English has only about two hundred irregular verbs, but they include the ones used most often: be, have, go, get, make, take. A learner who knows the regular -ed rule still needs to memorise “went”, “taken” and “brought” one by one.
The wheel offers two levels. “Everyday verbs” covers the irregular verbs met in the first years of learning. “Tricky verbs” gathers the ones that trip up even confident speakers, such as lie and lay or the British and American forms of get. Each description gives the base form, past simple and past participle, with a tip to remember them.
The third variant draws a tense, so you can practise the verb in a full sentence.
How to use it
- Spin the “Everyday verbs” or “Tricky verbs” variant to draw a verb.
- Say or write the past simple and past participle before revealing the description.
- For extra practice, switch to the “Tenses” variant, spin again and write a sentence with your verb in that tense.
- In pairs, one player answers and the other checks against the description; swap after five verbs.
All the options
- Present simple
- Base form, with -s or -es after he, she and it. For habits and facts: “She writes every morning.”
- Past simple
- Use the past form for a finished action at a known time: “We went to the coast last week.” Negatives use did not + base form: “We did not go.”
- Present perfect
- have/has + past participle, for past events connected to now: “I have seen that film.” Do not use it with a finished time like “yesterday”.
- Past perfect
- had + past participle, for something that happened before another past event: “The train had left when we arrived.”
- Future perfect
- will have + past participle, for an action completed before a future moment: “By Friday, I will have written the report.”
- Past continuous
- was/were + -ing, for an action in progress when something else happened: “I was reading when the phone rang.”
- Present passive
- am/is/are + past participle, when the action matters more than who does it: “The rooms are cleaned every day.”
- Past passive
- was/were + past participle: “The window was broken by the wind.” Add “by” only if the doer is worth mentioning.
- Third conditional
- if + past perfect, then would have + past participle, for an imagined past: “If we had left earlier, we would have caught the bus.”
Frequently asked questions
How many irregular verbs are there in English?
Reference lists usually include around 200, many of them rare or old-fashioned. A core of 50 to 100 covers almost everything learners meet in everyday speech and writing.
Is it “got” or “gotten”?
Both are correct. British English uses “got” as the past participle (“I have got a cold”), while American English generally uses “gotten” (“I have gotten a cold”), keeping “have got” for possession.
What is the easiest way to learn irregular verbs?
Group them by pattern instead of learning them alphabetically: verbs that never change (cut, put, let), verbs with i-a-u (sing, sang, sung), the -ought family (buy, bring, think). Then test yourself a little every day rather than reading the list.
What is the difference between lie and lay?
Lie means to recline and takes no object: “I lie down.” Lay means to put something down and always needs an object: “I lay the plates on the table.” The confusion comes from the past simple of lie, which is “lay”.