Questions

Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be formed by inverting the positions of verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("special verbs"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula be. To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb do (does, did) needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question. For example:

• She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject she and auxiliary can)
• I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject I and copula am)
• The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; do-support required)

The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with interrogative words such as where, what, how, etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:

• I go. → Where do I go? (wh-question formed using inversion, with do-support required in this case)
• He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word who is the subject)

Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: I wonder where he is (not *... where is he). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using if or whether as the interrogative word: *Ask them whether/if they saw him*.

Negative questions are formed similarly; however if the verb undergoing inversion has a contraction with not, then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:

• John is going. (affirmative)
• John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
• Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively)

Tag questions are formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: isn't it?; were there?; am I not?

Auxiliary Verb

In English grammar, certain verb forms are classified as auxiliary verbs. Exact definitions of this term vary; an auxiliary verb is generally conceived as one with little semantic meaning of its own, which modifies the meaning of another verb with which it co-occurs. In English, verbs are often classed as auxiliaries on the basis of certain grammatical properties, particularly as regards their syntax – primarily whether they participate in subject–auxiliary inversion, and can be negated by the simple addition of not after them.

Certain auxiliaries have contracted forms, such as -'d and -'ll for had/would and will/shall. There are also many contractions formed from the negations of auxiliary verbs, ending in n't (a reduced form of not). These letter contractions can participate in inversion as a unit (as in Why haven't you done it?, where the uncontracted form would be Why have you not done it?), and thus in a certain sense can be regarded as auxiliary verbs in their own right.

An auxiliary verb is most generally understood as a verb that "helps" another verb by adding grammatical information to it. On this basis, the auxiliary verbs of English may be taken to include:

• forms of the verb do (do, does, did), when used with other verbs to enable the formation of questions, negation, emphasis, etc.;
• forms of the verb have, when used to express perfect aspect;
• forms of the verb be, when used to express progressive aspect or passive voice;
• the modal verbs, used in a variety of meanings, principally relating to modality.

The following are examples of sentences containing the above types of auxiliary verbs:

• Do you want tea? – do is an auxiliary accompanying the verb want, used here to form a question.
• He had given his all. – had is an auxiliary accompanying the past participle given, expressing perfect aspect.
• We are singing. – are is an auxiliary accompanying the present participle singing, expressing progressive aspect.
• It was destroyed. – was is an auxiliary accompanying the past participle destroyed, expressive passive voice.
• He can do it now. – can is a modal auxiliary accompanying the verb do.

However the above understanding of auxiliary verbs is not always strictly adhered to in the literature, particularly in the case of forms of the verb be, which may be called auxiliaries even when they do not accompany another verb. Other approaches to defining auxiliary verbs are described in the following sections.

There is a group of English verbs which have certain special grammatical (syntactic) properties that distinguish them from other verbs. This group consists mainly of verbs that are auxiliaries in the above sense – verbs that add grammatical meaning to other verbs – and thus some authors use the term auxiliary verb, in relation to English, to denote precisely the verbs in this group. However, not all enumerations of English auxiliary verbs correspond exactly to the group of verbs having these grammatical properties. This group of verbs may also be referred to by other names, such as special verbs.

The principal distinguishing properties of verbs in this special group are as follows:

• They can participate in what is called subject–auxiliary inversion, i.e. they can swap places with the subject of the clause, to form questions and for certain other purposes. For example, inversion of subject and verb is possible in the sentence They can sing (becoming Can they sing?); but it is not possible in They like to sing – it is not correct to say Like they to sing? (instead do-support is required: Do they like to sing?).
• They undergo negation by the addition of not after them. For example, one can say They cannot sing, but not They like not to sing (again do-support is required: They don't like...).
• Other distinct features of verbs in this group include their ability to introduce verb phrase ellipsis (I can sing can be shortened to I can in appropriate contexts, whereas I like to sing cannot be shortened to I like), and the positioning of certain adverbs directly after them (compare I can often sing with I often like to sing).

