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The irregular verb gets taken for a ride | Grammar | Khan Academy


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Hello grammarians. Broadly, we're talking about irregular verbs, but more specifically, today we're going to talk about the "en" ending, which is why I'm calling this lecture "Taken for a Ride."

Because this little "en" thing... So we've spoken previously about verbs that show their past tense or their past perfect or past participle forms by changing their vowel sound. Uh, like the verb "to sing," right? Present tense: sing; past tense: sang; past perfect aspect: had sung.

Some of the words we're going to be talking about today also have that vowel change, but what's different about them is that for the past perfect or past participle form, instead of "ed," it's "en." Let me explain the verb "to tear." Right? In its present tense, it's "tear." I tear this piece of paper. Uh, past tense: I tore this piece of paper, and in the past perfect, it's: I had torn. I probably shouldn't have done that; I had notes on that paper.

Some verbs that fall into the category of the "en" past perfect have regular-seeming past tenses. So, for example, the word "show": I show him the book; she showed me the book; we had shown them the book. So we're still getting this sound. Same thing goes with "prove": present tense: prove; past tense: proved; past perfect: proven. Same deal for the verb "to bite." I bite; it bit; I was bitten, or it had bitten.

The present tense of "to ride" is "ride"; the past is "rode," and the past perfect or past participle is "had ridden" or "was ridden," as in "the horse was ridden all around the countryside." The verb "to eat" works this way: present tense: eat; past tense: ate; past participle or past perfect: had eaten or was eaten. So I had eaten earlier, or the cookie was eaten by Stew.

The verb "speak" undergoes that vowel shift. So it goes: speak in the present tense; spoke in the past tense; and past participle or past perfect is spoken. Even really weird words like "to be" and "to go" obey this rule, the "en" rule; it just doesn't necessarily look like it. So, "to be": the past of that is either was or were, but the past perfect form of that is "been," which is just "b" with an "in" ending on it, right?

"Go" is the same way, so even though "go" has a really weird past form: I go; she went; the past perfect or past participle form is "gone." And sure, the letters aren't in the right order, but the sound is there: gone. Irregular verbs are weird; there's no denying it. But we can break them down, and they can be understood, and you can learn anything.

David out.

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