Irregular Past Tense Verbs Examples: A Teaching Guide
Lexi
AI Writer at ESL Brains
Common irregular past tense verbs with examples and teaching strategies for A2 learners. Includes activities to prevent 'goed' and 'Did you went?' errors.
This article was written by Lexi, an AI author — it belongs to the AI-generated side of the ESL Brains blog. Prefer human-made materials? Browse the lesson library — every lesson plan is created by the ESL Brains team.
‘I goed to the shop yesterday and I buyed some milk.’ Your A2 student has just told you about their weekend, proudly using the past tense but applying the regular -ed pattern to two of English’s most common irregular verbs. The meaning is crystal clear, but the forms reveal exactly where irregular verbs trip up learners — they expect the language to follow patterns, but these verbs simply won’t cooperate.
TL;DR
- Irregular past tense verbs like went, saw, and bought cannot be formed by adding -ed to the base form.
- A2 learners commonly make errors like ‘goed’, ‘Did you went?’, and ‘I didn’t came’ when using irregular verbs.
- Effective teaching involves grouping verbs by patterns, practising retrieval activities, and addressing did/didn’t constructions separately.
- The most essential irregular verbs for A2 include go-went, see-saw, buy-bought, eat-ate, and come-came.
What are irregular past tense verbs?
Irregular past tense verbs are verbs that form their past simple by changing their base form completely rather than adding the standard -ed ending. Unlike regular verbs that follow a predictable pattern (walk-walked, play-played), irregular verbs must be memorised individually because each one changes differently.
The challenge for A2 learners is that irregular verbs include some of the most frequently used words in English. While they can safely add -ed to hundreds of regular verbs, the twenty or thirty verbs they use most often — go, come, see, eat, buy, say — all break the rule.
Most English verbs are regular, which makes the irregular ones particularly frustrating. Students develop confidence with the -ed pattern, then discover that their most useful verbs refuse to follow it.
Regular vs irregular patterns
Regular verbs follow a simple rule: add -ed to form the past simple. Walk becomes walked, watch becomes watched, play becomes played. This pattern works for thousands of verbs, so learners naturally try to apply it everywhere.
Irregular verbs break this pattern completely. Go becomes went — not goed. See becomes saw — not seed. Buy becomes bought — not buyed. Each irregular verb must be learnt as a separate item, and there’s often no logical connection between the base form and the past form.
| Base Form | Past Simple | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | ’I went to the cinema last night.‘ |
| see | saw | ’She saw her friend at the café.‘ |
| buy | bought | ’They bought a new car yesterday.‘ |
| eat | ate | ’We ate dinner at seven o’clock.‘ |
| come | came | ’He came home late from work.‘ |
| say | said | ’The teacher said the test was easy.‘ |
| tell | told | ’My brother told me about the party.‘ |
| make | made | ’She made a cake for her birthday.‘ |
| take | took | ’I took the bus to school today.‘ |
| get | got | ’They got their results this morning.‘ |
Which irregular verbs should A2 learners know first?
A2 learners should master the ten to fifteen most frequent irregular verbs before moving to less common ones. These high-frequency verbs appear constantly in daily conversation and basic storytelling, making them essential for functional communication.
Priority should go to verbs that students need for talking about their daily routines, past experiences, and simple narratives. A student who can use went, came, saw, ate, bought, said, and made correctly can tell most basic past-time stories.
Essential daily verbs
Start with irregular verbs that appear in everyday activities and basic communication. Go-went and come-came are fundamental for describing movement and visits. See-saw covers a huge range of experiences, from watching films to meeting people.
Eat-ate lets students discuss meals and food experiences, while buy-bought is essential for shopping and spending. Say-said and tell-told enable reported speech at a basic level, though you’ll need to address the difference between these two carefully.
Try introducing these in the context where students naturally use them. This A2 lesson on irregular past forms uses a heartwarming story about kindness to practise essential irregular verbs like went, saw, and gave in meaningful contexts, helping students connect the forms to real communication.
Vowel-change patterns
Some irregular verbs follow loose patterns that can help students remember them in groups. The drink-drank, sing-sang, ring-rang pattern shows a clear vowel change that applies to several verbs.
Similarly, begin-began, swim-swam, and run-ran share a pattern of vowel changes that students can spot. Win-won and come-came show another type of sound shift. While these patterns aren’t rules, grouping similar-sounding verbs helps students build connections.
| Pattern Type | Examples | A2 Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Vowel change (i-a) | drink-drank, sing-sang, ring-rang | Medium |
| Vowel change (i-a) | begin-began, swim-swam | Low |
| Complete change | go-went, come-came | High |
| Same form | cut-cut, put-put | Medium |
| -ought ending | buy-bought, bring-brought | High |
| Vowel change (e-o) | get-got, forget-forgot | High |
What are the most common irregular verb errors?
A2 learners make two main types of errors with irregular past tense verbs: adding -ed to irregular verbs and using past forms incorrectly with did or didn’t. Understanding these error patterns helps you target your correction and practice activities.
These errors happen because students overgeneralise the regular pattern or misunderstand how English marks past time in questions and negatives. The mistakes are logical — they show students trying to apply rules consistently.
Adding -ed to irregular verbs
The most common error is treating irregular verbs as regular ones. Students say ‘goed’ instead of went, ‘buyed’ instead of bought, or ‘eated’ instead of ate. This happens because the regular -ed pattern is so productive — it works for most verbs students encounter.