The group of verbs with the above properties consists of:

• the finite indicative forms of the verb be: am, is, are, was, were;
• the finite indicative forms of the verb have: have, has, had, principally when used to make perfect verb forms;
• the finite indicative forms of the verb do: do, does, did, when used to provide do-support;
• the principal modal verbs can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would;
• certain other verbs, sometimes but not always classed as modals: ought; dare and need in certain uses; had in had better; and sometimes used in used to (see the relevant sections of modal verbs for details).

If membership of this syntactic class is considered to be the defining property for auxiliary verbs, it is therefore the above-listed verbs that will be considered as auxiliaries.

Additionally, non-indicative and non-finite forms of the same verbs (when performing the same functions) are usually described as auxiliaries too, even though all or most of the distinctive syntactical properties do not apply to them specifically.

This concerns be (as infinitive, imperative and subjunctive), being and been; and when used in the expression of perfect aspect, have, having and had.

The chief difference between this syntactic definition of auxiliary verb and the functional definition given in the section above is that the syntactic definition includes the verb be even when used simply as a copular verb, in sentences like I am hungry and It was a cat, where it does not accompany any other verb.

Sometimes, non-auxiliary uses of have follow auxiliary syntax, as in Have you any ideas? and I haven't a clue.

Other lexical verbs do not do this in modern English, although they did so formerly, and such uses as I know not... can be found in archaic English.

Lists or sets of auxiliary verbs in English, as given by various authors, generally consist of most or all of the verbs mentioned in the above sections, though with minor discrepancies.

The main differences between the various proposed sets of auxiliary verbs are noted below.

• For the reasons mentioned above, forms of the verb be may or may not be regarded as auxiliaries when used as a copula not accompanying any other verb.
• The verb ought is sometimes excluded from the class of auxiliaries (specifically the modal auxiliaries) on the grounds that, unlike the principal modals, it requires the to-infinitive rather than the bare infinitive.
• The verbs dare and need are not always considered auxiliaries (or modals); their auxiliary-like syntactic behavior (and their modal-like invariance) applies only to some instances of these verbs, e.g., dare and need.
• The verbs had and used in the expressions had better and used to are not always included among the auxiliaries or modals; in the case of used to questions and negations are in any case more frequently formed using do-support than with auxiliary syntax.
• Other verbs with modal-like or auxiliary-like function may sometimes be classed as auxiliaries even though they do not have auxiliary-like syntactic behavior; this may apply to have in the expression have to, meaning must.

As mentioned below, the contractions of negated forms of auxiliary verbs (isn't, shouldn't, etc.) behave in a certain sense as if they were auxiliaries in their own right, in that they can participate as a whole in subject–auxiliary inversion.

Meaning Contribution

Forms of the verbs have and be, used as auxiliaries with a main verb's past participle and present participle respectively, express perfect aspect and progressive aspect. When forms of be are used with the past participle, they express passive voice. It is possible to combine any two or all three of these uses: The room has been being cleaned for the past three hours. Here the auxiliaries has, been and being (each followed by the appropriate participle type) combine to express perfect and progressive aspect and passive voice.

The auxiliary do (does, did) does not necessarily make any meaning contribution, although it can be used to add emphasis to a clause. This is called the emphatic mood in English. An example of this use is found in "I do go to work on time every day." Also, Do does help in the formation of questions, negations, etc.

Other auxiliaries – the modal verbs – contribute meaning chiefly in the form of modality, although some of them (particularly will and sometimes shall) express future time reference. Their uses are detailed at modal verbs article, and tables summarizing their principal meaning contributions can be found in the articles on modal verb and auxiliary verb.

Negation

A finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word not after an auxiliary, modal or other "special" verb such as do, can or be. For example, the clause I go is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary do, as I do not go. When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (I am going), no other auxiliary verbs are added to negate the clause (I am not going). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: I go not.)

Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with not have contracted forms: don't, can't, isn't, etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of can is written as a single word cannot.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: Should he not pay? or Shouldn't he pay?

Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word not before them: not the right answer, not interesting, not to enter, not noticing the train, etc.

When other negating words such as never, nobody, etc. appear in a sentence, the negating not is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): I saw nothing or I didn't see anything, but not (except in non-standard speech) I didn't see nothing. Such negating words generally have corresponding negative polarity items (ever for never, anybody for nobody, etc.) which can appear in a negative context, but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).

Simple

"Simple" forms of verbs are those appearing in constructions not marked for either progressive or perfect aspect (I go, I don't go, I went, I will go, etc., but not I'm going or I have gone).

Simple constructions normally denote a single action (perfective aspect), as in Brutus killed Caesar, a repeated action (habitual aspect), as in I go to school, or a relatively permanent state, as in We live in Dallas. They may also denote a temporary state (imperfective aspect), in the case of stative verbs that do not use progressive forms.

Irregular Verbs

The English language has a large number of irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called preterite or the past participle.

The other inflected parts of the verb—the third person singular present indicative in -[e]s, and the present participle and gerund form in -ing—are formed regularly in most cases. There are a few exceptions: the verb be has irregular forms throughout the present tense; the verbs have, do, go and say have irregular -[e]s forms; and certain defective verbs (such as the modal auxiliaries) lack most inflection.

The irregular verbs include many of the most common verbs: the dozen most frequently used English verbs are all irregular. New verbs (including loans from other languages, and nouns employed as verbs) usually follow the regular inflection, unless they are compound formations from an existing irregular verb (such as housesit, from sit).

Irregular verbs in Modern English typically derive from verbs that followed more regular patterns at a previous stage in the history of the language. In particular, many such verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which make many of their inflected forms through vowel gradation, as can be observed in Modern English patterns such as sing–sang–sung. The regular verbs, on the other hand, with their preterites and past participles ending in -ed, follow the weak conjugation, which originally involved adding a dental consonant (-t or -d). Nonetheless, there are also many irregular verbs that follow or partially follow the weak conjugation.

For information on the conjugation of regular verbs in English, as well as other points concerning verb usage, see verbs.

Strong Verbs

A large number of the irregular verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which display the vowel shift called ablaut, and do not add an ending such as -ed or -t for the past forms. These sometimes retain past participles with the ending -[e]n, as in give–gave–given and ride–rode–ridden, but in other cases this ending has been dropped, as in come–came–come and sing–sang–sung. This verb group was inherited from the parent Proto-Germanic language, and before that from the Proto-Indo-European language. It was originally a system of regular verbs, and in modern German the system remains more or less regular; however in Modern English relatively few verbs continue to follow such a pattern, and they are classed as irregular.

Verbs that retain a strong-type inflection in modern English and add -[e]n in the past participle include bear, beat, beget, bite, blow, break, choose, cleave, draw, drive, eat, fall, fly, forbid, forget, forsake, freeze, give, grow, know, lie, ride, rise, see, shake, shear, slay, smite, speak, steal, stride, strive, swear, take, tear, throw, tread, wake, weave, and write.

Those that do not add -[e]n in the usual past participle include become, begin, bind, burst, cling, come, drink, fight, find, fling, get (but with past participle gotten in American English), grind, hang, hold, let, ring, run, seek, shed, shine, shit, shoot, shrink, sing, sink, sit, slide, sling, slink, slit, spin, spring, stand, sting, stink, strike, swim, swing, win, wind and wring.

The verbs sow and swell are now usually regular in the past tense, but retain the strong-type past participles sown and swollen. Other verbs retain participles in -n for certain adjectival uses, such as drunken and sunken. The verb crow is now regular in the past participle, but the strong past tense crew is sometimes used.

