TEST YOUR ENGLISH! Irregular Past Participles

Do we say “I have catched a cold“ or, “I have caught a cold“? From present simple to present perfect, how do you know which past participle to use? Wait a minute. Use a PAST participle with the present perfect? Yes! In fact, there are two types of irregular past participles, and in this lesson, I will teach you when to use them. Be sure to complete the quiz at to confirm your understanding. Study and download a list of the most common irregular verbs in English here: TRANSCRIPT Hello. I’m Gill at , and today’s lesson is on irregular past tenses. Okay? And in particular: “Irregular Past Participles“-okay?-of irregular verbs. So, let me just show you some examples to make it clearer what I mean. Okay. So what we’re doing, we’re looking at three different tenses to show how the verb changes, so the present simple of the verb, then the past simple, and then when we use the present perfect that’s when you have to use the past participle. And what happens is sometimes it’s the same for both the past simple and the present perfect, but with other verbs it’s different. So I just have two examples here to show you, one verb where it’s the same and one verb where it’s different just to illustrate. And then in the second part of the lesson we will have a list of two separate sets of verbs, and I will test you on your knowledge of the past participles of those and they’re listed under “same“ and “different“ just to clarify which ones stay the same, which ones are different. Okay. So let’s have a look at some examples, and then it should all become clearer. So, first of all, this is the present simple: “I catch a cold every winter.“ Every winter, achoo, I’m sneezing. Oh, terrible, every winter I catch a cold. So for something that happens regularly, that is one way that we use the present simple when something happens regularly. Every, every winter I catch a cold, so the verb is “to catch“, okay? So then if we put it into the past tense, the past simple and we say: “Last month... I caught a cold last month.“ Okay? So: “caught“ is the irregular past simple form of the verb “to catch“. “I caught a cold last month.“ I caught a cold last month, but I’m much better now. That sort of idea. Okay. So then the third example here is using the present perfect which involves using this word: “have“ as an auxiliary, as an extra verb. So: “I have caught another cold!“ Oh dear, I only had a cold... I caught a cold last month, and now I have caught another cold. That’s one cold after another. So this is in the more recent past, the present perfect using “have“: “I have caught another cold.“ Meaning just recently. So you can see here that “caught“ stays the same, it’s the same. So it’s an example where the past simple and the present perfect stay the same, but let’s have a look now at an example where there’s a change and where they’re different. Okay? So, back to the present simple again and the verb is “to write“, which is an irregular verb, so: “I write to my cousin once a year.“ I have a cousin who is not on email, and it makes it rather inconvenient to keep in touch with her, so writing letters and putting them in the post I find a terrible job these days. I’m so used to using email for everybody, but I have a cousin who’s not on email and she will not have a computer. So I have to write a letter to her. “I write to my cousin once a year.“ Okay? So, again, that’s using the present simple for a regular action. Once a year is the regular action, I write. Okay, so then if we move to the past simple: “Last week... I wrote to my cousin last week.“ So that’s the past simple. So, the form there for the past simple is “wrote“, from “write“ to “wrote“, but then if we use the present perfect using the auxiliary “have“: “Today... I have written to my cousin today.“ So recent past, it’s a completed action. “I have written“. Thank goodness I’ve got that letter written and posted, and it’s gone now, so that’s a job done for the year. So: “I have written“, so you can see there that this form is not the same. They’re the same here: “I caught“, “I have caught“, but with “write“: “I wrote“, “I have written to my cousin today.“ So you can see how past simple and present perfect with different verbs, sometimes they stay the same, other times they’re different. Okay. So let’s move on to the second part of the lesson, and we’ll have a look at two lists of verbs, and I will test you on your knowledge of the past participles. Okay, so let’s have a look at these which are the verbs which stay the same in the past simple and the present perfect, and I will just write that form in, but just to give you an opportunity first to think what it is. So: “to send“, I send in the present.