If you’re a kinesthetic learner (you learn best while moving), write the present, past, and past participle of ‘”today’s” verbs ten times each, saying them as you write them. Even better, write present and past sentences with them.
If you’re an auditory learner like me, recite or sing them over and over. Practice them whenever you can, with a friend, or a game, or flash cards. The good news is that there is only one form of each verb in the simple past (except for the verb ‘be,’ below), as well as a past participle form that is often the same as the simple past form.
If you can memorize five verbs a day, you can learn the most common irregular verbs in a week and all the commonly used verbs in less than three weeks. Since you probably already know many of them, much of that time would be for review. Past Tense Rules for Be: The simple past forms of 'be' are 'was' and 'were.' The past participle is 'been.' • Use 'was' with I, he, she, or it: 'I was tired, but she (or Mary, or my mother) was still energetic. Actually, I have been tired for two days now.'
• Use 'were' with you or any plural nouns or pronouns. 'You were in Denver last week, weren't you? Were your sisters there too?' 'Yes, they were. We were all together for the weekend.' Using the Lists. These lists will help you learn the verbs you don’t know yet by arranging them into groups with similar patterns.
(Often you will know at least one of a group: link the others to it to learn several “for the price of one.”) After the ‘top twenty’ most useful irregular verbs, the lists group rhyming or other similar forms together. Note that more than half of these, like regular English verbs, end in ‘d’ or the related ‘t’ sound. All regular-- and the majority of irregular-- past participles are the same as the simple past form.
You might notice that most of the past participles that are different end in ‘n’ or ‘en’-- the old (Middle English) form. All the past participles, whether the same or different from the simple past form, are included in these lists to leave no doubts. For each of the following irregular verbs, the first form is the present (and base), the second is the simple past, and the third is the past participle (pp). When one of the top 20 fits another pattern, it's repeated there. List #1: the Top 20 Irregular Verbs Advertisement. The top 20 irregular verbs are so common! List #1: 20 of the Most Common Irregular Verbs (Learn these first if you don’t already know them): PRESENT-- PAST-- PAST PARTICIPLE (used after ‘have,’ or as an adjective) 1.