Some originally weak verbs have taken on strong-type forms by analogy with strong verbs. These include dig, dive (when dove is used as the past tense), hide, mow, prove (when proven is used as the past participle), saw (past participle sawn), sew (past participle sewn), show (past participle shown), spit, stick, strew, string, and wear (analogy with bear).

Weak Verbs

Some other irregular verbs derive from Germanic weak verbs, forming past tenses and participles with a -d or -t ending (or from originally strong verbs that have switched to the weak pattern). The weak conjugation is also the origin of the regular verbs in -ed; however various historical sound changes (and sometimes spelling changes) have led to certain types of irregularity in some verbs. The main processes are as follows (some verbs have been subject to more than one of these).

• Some weak verbs with long vowels in their present tense stems (such as keep) took a short vowel in the past tense and past participle (kept).
• In some weak verbs ending in a final -t or -d, this final consonant coalesced (contracted) with the weak past ending to leave a single -t or -d in the past forms.
• Some verbs ending in l or n had their past ending irregularly devoiced to -t, and in a few verbs ending with a v or z sound (leave, lose), both that sound and the past ending were devoiced. (The regular ending -ed is also devoiced after voiceless consonants in regular verbs, as described under, but this is not now shown in the spelling – for example, the -ed in blessed and whipped is pronounced as a t, and these words were formerly written blest and whipt. The spelling -t following a voiceless consonant is retained for verbs that display an irregularity, as in kept and cost.)
• Some weak verbs continue the vowel shift called Rückumlaut ("reverse umlaut"); those with -gh- in the spelling were also affected by the Germanic spirant law.
• A few weak verbs have undergone additional contractions or vowel shortenings in their past or present tense forms.
• A few verbs are regular in their spoken forms, but have irregular spelling.

The irregular weak verbs (being in normal use) can consequently be grouped as follows:

For weak verbs that have adopted strong-type past tense or past participle forms, see the section above on strong verbs.

More information on the development of some of the listed verbs can be found at List of irregular verbs.

• Verbs with vowel shortening: creep, flee, hear, keep, leap, shoe (when shod is used), sleep, sweep and weep. (Of these, creep, flee, leap, sleep and weep derive from verbs that were originally strong.)
• Verbs with vowel shortening and devoicing of the ending: deal, dream, feel, kneel, lean, leave, lose (originally strong) and mean. Some of the verbs in this and in the preceding group have alternative regular forms, such as dreamed and leaped.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants: bet, bid, cast, cost, cut, fit, hit, hurt, knit, put, quit, rid, set, shed, shut, split, spread, thrust, wed and wet. Some of these verbs have alternative regular forms, such as wedded and wetted. (The verb hoist behaves similarly to verbs in this group, but this was originally itself a past form of the now obsolete verb hoise; similarly clad was originally – and sometimes still is – a past form of clothe.)
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and devoicing of the ending: bend, build, lend, rend, send, spend.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and vowel shortening: bleed, breed, feed, lead, light, meet, read (past tense and past participle also spelt read, but pronounced with a short vowel), and speed.
• Verbs with devoicing of the ending and no other irregularity: burn, dwell, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Most of these have regular -ed forms as alternatives.
• Verbs continuing the Rückumlaut pattern: bring–brought, buy–bought, seek–sought, sell–sold, teach–taught, tell–told, and think–thought. The borrowed verb catch (caught) has also fallen into this pattern as a result of analogy.
• Verbs with additional contractions and shortenings: have–has–had, make–made, say–says–said (where says and said are pronounced with a short vowel ). (The verb do has a similar vowel shortening in does and done)
• Verbs irregular only in spelling: lay–laid, pay–paid (although in the meaning "let out", of a rope etc., pay may have the regular spelling payed).

