15 More Minutes About Regular and Irregular Verbs

Anne continues her conversation with the private investigator.

Transcript

Anne: My brother, David, worked in the family business too. But he didn’t like it. He wanted to try something different.

John: So what happened?

Anne: My parents agreed. They let him come to Australia to study.

John: Where did he go?

Anne: He came here, to Adelaide. He studied computer science. We thought he was happy.

John: And then what happened?

Anne: I don’t know. He wrote every week, and then the letters stopped.

John: Do you know where he lived?

Anne: He stayed with an Australian family. He was a boarder. Here’s the address. 
She passes John a piece of paper.

John: Did you phone them?

Anne: Yes, of course. He left there a year ago. They don’t know where he went. 

John: Does he have a mobile phone?

Anne: I don’t know. He did, but he doesn’t answer it now.

John: Don’t worry Ms Lee. I’ll find your brother. I’m on the case.
He shakes her hand and she leaves. John looks at the photo. Now he looks worried.

Study Notes
1. The past tense
2. Regular verbs
I’ll load the shopping in the car. / I loaded the shopping in the car.
He picked his nose.
They laughed at my jokes.
He fished in a boat.
He was mobbed by fans.
I begged for mercy.
I filled the tank.
The police quizzed him for hours.
I loved the movie.
We hummed the tune.
I thinned out the weeds.
He judged her harshly.
She smoothed her dress.
The bell clanged loudly
I fried an egg.
I stayed all day.
3. Spelling verbs ending in Y

hurry hurried

marry married

study studied

worry worried

stay stayed

delay delayed

annoy annoyed

enjoy enjoyed

4. Irregular verbs

Present is am are

Past was were

Present I am happy. He is happy.  You are happy.  We are happy. They are happy.

Past I was happy. He was happy. You were happy. We were happy.  They were happy.

5. Questions in the past tense
Notice that the verb used after did is not in the past tense. The word did forms the past tense for the question and the answer.
I did not.
Yes I fed the cat
6. Questions using what and where

The simple past tense is used to talk about events in the past that are finished.

For example:

I worked in a restaurant last year.

(but I don’t work there now)

I did work in a restaurant last year.

(and I don't work there anymore)

To talk about things that have not happened in the past we use did not or didn't. 

For example:

I didn't work in a restaurant last year.

Anne: My brother, David, worked in the family business too. But he didn’t like it. 

Regular verbs form the past tense by adding ed to the basic form of the verb.

For example: work is the basic form

Adding 'ed' gives us: worked

The ending does not change with different pronouns.

I worked; he worked, we worked, you worked, they worked

There are three ways of pronouncing the ed ending.

We use the ed pronunciation after the consonants t and d.

t arrest / arrested You should arrest him. / He was arrested. 

d load / loaded 

Anne: He wanted to try something different. 

We use the t pronunciation after the sounds s, p, k, f and sh

s mess/ messed. 

He messed her hair.

p sip/ sipped.

She sipped her drink.

k pick/ picked 

f laugh/ laughed 

sh fish/ fished 

Anne: My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

Anne: I don’t know. He wrote every week, and then the letters stopped.

We use the d pronunciation after the consonant sounds b, g, l, z, v, m, n, j, th and ng

b mob/ mobbed 

g beg/ begged 

l fill/ filled 

z quiz/ quizzed 

v love/ loved 

m hum/ hummed 

n thin/ thinned 

j judge/ judged 

th smooth/ smoothed 

ng clang/ clanged 

John: So what happened?

John: Do you know where he lived? 

ed is also pronounced d when the word ends with a vowel sound.

I fry / fried

A stay / stayed

Anne: My parents agreed.

Anne: He stayed with an Australian family.

Some verbs which end in y change the y to an i before adding ed.

Verbs which end in ay or oy don’t change the y to an i.

Many verbs are 'irregular'. They form their past tense in different ways. We just have to learn these. Look at the verb to be.

Notice that this verb to be changes depending on whether the subject is singular or plural.

Other irregular verbs just have past tense forms that don't end with ed. Here are some examples from today's episode.

The past tense of leave is left. 

For example:

I leave tomorrow.

I left yesterday.

Anne: He left there a year ago. 

The past tense of go is went. 

For example:

I go to university.

I went to university.

Anne: They don’t know where he went. 

The past tense of write is wrote. 

For example:

I write these examples.

I wrote you an email.

Anne: He wrote every week, and then the letters stopped. 

The past tense of come is came.

For example:

I want you to come to the meeting.

I came to the meeting. 

Anne: He came here, to Adelaide. 

The past tense of think is thought. 

For example:

I think English is easy.

I thought English was easy. 

Anne: We thought he was happy. 

The past tense of let is let.

For example:

I will let the cat in.

I let the cat in last night.

Anne: They let him come to Australia to study. 

There are several ways of asking questions in the past tense. To ask about past actions we use the past tense of the verb 'to do' – did.

Questions starting with did are asking whether an action was performed or not. The answer is usually 'yes' or 'no'.

We use did followed by a pronoun or subject, and then the verb or action being asked about. 

Did you feed the cat?

Yes I did feed the cat. 

You can also answer this question by just saying yes, or yes I did.

For example:

Did you feed the cat?

Yes.

Did you feed the cat?

Yes I did. 

You answer no with the negative form of did - didn't

For example:

Did you feed the cat?

No I didn’t.

Didn't is the contracted form of did not. We usually use did not to add emphasis. 

For example:

Did you steal the money?

You can give answers to did questions about the past with the past tense of the other verb used in the question.

For example:

Did he go to the bank? 

Yes he went to the bank.

Did you feed the cat?

Questions starting with what and where are asking for information.

Where did you go? 

I went to the supermarket.

What did you do?

I bought some eggs. 

John: Where did he go?

Anne: He came here, to Adelaide.