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
- lie (recline)
- lie – lay – lain. “Yesterday I lay on the sofa.” When lie means telling an untruth, it is regular: lie – lied – lied.
- lay
- lay – laid – laid. Lay always needs an object: “She laid the book on the table.” Its past simple “laid” is often confused with lie’s past “lay”.
- wake
- wake – woke – woken. “I woke at six; I had woken before the alarm.”
- bear
- bear – bore – borne. In passive sentences about birth, the spelling is “born”: “She was born in May.”
- forbid
- forbid – forbade – forbidden. “Forbade” can rhyme with either “bad” or “made”; dictionaries also list the spelling “forbad”.
- seek
- seek – sought – sought. A formal verb; “look for” is the everyday equivalent.
- swim
- swim – swam – swum. Same vowel pattern as sing – sang – sung and drink – drank – drunk: i, then a, then u.
- shrink
- shrink – shrank – shrunk. “Shrunk” is also heard as a past simple, but “shrank” remains the standard form.
- weave
- weave – wove – woven. When it means moving in and out of traffic or a crowd, it is regular: weaved.
- dive
- dive – dived – dived in British English. American English also uses “dove” as the past simple.
- cling
- cling – clung – clung. Same pattern as swing – swung and sting – stung.
- arise
- arise – arose – arisen. Follows rise – rose – risen, with an extra a- in front.
- tread
- tread – trod – trodden. American English often uses “trod” for the past participle as well.
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”.