Anomalous Cases

The following verbs do not fit exactly into any of the above categories:

• The modal verbs, which are defective verbs – they have only a present indicative form and (in some cases) a preterite, lacking nonfinite forms (infinitives, participles, gerunds), imperatives, and subjunctives (although some uses of the preterites are sometimes identified as subjunctives). Moreover, they do not add -s in the third person singular – this is because they derive either from preterites, or from Germanic preterite-present verbs, which were conjugated using the (strong-type) preterite form with present tense meaning. (Additional "true" preterites with past tense meaning were formed with the addition of dentals in the manner of the weak verbs.) The chief verbs of this class are can–could, may–might, shall–should, will–would, and must and ought (These last two have no preterites. They were originally preterites themselves). There are also dare and need, which follow the same pattern (no -s) in some contexts: "Dare he jump? She needn't worry" (dare derives from a preterite-present verb, but need is from an Old English regular verb).
• Two verbs (be and go) that contain suppletive forms, i.e. one or more of their parts came from an entirely different root. With go this applies to the past tense went, which is originally from the verb wend. With be it applies to a number of different forms. Derived from be is the defective verb beware, which does not inflect in normal use and which appears only in those forms in which the plain form of be would be used, namely the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive.
• The verb do, which has the reduplicated form did for its past tense (an irregularity that can be traced back to Proto-Germanic). Its past participle done can be compared to typical strong participles in -[e]n; however both this and the third person present tense does feature a short vowel in modern pronunciation.

Verbs With Irregular Present Tenses

Apart from the modal verbs, which are irregular in that they do not take an -s in the third person, the only verbs with irregular present tense forms are be, do, have and say (and prefixed forms of these, such as undo and gainsay, which conjugate in the same way as the basic forms).

The verb be has multiple irregular forms. In the present indicative it has am in the first person singular, is in the third person singular, and are in the plural and second person singular. (Its present subjunctive is be, as in "I suggest that you be extremely careful", though that is not irregular, as all verbs use the infinitive/imperative form for the present subjunctive.) It also has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were for the plural and second person singular (although there are certain subjunctive uses in which were can substitute for was). The past participle is been, and the present participle and gerund forms are regular: being.

As mentioned above, apart from its other irregularities, the verb do has the third person present indicative does pronounced with a short vowel.

The verb have has a contracted third person present indicative form: has. This is formed similarly to the verb's past tense had.

The verb say displays vowel shortening in the third person present indicative (although the spelling is regular): says . The same shortening occurs in the past form said . (Compare the diphthong in the plain form say .)

Coincident Forms

In regular English verbs, the past tense and past participle have the same form. This is also true of most irregular verbs that follow a variation of the weak conjugation, as can be seen in the list below. Differences between the past tense and past participle (as in sing–sang–sung, rise–rose–risen) generally appear in the case of verbs that continue the strong conjugation, or in a few cases weak verbs that have acquired strong-type forms by analogy—as with show (regular past tense showed, strong-type past participle shown). However, even some strong verbs have identical past tense and participle, as in cling–clung–clung.

In some verbs, the past tense, past participle, or both are identical in form to the basic (infinitive) form of the verb. This is the case with certain strong verbs, where historical sound changes have led to a leveling of the vowel modifications: for example, let has both past tense and past participle identical to the infinitive, while come has the past participle identical (but a different past tense, came). The same is true of the verbs listed above under as having undergone coalescence of final consonants (and without other irregularities such as vowel shortening or devoicing of the ending): bet, bid, etc. (these verbs have infinitive, past tense and past participle all identical, although some of them also have alternative regular forms in -ed). The verb read has the same spelling in all three forms, but not the same pronunciation, as it exhibits vowel shortening.

In a few cases the past tense of an irregular verb has the same form as the infinitive of a different verb. For example, bore and found may be past tenses of bear and find, but may also represent independent (regular) verbs of different meaning. Another example is lay, which may be the past tense of lie, but is also an independent verb (regular in pronunciation, but with irregular spelling: lay–laid–laid). In fact lay derives from a causative of the verb from which lie derives. The two verbs are sometimes confused, with lay used in the intransitive senses prescriptively reserved for lie.

