Irregular verbs are easy to remember. Words that don't transform

Many students began to hate irregular verbs while still in school. primary school. After all, we simply did not know how to learn irregular verbs in English. I had to cram words without even delving into their meaning. This made it extremely difficult to consider the nature and beauty of the English language.

Today, even adult students struggle to learn irregular verbs and hate this section with all their hearts. However, it is necessary to understand that irregular verbs are high-frequency vocabulary that helps build fundamental knowledge of English.

Irregular verbs are the most commonly used in English speech and the most difficult to remember. The same verb in different times may be completely different in spelling and sound. But once you master them, you will take a good step in learning English. There are many ways to quickly learn them, the only thing I recommend is that you don’t need to learn everything and it’s impossible at once. Try to remember the first ten, if tomorrow you can easily remember how they sound and are written, move on to the next ones, but be sure to return to the ones you learned earlier.

However, there is also good news- there is no need to learn all 470 verbs. For full communication, it is enough to know only 160-180. Moreover, today we will tell you how to quickly learn irregular verbs in English and turn this activity into an interesting pastime.

1. Use cards.

Flashcards help use visual memory. Moreover, you must make the cards yourself. After all, when you write by hand, you connect motor memory. Thus, by writing 2-3 cards and repeating the pronunciation of the verb, you will be able to remember several irregular verbs after 15 minutes. And don't forget about transcription.

Write on one side of the card the verb in the infinitive, and on the other its two forms in Past Tense and Past Participle. Also add transcription and translation as in the picture.

Working with cards is very simple. To do this, memorize the verb and look at only one side of the card. At the same time, try to tell what is written on the back. Over time, increase the number of cards to replenish your stock of irregular verbs.

It is very important to use the Russian version of the word, because many beginners try to learn how to quickly learn irregular verbs in English and learn everything. However, they are unable to translate the verb in the sentence.

How to quickly remember irregular verbs in English if they are all very unpredictable and dissimilar? Just combine them into the same groups. Form groups of verbs that are similar in sound or spelling.

In many tutorials and textbooks, irregular verbs are given in alphabetical order. However, it is not necessary to teach them this way. After all Speaking is not built in alphabetical order.

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1. Use poems and songs.

This way of learning irregular verbs is one of the simplest and most fun. There are a lot of different poems on the Internet that help you remember all the most complex verbs.

To work using this technique, watch the following video and try to repeat the poem after the speaker. After watching this and similar videos several times in a row, you can easily learn new verbs for yourself. If you want to learn how to learn English irregular verbs, just watch the animation and repeat.

1. Make up different stories and include irregular verbs in the story.

This is a very simple but effective training option. You can make up stories, jokes, fairy tales, etc. Use your imagination and talk about yourself in the past tense to connect as many irregular verbs as possible and learn how to learn irregular verbs in English.

For example, you could start like this: I went to the beach and found a gold coin. Then I put it in my pocket and saw the seagull. - I went to the beach and found gold coin. Then I put it in my pocket and saw a seagull.

1. Games and skits.

To do this, you will need several cards with irregular verbs (as in point 1). Play with friends or other students. You take turns taking a card from the deck, and the first one to call three irregular shape verb, he takes it away.

At the end, the winner is the one with the most cards. The game can also be complicated when you take a card with a verb in the infinitive, then the player needs to come up with a sentence, but with an irregular verb. This way you will understand how to quickly learn English verbs with friends.

We would also like to offer wonderful service. In the game Verb Dash, two dogs race. The player is asked to enter one of three verbs. And if the player's option is correct, then the blue dog wins.

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Surely you have encountered this problem. Irregular verbs make up a fairly large part in English grammar, and in English speech they occur all the time. Today we will talk about how to learn irregular verbs quickly, easily and make friends with them. We would like to bring to your attention several methods and tips in this matter, and you will choose the ones that you like best.

The good old method is to memorize!

Nothing surprising or new! Old and proven methods still work. To learn these words, you simply open the table of 100 irregular verbs, take the first 5-6 pieces and begin to methodically repeat them out loud. Repeat each form several times and after a few minutes you will see that you have already memorized something. And so the next batch of words, and the next, etc.

