Difference Between Regular and Irregular Verbs

Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Verbs are a part of grammar which are an important part to frame a sentence. Verbs have an important place in English usage. Verbs come from a Latin word “verbum” meaning to convey action. As the original word suggests, a verb in a sentence tells us the action performed.

I washed the car yesterday.
The dog ate the meat.

There are many forms of verbs. The main emphasis is going to be to distinguish between regular and irregular verbs.

Regular Verbs
There are hundreds and hundreds of regular verbs in the English language. Any verb forming its past tense or past participle by adding –d or –ed to the word is said to be a regular verb. These verbs do not undergo any major change as they change forms whether it is singular to plural or present to past or vice versa.
The regular verbs may be changed to the past tense by replacing the last vowel (a, e, i, o, u) with –d. To complete the word, a supporting verb is also added (has, have, had) in the case of the present perfect of past perfect tense.
For instance, for a regular verb ending in a vowel;
Present tense : share
Past tense : shared
Past perfect tense : had shared
Present perfect tense : have shared

If the verb ends in a consonant, replacement is made with –ed. The past tense of this kind of a verb ends with an –ed and a helping verb is used in the case of the present perfect or past perfect tense.
For instance, for a regular verb ending in a consonant;
Present tense : work
Past tense : worked
Past perfect tense : had worked
Present perfect tense : have worked

Irregular Verbs

Those verbs which undergo a substantial change as they change forms, be it singular to plural or present to past or vice versa, fall into the category of irregular verbs. There is no other way but to memorize the changing tenses of irregular verbs.
For instance, for an irregular verb;
Present tense : go
Past tense : went
Past perfect tense : had gone
Present perfect tense : have gone
There are some exceptional verbs that can be both regular and irregular as in “learn.”

As a regular verb;
Present tense : learn
Past tense : learned
Past perfect tense : learned
As an irregular verb;
Present tense : learn
Past tense : learnt
Past perfect tense : learnt

A few others change according to their usage as in;
As a regular verb;
Present tense : hang
Past tense : hanged
Past perfect tense : hanged
And as an irregular verb;
Present tense : hang
Past tense : hung
Past perfect tense : hung

Summary:
The main difference between regular and irregular verbs is that regular verbs have their past and past participle tenses very similar to their present tenses while irregular verbs have their past and past participle tenses very dissimilar to their present tenses.

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