Prefixed Verbs

Nearly all of the basic irregular verbs are single-syllable words. (Their irregular inflected forms are normally single-syllable also, except for the past participles in -en like chosen and risen.) However many additional irregular verbs are formed by adding prefixes to the basic ones: understand from stand, become from come, mistake from take, and so on. (These prefixed forms are generally omitted from the list below, but a large number appear in the table at List of English irregular verbs.) As a general rule, prefixed verbs are conjugated identically to the corresponding basic verbs; for example, we have understand–understood–understood and become–became–become, following the patterns of stand–stood–stood and come–came–come. However, there are occasional differences: in British English, for instance, the past participle of get is got, while that of forget is forgotten.

Only a few irregular verbs of more than one syllable cannot be analyzed as prefixed compounds of monosyllables. The only ones in normal use are begin–began–begun and forsake–forsook–forsaken (these both derive from prefixed verbs whose unprefixed forms have not survived into Modern English). There is also beseech–besought–besought (this is from Old English besēcan "to seek or inquire about", making it equivalent to be- + seek, but it has moved away from seek in both form and meaning); however the form besought is now archaic, the verb normally being conjugated regularly (beseeched).

List

The following is a list of 204 irregular verbs that are commonly used in standard modern English. It omits many rare, dialectal, and archaic forms, as well as most verbs formed by adding prefixes to basic verbs (unbend, understand, mistake, etc.).

It also omits past participle forms that remain in use only adjectivally (clad, sodden, etc.).

The list that follows shows the base, or infinitive form, the past tense and the past participle of the verb.