In addition, it is important to know how irregular verbs and their forms are written. To remember their spelling, again, open the table and carefully look at the spelling of each form. Repeat out loud several times. Then ask a friend to give you a little dictation on writing irregular verbs.

No one has canceled cheat sheets yet!

This is true. Small pieces of sticky paper, so-called stickers, or just cards can help you learn English irregular verbs easily and quickly. Write 5-10 words on each piece of paper and paste them wherever possible: on your desktop, near the computer, in the kitchen. Let these leaves be colored, so new words will be remembered fun, simply and quickly.

Imagine, you sit down at a computer, and a piece of paper is attached to it with, for example, verbs:

• To read-read-read
• To dig-dug-dug
• To sleep-slept-slept
• To feel-felt-felt
• To write-wrote-written

Let such stickers or cards come across your eyes as often as possible; frequent repetition will speed up memorization.

Exercises on irregular verbs

This method is also effective. It will take a little longer, but it's worth it. You can do these exercises on weekends. Grammar exercises using irregular verbs will help you. This could be opening parentheses and choosing the correct form, finding and selecting the right verb, searching for the right form, etc.

On initial stage you can do such exercises with a table of verbs in front of your eyes. Gradually try to do without a table and over time you will perform such exercises without difficulty, quickly and naturally.

Look also at the tasks and their answers:

Sentences with irregular verbs

If you don’t have a lot of free time to methodically learn irregular verbs, you can resort to the following method. You can devote 10-15 minutes a day to this method. Place a table of irregular verbs in front of you, take the first 5-6 and make sentences with them. Try to use all three forms.

To do this, focus on English past tenses ( Past Simple, Past Perfect, Present Perfect). Thus, you train your visual memory, you better remember the spelling of these irregular verbs, you train your written English speech etc. You can also ask a friend to dictate to you whole text with the presence of these structures or simple phrases and sentences.

Entertaining irregular verbs

We bring to your attention small, funny and slightly absurd poems containing irregular verbs. In these poems, “wrong” constructions are matched to rhyme. Learning irregular verbs in this way is very exciting, fun, fast and easy.

Here are these wonderful and funny poems:

I'm at the buffet buy-bought-bought (buy)
First class sandwich
I'm for him pay-paid-paid, (pay).

He pillow cut-cut-cut, (cut)
Brother in the bathroom shut-shut-shut, (close)
He's a neighbor ring-rang-rung (to ring)
And of course, run-run-run. (run)

So, we have offered you several ways to learn irregular verbs in English. If you don’t have free time for these “unfortunate” verbs, but you still need to learn them, just throw the table of verbs into your bag and look through it at any opportunity - at school, at work, in transport, etc.

Your visual memory will definitely help you remember them!

You can download a selection of English irregular verbs by sound

Half of my students make mistakes on forms in their speech English irregular verbs. Many people began to hate the table of irregular verbs back in school, when they had to cram verbs without understanding the meaning. Already in adulthood, it is very difficult for such people to force themselves to return to this topic and master this list. However, it is important to understand that many irregular verbs are high-frequency verbs and are as necessary to speech as bricks and mortar are to a house.

There are also positive point- a person does not need to memorize all 470 irregular verbs, because only 180 of them are often used. However, you will have to learn a certain number of verbs by heart. Since irregular verbs came from Old English, they were formed chaotically, without any system or rules. Linguist Steven Pinker resourcefully noted in an article: “ Every time we use an irregular verb, we continue to play broken telephone, a game that has been going on for over five thousand years.«.

Since irregular verbs need to be learned in any case, you can approach this matter creatively. This way you will magically turn your studies into... efficient, simple and fun process.

1) Always learn irregular verbs with translation

One day one of my students, a ninth grader, proudly told me that he had learned twenty irregular verbs from my list. But when I suggested that I give him three forms of the verb “to build,” he said in surprise that he didn’t know how it would be in English. The fact is that at school they are not asked to translate verbs. The teacher simply names the infinitive, and the students say the forms.

