100 Most Common ESL Irregular Verbs List (PDF)
What are Irregular Verbs?
In English, irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the usual pattern of adding -ed to form the past tense and past participle. Instead, they have a unique form for each tense. For example, the verb "go" becomes "went" in the past tense, not "goed". Mastering irregular verbs is essential for language learners to improve their speaking, writing, and reading skills.
Why are Irregular Verbs Important in ESL?
Irregular verbs are crucial in English language learning because they are frequently used in everyday conversations, writing, and reading. Without knowledge of irregular verbs, language learners may struggle to express themselves accurately and effectively. Furthermore, irregular verbs are often used in idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, and collocations, which are essential for sounding natural and fluent in English.
The Top 100 Most Common ESL Irregular Verbs
Here is a list of the top 100 most common ESL irregular verbs that you should know:
1-10
- go (went, gone)
- take (took, taken)
- make (made, made)
- do (did, done)
- say (said, said)
- see (saw, seen)
- hear (heard, heard)
- know (knew, known)
- get (got, got)
- be (was/were, been)
11-20
- have (had, had)
- think (thought, thought)
- tell (told, told)
- sell (sold, sold)
- buy (bought, bought)
- bring (brought, brought)
- teach (taught, taught)
- learn (learned, learned)
- meet (met, met)
- read (read, read)
21-30
- write (wrote, written)
- run (ran, run)
- eat (ate, eaten)
- drink (drank, drunk)
- ride (rode, ridden)
- drive (drove, driven)
- swim (swam, swum)
- fly (flew, flown)
- give (gave, given)
- take (took, taken)
31-40
- shake (shook, shaken)
- wake (woke, woken)
- make (made, made)
- take (took, taken)
- stand (stood, stood)
- lie (lay, lain)
- sit (sat, sat)
- stay (stayed, stayed)
- hold (held, held)
- keep (kept, kept)
41-50
- let (let, let)
- begin (began, begun)
- start (started, started)
- finish (finished, finished)
- stop (stopped, stopped)
- quit (quit, quit)
- put (put, put)
- send (sent, sent)
- show (showed, shown)
- grow (grew, grown)
51-60
- know (knew, known)
- think (thought, thought)
- believe (believed, believed)
- forgive (forgave, forgiven)
- remember (remembered, remembered)
- forget (forgot, forgotten)
- regret (regretted, regretted)
- promise (promised, promised)
- permit (permitted, permitted)
- deny (denied, denied)
61-70
- agree (agreed, agreed)
- disagree (disagreed, disagreed)
- suggest (suggested, suggested)
- offer (offered, offered)
- accept (accepted, accepted)
- refuse (refused, refused)
- admit (admitted, admitted)
- blame (blamed, blamed)
- praise (praised, praised)
- criticize (criticized, criticized)
71-80
- explain (explained, explained)
- describe (described, described)
- compare (compared, compared)
- contrast (contrasted, contrasted)
- analyze (analyzed, analyzed)
- evaluate (evaluated, evaluated)
