Irregular Verbs Guide

🔴

A-A-A — All forms identical

No change at all

Base	Past	Past Participle	Meaning
cut	cut	cut	cortar
put	put	put	poner
let	let	let	dejar
set	set	set	colocar
shut	shut	shut	cerrar
hit	hit	hit	golpear
hurt	hurt	hurt	herir
cost	cost	cost	costar
quit	quit	quit	dejar/renunciar
spread	spread	spread	esparcir

💡 Mnemonic

Most A-A-A verbs end in -t or -d. Think: "already ends in past sound."

🔵

A-B-B — Past = Past Participle

Change once, keep it

Base	Past	Past Participle	Meaning
bring	brought	brought	traer
buy	bought	bought	comprar
think	thought	thought	pensar
teach	taught	taught	enseñar
catch	caught	caught	atrapar
feel	felt	felt	sentir
keep	kept	kept	mantener
sleep	slept	slept	dormir
leave	left	left	salir/dejar
meet	met	met	conocer
find	found	found	encontrar
have	had	had	tener
hear	heard	heard	oír
hold	held	held	sostener
lose	lost	lost	perder
make	made	made	hacer
pay	paid	paid	pagar
say	said	said	decir
sell	sold	sold	vender
send	sent	sent	enviar
sit	sat	sat	sentarse
spend	spent	spent	gastar
stand	stood	stood	estar de pie
tell	told	told	decir/contar
understand	understood	understood	entender
win	won	won	ganar
get	got	got/gotten	obtener
read	read	read	leer (pron. /red/)

💡 Tip

This is the largest group. Sub-patterns: "-ought" family (bring/buy/think/teach/catch), "-ept/-eft" family (keep/sleep/leave/feel), and vowel shortening (meet→met, sit→sat).

🟣

A-B-C — All forms different

Three distinct forms to learn

Base	Past	Past Participle	Meaning
be	was/were	been	ser/estar
begin	began	begun	empezar
break	broke	broken	romper
choose	chose	chosen	elegir
do	did	done	hacer
draw	drew	drawn	dibujar
drink	drank	drunk	beber
drive	drove	driven	conducir
eat	ate	eaten	comer
fall	fell	fallen	caer
fly	flew	flown	volar
forget	forgot	forgotten	olvidar
give	gave	given	dar
go	went	gone	ir
grow	grew	grown	crecer
hide	hid	hidden	esconder
know	knew	known	saber
lie	lay	lain	yacer/acostarse
ride	rode	ridden	montar
ring	rang	rung	sonar
rise	rose	risen	subir
run	ran	run	correr
see	saw	seen	ver
show	showed	shown	mostrar
sing	sang	sung	cantar
speak	spoke	spoken	hablar
steal	stole	stolen	robar
swim	swam	swum	nadar
take	took	taken	tomar
throw	threw	thrown	lanzar
wake	woke	woken	despertar
wear	wore	worn	llevar puesto
write	wrote	written	escribir

💡 Sub-patterns in A-B-C

i-a-u (drink/ring/sing/swim/begin) • -ew/-own (grow/know/fly/throw/draw) • -oke/-oken (break/choose/speak/steal/wake) • -ove/-iven (drive/ride/write)

🔸

A-B-A — PP same as Base

Comes back to the start

Base	Past	Past Participle	Meaning
become	became	become	convertirse
come	came	come	venir
run	ran	run	correr
overcome	overcame	overcome	superar

Irregular Verbs by Pattern