It is difficult for me to understand the logic of such a training system. It turns out that a person learned twenty verbs without knowing their meaning. What's the point? Smiling, I explained to my student that, first of all, it is important for him remember the value irregular verbs, and then forms. Then he will be able to use them in speech and writing.

I usually check how students remember English irregular verbs in several steps. First, I name the verbs in Russian, and the student’s task is to translate and give forms. Next, I have whole sentences to be translated in different tenses to make sure that students can use the forms correctly. Finally, I ask them to write sentences or mini-stories themselves.

Although irregular verbs are unpredictable, you may find some similar shapes, for example, blow-blew-blown, grow-grew-grown, flow-flew-flown, or a series of unchangeable verbs: cut-cut-cut, set-set-set, put-put-put.

Almost all grammar textbooks give a list of irregular verbs in alphabetical order. I believe that there is no point in learning verbs in alphabetical order - you will never use them in that order in real life. From my point of view, it is much more effective to group verbs by sound. Some verbs still cannot be attached to any group, and they will have to be learned separately, for example, do-did-done or hear-heard-heard.

Mine is only 80 lines. This list is more than enough to get you started. If you learn ten verbs a day, studying the tablet will take you only eight days. Later, you can gradually add the remaining hundred irregular verbs to the studied “backbone”.

3) Make up stories with the first person singular pronoun (I)

This is a powerful tool revitalization irregular verbs (translation into active memory). Your story doesn't have to sound realistic at all. On the contrary, the more imagination, the better you will remember irregular verbs, because you will connect right hemisphere brain (which is responsible for creative thinking). You can start your story like a fairy tale: " Once upon a time I went to the forest. I bought a bottle of water and brought a couple of sandwiches to have a picnic. Suddenly I saw a wolf and fought with it for three hours. Then I got hungry and thought of lunch….»

4) Pay attention to irregular verbs while reading

When you read, or a textbook, stop your eyes on irregular verbs. Make a mental note and assign these verbs to one of the groups. This is how you will master irregular verbs naturally, instead of learning them as a first list of the 80 most common verbs.

5) Play games

Of all five tips, this is the most enjoyable for both children and adults. You can do it yourself deck of cards with a translation of the irregular verb on one side and three forms on the other. Then invite one or two players, place the deck on the table and take cards one by one, looking at the Russian translation. The one who can name all three forms correctly the fastest takes the card.

Later you can move on to more complex technology- when you see the card, you need to quickly come up with a sentence that will begin with “Yesterday I...”. You can then check to see if the player has used the correct form of the verb.

Another fun game is called English attack. This online game, where one dog is chasing another and you have a limited time to type one form of an irregular verb. If you type correctly, your dog wins the race; if not, your dog loses.

Usually a week is enough to master the 80 most common irregular verbs, and another two weeks to add 100 more. Using stories, reading and games, the process becomes simple and fun!

Do you remember when you first encountered irregular verbs at school? Remember how the holidays were hopelessly ruined by the task “learn the table of irregular verbs.” Remember how you mechanically crammed endless columns from the very beginning of the list: begin - began - begun? ...And from that time on you have had a terrible dislike for irregular verbs.

So, before you again lies a huge list of words written in three columns. You have to learn them, and preferably as soon as possible. What are your actions? You take the list and teach again from the very beginning, stepping on the same rake.

The words are not remembered and confused, you get nervous and give up.

However, in English language without irregular verbs - nowhere. Time Past Simple, Perfect tenses and many constructions require a second or third form of the verb. Therefore, you will have to learn verbs, but how exactly to learn them - read on.

For effective learning of a monotonous series of forms, memorizing words in alphabetical order is not the most best method, and most of you are already convinced of this. To make learning not only effective, but also enjoyable, you should look for other ways and patterns. Irregular verbs, like any other lexical material, need to be grouped and structured. In this article you will find a few ideas for memorizing irregular verbs, although there are undoubtedly many more, and you can create your own method that suits you personally.