• a- : for abide, arise, awake, see bide, rise, wake
• be (am, is, are) – was, were – been
• be- : for become, befall, beset, etc. see come, fall, set, etc.
• bear – bore – borne spelt born in passive and adjectival uses relating to birth
• beat – beat – beaten
• beget – begot – begot(ten) [Biblical past tense: begat]
• begin – began – begun
• bend – bent – bent
• bet – bet – bet [past tense and participle also sometimes betted]
• beware – defective verb [see anomalous cases above]
• bid – bid – bid [as in an auction]
• bid – bade/bid – bidden/bid [meaning "request"]
• bide – bided/bode – bided/bidden [but abide mostly uses the regular forms only]
• bind – bound – bound
• bite – bit – bitten
• bleed – bled – bled
• blow – blew – blown
• break – broke – broken
• breed – bred – bred
• bring – brought – brought
• build – built – built
• burn – burnt/burned – burnt/burned
• burst – burst – burst
• buy – bought – bought
• can – could [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• cast – cast – cast [prefixed forms broadcast, forecast, etc. sometimes take -ed ]
• catch – caught – caught
• choose – chose – chosen
• clad – clad/cladded – clad/cladded [clad is also sometimes used as past form of clothe]
• cleave – clove/cleft – cloven/cleft [but regular when meaning "adhere"]
• cling – clung – clung
• come – came – come
• cost – cost – cost [but regular when meaning "calculate the cost of"]
• creep – crept/creeped – crept/creeped
• crow – crowed/crew – crowed [crew normally used only of a cock's crowing]
• cut – cut – cut
• dare – regular except for possible third person singular present dare (see anomalous cases above)
• deal – dealt – dealt
• dig – dug – dug
• dive – dived/dove – dived [the form dove is chiefly American]
• do (does ) – did – done
• drag – *dragged/drug – *dragged/drug* [the form drug is chiefly dialectal]
• draw – drew – drawn
• dream – dreamed/dreamt – dreamed/dreamt
• drink – drank – drunk
• drive – drove – driven
• dwell – dwelt/dwelled – dwelt/dwelled
• eat – ate – eaten
• fall – fell – fallen
• feed – fed – fed
• feel – felt – felt
• fight – fought – fought
• find – found – found
• fit – fit/fitted – fit/fitted
• flee – fled – fled
• fling – flung – flung
• fly – flew – flown [the form flied is common in the baseball sense]
• for(e)- : for forgo, foresee, etc. see go, see, etc.
• forbid – forbade/forbid – forbidden
• forget – forgot – forgotten
• forsake – forsook – forsaken
• freeze – froze – frozen
• get – got – gotten/got* past participle got in British English, gotten in American, but see *have got*
• gild – gilded/gilt – gilded/gilt
• give – gave – given
• go) – went – gone see also [have been]
• grind – ground – ground
• grow – grew – grown
• hang – *hung/hanged – *hung/hanged* the form hanged is more common in the sense of [execution by hanging]
• have (has) – had – had
• hear – heard – heard
• hew – hewed – hewn/hewed
• hide – hid – hidden
• hit – hit – hit
• hoist – hoist/hoisted – hoist/hoisted
• hold – held – held
• hurt – hurt – hurt
• in- : for inlay, input, etc. see lay, put, etc.
• inter- : for interlay, interweave, etc. see lay, weave, etc.
• keep – kept – kept
• kneel – knelt/kneeled – knelt/kneeled
• knit – knit/knitted – knit/knitted
• know – knew – known
• lay – laid – laid
• lead – led – led
• lean – leaned/leant – leaned/leant
• leap – leaped/leapt – leaped/leapt
• learn – learned/learnt – learned/learnt
• leave – left – left
• lend – lent – lent
• let – let – let
• lie – lay – lain [but regular when meaning "tell an untruth"]
• light – lit/lighted – lit/lighted
• lose – lost – lost
• make – made – made
• may – might [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• mean – meant – meant
• meet – met – met
• mis- : for misspeak, mistake, etc. see speak, take, etc.
• mow – mowed – mowed/mown
• must – defective [see anomalous cases above]
• need – regular except for possible third person singular present need (see anomalous cases above)
• off- : for offset see set, etc.
• ought – defective [see anomalous cases above]
• out- : for outbid, output, etc. see bid, put, etc.
• over- : for overbid, overdo, etc. see bid, do, etc.
• pay – paid – paid [but sometimes spelt regularly when meaning "let out" (rope etc.)]
• plead – pleaded/pled – pleaded/pled
• pre- : for prepay, preset, etc. see pay, set, etc.
• prove – proved – proved/proven
• put – put – put
• quit – quit – quit
• re- : for redo, remake, etc. see do, make, etc.
• read – read – read
• rend – rent – rent
• rid – rid/ridded – rid/ridded/ridden
• ride – rode – ridden
• ring – rang – rung
• rise – rose – risen
• run – ran – run
• saw – sawed – sawn/sawed
• say (says ) – said – said
• see – saw – seen
• seek – sought – sought
• sell – sold – sold
• send – sent – sent
• set – set – set
• sew – sewed – sewn/sewed
• shake – shook – shaken
• shall – should [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• shear – sheared/shore – shorn/sheared
• shed – shed – shed
• shine – shone/shined – shone/shined
• shit – shat/shit/shitted – shat/shit/shitted
• shoe – shoed/shod – shoed/shod
• shoot – shot – shot
• show – showed – shown/showed
• shrink – *shrank/shrunk – *shrunk*
• shrive – shrove – shriven
• shut – shut – shut
• sing – sang – sung
• sink – sank – sunk
• sit – sat – sat
• slay – slew/slayed – slain/slayed
• sleep – slept – slept
• slide – slid – slid
• sling – slung – slung
• slink – slunk – slunk
• slit – slit – slit
• smell – smelled/smelt – smelled/smelt
• smite – smote – smitten
• sneak – *sneaked/snuck – *sneaked/snuck* [snuck is chiefly American, is regarded as informal and is only cited from 1887 ]
• sow – sowed – sown/sowed
• speak – spoke – spoken
• speed – sped/speeded – sped/speeded
• spell – spelled/spelt – spelled/spelt
• spend – spent – spent
• spill – spilled/spilt – spilled/spilt
• spin – spun – spun
• spit – spat/spit* – *spat/spit* [the form spit rather than spat is common in America]
• split – split – split
• spoil – spoiled/spoilt – spoiled/spoilt
• spread – spread – spread
• spring – *sprang/sprung – *sprung*
• stand – stood – stood
• stave – staved/stove – staved/stove
• steal – stole – stolen
• stick – stuck – stuck
• sting – stung – stung
• stink – stank – stunk
• strew – strewed – strewn/strewed
• stride – strode – stridden/strode
• strike – struck – struck/stricken
• string – strung – strung
• strive – strove/strived – striven/strived
• swear – swore – sworn
• sweat – sweated/sweat – sweated/sweat
• sweep – swept – swept
• swell – swelled – swollen/swelled
• swim – swam – swum
• swing – swung – swung
• take – took – taken
• teach – taught – taught
• tear – tore – torn
• tell – told – told
• think – thought – thought
• thrive - thrived/throve - thrived/thriven
• throw – threw – thrown
• thrust – thrust/thrusted – thrust/thrusted
• tread – trod – trodden/trod
• un- : for unbend, unweave, etc. see bend, weave, etc.
• under- : for underlie, undergo, understand, etc. see lie, go, stand, etc.
• up- : for upset see set, etc.
• wake – woke – woken
• wear – wore – worn
• weave – wove – woven
• wed – wed/wedded – wed/wedded
• weep – wept – wept
• wet – wet/wetted – wet/wetted
• will – would [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• win – won – won
• wind – wound – wound [but regular in the meanings connected with air and breath]
• with- : for withdraw, withhold, withstand, see draw, hold, stand
• wring – *wrang/wrung – *wrung*
• write – wrote – written

