what is a regular verb

A regular verb is a verb that forms its past tense and past participle by following the usual “add -ed or -d” pattern (for example: walk → walked, play → played, love → loved).

Quick Scoop: What Is a Regular Verb?

Think of regular verbs as the “rule-followers” of English grammar. They change form in a predictable way when you talk about the past.

• Most regular verbs: add -ed
  • walk → walked
  • talk → talked
• Verbs ending in e : add -d
  • like → liked
  • live → lived
• Verbs ending in consonant + y : change y to i and add -ed
  • study → studied
  • try → tried

In contrast, irregular verbs do something different in the past (go → went, see → saw), which is why regular verbs are generally easier to learn.