This error shows that students have learnt the regular past tense rule well, perhaps too well. They’re applying it logically but to the wrong verbs. The fix isn’t to discourage the regular pattern but to build strong memory connections for the irregular forms.
Double past marking with did
Did questions and didn’t negatives cause a different type of error. Students say ‘Did you went?’ instead of ‘Did you go?’ or ‘I didn’t came’ instead of ‘I didn’t come’. They’re marking past time twice — once with did/didn’t and again with the past form of the main verb.
This error reveals confusion about how English grammar works. In statements, the verb itself carries the past marking (‘I went’). In questions and negatives, did/didn’t carries the past marking, so the main verb returns to its base form.
| Incorrect Form | Correct Form | Why It Happens |
|---|---|---|
| ’I goed home' | 'I went home’ | Applying regular -ed pattern to irregular verb |
| ’She buyed bread' | 'She bought bread’ | Overgeneralising regular past tense rule |
| ’Did you went?' | 'Did you go?‘ | Double-marking past time with did + past form |
| ’I didn’t came' | 'I didn’t come’ | Using past form after didn’t (already past) |
| ‘He doesn’t went' | 'He didn’t go’ | Mixing present negative form with past verb |
How do you teach irregular verbs effectively?
Effective irregular verb teaching combines memorisation activities with meaningful practice. Start with identification and form-practice tasks, then move quickly to communication activities where students use the verbs to express real meaning.
Varsity Tutors’ irregular verb error analysis emphasises separating two major error types: adding -ed to an irregular verb and using a past form after did/didn’t. Address these as distinct problems requiring different practice approaches.
Identification and retrieval practice
Start each lesson cycle with quick retrieval activities. Give students the base form and ask for the past form, or vice versa. Board races work particularly well — teams hear a present-tense verb, discuss briefly, then race to find the correct past form on cards or the board.
Matching activities help build form-meaning connections before freer practice. Students match base forms with past forms, then use the matched pairs in sentences. This reduces the cognitive load of trying to remember the form while also constructing meaningful language.
Use this A2 lesson on irregular past forms for systematic practice. The lesson moves from identifying target verbs to converting them into past forms, then building complete sentences for storytelling tasks.
Contextualised practice activities
Once students can retrieve the forms reliably, move to activities where they use irregular verbs for real communication. Past-event interviews work well — students ask classmates about recent experiences using target irregular verbs.
Picture-supported storytelling gives students narrative structure while requiring repeated past-tense production. Show a sequence of images and have students describe what happened, making sure the situations naturally call for your target irregular verbs.
| Activity Type | Student Task | Teacher Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Board race | Hear base form, find past form quickly | Speed and accuracy of retrieval |
| Matching cards | Connect base and past forms | Form-meaning connections |
| Error correction | Fix sentences with common mistakes | Accuracy with did/didn’t constructions |
| Past interviews | Ask about recent events using target verbs | Meaningful use in communication |
| Picture stories | Describe sequences using irregular verbs | Fluent narrative production |
When should you introduce irregular past forms?
Introduce irregular past tense verbs only after students have mastered the regular -ed pattern. Students need confidence with the standard past tense rule before you start showing them the exceptions.
Timing matters because irregular verbs are inherently confusing. If students haven’t automated the regular pattern, introducing irregulars too early creates cognitive overload. They’ll mix up both systems and produce forms like ‘wented’ or ‘goed’.
After regular past simple mastery
Wait until students can produce regular past forms automatically in speaking activities. They should handle ‘I walked to school yesterday’ or ‘We watched a film last night’ without hesitation before you introduce went, saw, or bought.
Introduce irregular verbs in small batches of five to eight per lesson cycle. This gives students time to build strong memory connections for each group before adding more. Focus on frequent, useful verbs first — the ones students actually need for basic communication about past events.
Consider using our best A2 grammar lessons to sequence irregular verbs within your broader grammar curriculum. The progression ensures students build each structure on solid foundations.
| Week | Verb Group | Pattern Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | go-went, come-came, see-saw | High-frequency daily verbs |
| 2 | eat-ate, buy-bought, get-got | Regular activities and transactions |
| 3 | say-said, tell-told, make-made | Communication and creation |
| 4 | take-took, give-gave, have-had | Common actions and possession |
| 5 | Review all groups | Mixed practice and error correction |
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common irregular past tense verbs?
The most essential irregular past tense verbs for A2 learners are go-went, come-came, see-saw, eat-ate, buy-bought, say-said, and tell-told. These appear frequently in daily conversation and storytelling activities.
How do you correct ‘Did you went’ errors?
Emphasise that ‘did’ already carries the past meaning, so the main verb stays in base form. Practice with substitution drills: ‘Did you go?’, ‘Did you see?’, ‘Did you eat?’ to build the correct pattern.
Should I teach all irregular verbs at once or in groups?
Introduce irregular verbs in small groups of 5-8 per lesson cycle, starting with high-frequency daily verbs. Group by vowel-change patterns when possible to help students notice relationships between similar verbs.
What activities work best for irregular verb practice?
Board races for retrieval practice, past-event interviews for meaningful use, and error correction tasks for accuracy work. Combine controlled matching activities with communicative speaking tasks for balanced practice.
Related Articles
Ready to teach irregular past forms through authentic video content? This A2 lesson on irregular past forms uses a heartwarming story about kindness to practise essential irregular verbs like went, saw, and gave in meaningful contexts. The 75-minute lesson includes video comprehension, form practice, and speaking activities. Open this lesson to get your students using irregular verbs naturally and accurately.