B2 | Upper Intermediate

B2, or Upper Intermediate, is the fourth level on the CEFR scale. It marks the point where you move from "getting by" to genuinely comfortable communication — handling complex topics, expressing nuanced opinions, and understanding most of what you read or hear in real-world contexts.

What a B2 user can do

At this level, you're expected to:

• Understand complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in your own field.
• Follow extended speech and lectures, even when the structure isn't entirely clear, as long as the topic is reasonably familiar.
• Interact fluently and spontaneously enough that conversations with native speakers flow naturally — without strain on either side.
• Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects, using connectors and cohesive devices to build well-structured arguments.
• Explain and defend a viewpoint on a topical issue, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different options.
• Recognize implicit meaning — reading between the lines in demanding, longer texts.

What B2 grammar looks like in practice

B2 is where grammar stops being about isolated rules and starts being about flexibility and precision. You're expected to control structures like:

• Advanced conditionals and mixed conditionals — moving beyond simple if-clauses to express hypothetical and counterfactual meaning.
• Passive voice in varied tenses and contexts, not just present and past simple.
• Reported speech with correct sequence of tenses, including backshifting and reporting verbs.
• Participle clauses and the distinction between participles and gerunds.
• Comparative and superlative structures beyond basic -er/-est, including double comparatives and qualifying expressions.

Errors still happen at B2, but they rarely cause misunderstanding. The goal is controlled, flexible use of language across social, academic, and professional settings.

How B2 fits in the CEFR progression

B2 builds directly on the foundations of B1 (Intermediate) and prepares you for C1 (Advanced). Many university entrance exams, professional certifications, and immigration requirements target B2 as the minimum standard.

Self-check: If you can read a newspaper editorial, follow most of a TED talk without subtitles, and write a clear essay arguing a position — you're likely operating at B2.

Ready to test yourself? Try Is your English level B2/Upper Intermediate? or practise specific B2 grammar with challenges like Basics. Advanced Conditionals And "wish", Basics. Passive Voice, and Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Speech.

Difficulty: Medium

Medium difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.