*hold held held \n*hurt hurt hurt \n*keep kept kept \n*kneel knelt knelt \n*knit knit knit \n*know knew known \n*lay laid laid \n*lead led led \n*leap leaped/leapt leaped/leapt \n*learn learned/learnt learned/learnt\n*leave left left \n*lend lent lent \n*let let let \n*lie lay lain \n*light lit lighted \n*lose lost lost \n*make made made \n*may might might\n*mean meant meant \n*meet met met \n*misspell misspelt misspelt\n*mistake mistook mistaken \n*mow mowed mowed/mown \n*overcome overcame overcome\n*overdo overdid overdone
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- overtake overtook overtaken\n*overthrow overthrew overthrown\n*pay paid paid \n*plead (pleaded/pled) (pleaded/pled)\n*prove proved (proved/proven)\n*put put put \n*quit quit quit \n*read read read \n*rid rid rid \n*ride rode ridden \n*ring rang rung \n*rise rose risen \n*run ran run\n*saw sawed sawed/sawn \n*say said said \n*see saw seen \n*seek sought sought \n*sell sold sold\n*send sent sent \n*set set set \n*sew sewed sewed/sewn \n*shake shook shaken \n*shall should should\n*shave shaved shaved/shaven \n*shear sheared sheared/shorn \n*shed shed shed \n*shine shone shone \n*shoe shoed shoed/shod\n*shoot shot shot \n*show showed showed/shown \n*shrink shrank shrunk \n*shut shut shut \n*sing sang sung \n*sink sank sunk \n*sit sat sat \n*sleep slept slept \n*slay slew slain\n*slide slid slid \n*sling slung slung \n*slit slit slit \n*smite smote smitten\n*sow sowed sowed/sown \n*speak spoke spoken \n*speed sped sped \n*spell spelled/spelt spelled/spelt\n*spend spent spent \n*spill spilled/spilt spilled/spilt\n*spin spun spun \n*spit spit/spat spit \n*split split split \n*spread spread spread \n*spring sprang sprung \n*stand stood stood \n*steal stole stolen \n*stick stuck stuck \n*sting stung stung\n*stink stank stunk\n*stride strode stridden\n*strike struck struck \n*string strung strung \n*strive strove striven \n*swear swore sworn \n*sweep swept swept \n*swell swelled swelled/swollen \n*swim swam swum \n*swing swung swung \n*take took taken \n*teach taught taught \n*tear tore torn \n*tell told told \n*think thought thought \n*thrive thrived/throve thrived\n*throw threw thrown \n*thrust thrust thrust\n*tread trod trodden\n*understand understood understood\n*uphold upheld upheld\n*upset upset upset\n*wake woke woken \n*wear wore worn \n*weave wove woven \n*wed, wed/wedded, wed\n*weep wept wept \n*wind wound wound \n*will would would\n*win won won\n*withhold withheld withheld\n*withstand withstood withstood \n*wring wrung wrung \n*write wrote written\n
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Irregular verbs in other languages
What counts as an irregular verb is strongly dependent on the language itself. In English, the surviving strong verbs are considered irregular, largely because they are sui generis. In Old English, by contrast, the strong verbs are usually not considered irregular, at least not only by virtue of being strong verbs: there were several recognised classes of strong verbs, which were regular within themselves.
In
Latin, similarly, most verbs outside the first or fourth conjugations have three "principal parts," which form part of the
lexicon and must be learned. The three principal parts are the
present tense stem, the
perfect tense stem, and the
past participle; a variety of inflections,
ablaut, and sometimes
reduplication are used to form these parts. For example, the principal parts of
spondeo ("I promise") include
spopondi ("I promised"), showing reduplication, and
sponsus ("promised"); these forms cannot be predicted from the present stem, but when you know all three, the entire system can be constructed from these three parts by rule. This verb is not usually considered irregular in Latin. Latin also exhibits
deponent verbs, inflected in the
passive voice alone; and defective verbs, missing some principal parts. Truly irregular verbs in Latin are a rather small class; they include
esse ("to be");
dare and its derivatives ("to give");
êsse ("to eat");
ferre and its derivatives ("to carry");
volo and its derivatives ("to wish");
ire and its derivatives ("to go"); and
fieri ("to become"). Most irregular Latin verbs are themselves vestiges of the
athematic conjugations of
Indo-European, a surviving (and regular) group found in
Greek.
Greek and
Sanskrit show even greater complexities, with widely different
thematic and athematic inflection sets; which set goes with which verb stem cannot be predicted by rule. In languages of this type, these variations are not usually enough to label a verb "irregular". They instead form a part of the
lexicon; when a verb is learned, the various patterns used to conjugate it must also be learned.
By contrast, in
modern English, the strong verbs are largely a closed and vestigial class. (
Analogy has created a few new strong verbs, such as
dive.) All of the surviving strong verbs differ markedly from other verbs, and thus are classified as "irregular;" here, they are conspicuous exceptions in the midst of a much larger class of rule-bound regular verbs.
In some languages, the count of irregular verbs could be greatly expanded if one were to count verbs that are irregular only in their spelling, but not in their pronunciation. For example, in
Spanish, the verb
rezar ("to pray") is conjugated in the present subjunctive as "
rece,
reces,
rece", etc. The substitution of "
c" for "
z" does not affect the pronunciation. It is strictly a matter of
orthography. Therefore, this verb is not normally considered irregular.
Other issues affecting the count of irregular verbs in various languages are:\n* How many patterns of conjugation are considered standard. If a large enough group of irregular verbs in a language have parallel conjugations, it is arbitrary whether to count that as an additional "standard" conjugation or as a large collection of irregular verbs.\n* Which verbs are to be counted as separate, rather than merely prefixed. For example, in English,
to withhold conjugates exactly like
to hold, and in Spanish,
detener ("to detain") conjugates exactly like
tener ("to have"). In each case, are these to be counted as two separate irregular verbs, or as a single irregular verb, with and without a prefix?
Number of irregular verbs in different languages
Thus while the term "irregular verb" is not precisely enough defined to allow a definitive count of the irregular verbs in all languages, the following table is illustrative of how much this phenomenon varies across languages.
{| border="1"\n|-\n!Language\n!Count\n!Notes\n|-\n|
English\n|283\n|Believed to be the most of any widely spoken contemporary language\n|-\n|
German\n|170\n| \n|-\n|
French\n|81\n|\n|-\n|
Spanish\n|23\n|\n|-\n|
Welsh\n|11\n| \n|-\n|
Finnish\n|>=4\n|Only the verb
olla "to be" has irregular endings, and a few verbs (of which only three are common:
tehdä "to do, make",
nähdä "to see", and
juosta "to run") have irregular stems\n|-\n|
Japanese\n|3\n|
suru "to do",
kuru "to come", and
iku "to go"; there are also two irregular auxiliary verbs\n|-\n|
Chinese\n|1\n|有
you forms its negative with 没
mei rather than with 不
bu in
Mandarin and has a separate negative form 冇
mou in
Cantonese\n|-\n|
Turkish\n|0\n| \n|-\n|
Esperanto\n|0\n|(like most
constructed languages)\n|-\n|}
External links
\n* Germanic languages\n** Wiktionary list of irregular English-language verbs\n** A list of irregular German verbs; notes are in German\n**
List of irregular English verbs and exercises
Category:Linguistics
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