We can conditionally divide all irregular verbs in the English language into three main groups.

To the first group let's include verbs that have all three forms are the same. This group is the smallest and these verbs are the easiest to remember. Examples of verbs of the first group:

Most irregular verbs fall into second group, where verbs are presented that have two forms coincide. As a rule, these are the second and third forms. But there are also those for whom the first and third coincide (come - came - come). You only need to remember two forms, which makes your task much easier. Examples:

Third group is the most difficult to remember, because we include verbs in which all three forms are different. For example:

Divide the verbs from your list into these three groups. Start studying from the first one. When you remember them, you can move on to the second and after memorizing the verbs of the second group, the third will not be difficult for you.

If you look closely at the irregular verbs of the English language, many of them form the second and third forms according to certain principles. I will highlight some of them:

1. Changing a vowel according to the principle: [ɪ] - [æ] - [ ʌ ]

2. Changing the vowel in the second and third form:

3. The second and third forms have the ending -ought or -aught, which is pronounced /ɔːt/:

4. Change (deafening) of a consonant:

5. The second form ends in -ew, and the third -wn:

6. The second form has O or OO, and the third form has the ending -en:

If, when learning a new irregular verb, you pay attention to the principle by which its forms are formed, then it will be much easier for you to remember it.

This method is perfect for both adults and children. Since many verbs are formed according to the same principles, they rhyme well. Poems, as you know, are remembered much faster than a list. By making short rhymes with four verbs, you will remember them automatically and help your children learn them. I'll give a few examples:

I know from my own experience that this method is one of the most effective. Worth a try!

Many people find it easier to comprehend a large amount of vocabulary if it is grouped into semantic categories. Irregular verbs can also be divided into thematic categories. For example:

1. Movements:

2. Mental activities:

3. Verbs connected to verbal activity (verbs related to speech):

4. Verbs related to money (verbs related to the topic of money):

5. Education:

There can be as many categories as you like, and you can distribute the verbs according to your own associations. This method is suitable for those students who already have a certain stock of irregular verbs and continue to expand their lexicon. Create your own classification, write down the verbs that are familiar to you, and when you come across a new irregular verb, put it into one of the categories.

Approach your studies creatively and with a smile. With a positive attitude, you will achieve success not only in learning irregular verbs

Irregular Verbs - important point in learning English that should not be missed. Why? Most of the verbs used by native English speakers in everyday communication refer to irregular verbs. Without their knowledge, you simply will not be able to express your opinion on any issue in full.

How many irregular verbs are there in English? About 500. But this does not mean that you need to learn them all in one fell swoop. In studying foreign languages consistency is important. You can start with the simplest and most frequently used verbs. And we will tell you about several techniques that will make the process of learning irregular verbs not difficult for you. You are ready? Let's go!

Reception No. 1. Systematization

This technique is especially popular among students of irregular verbs. What do we have to do? Divide irregular verbs into groups using analogy. For example, words with -O- in the middle of a word in the second column or words with -N at the end of a word in the third.

Words that don't transform

The simplest group of irregular verbs. It is enough to remember only the first column of these and the fact that they do not change forms.

Verbs ending -N in the third column

Everything is simple here. It is enough to remember that these verbs have the ending -N in the Past Participle. But this group can be divided into smaller subgroups.

• Verbs with -O- in the second and third columns

More detailed information about the distribution of irregular verbs into groups, which will make their study easier and faster, you can view on the website

Reception No. 2. Cards

You may already be familiar with this method of learning new words from your school or university days. All you need for this technique is paper, a pen and a little perseverance. Make identical cards, writing three forms of the verb on each side on one side, and its translation on the other. Of course, you can find ready-made cards on the Internet by printing them. But by preparing them yourself and pronouncing each word, you have a better chance of remembering the words many times faster.

To those who good memory for visual material, we recommend adding small association pictures to the words that you think are most difficult to remember. And progressive individuals can turn to programs for learning foreign languages ​​like or by installing them on their gadget.

Reception No. 3. Video

Periodically watch videos of English-speaking bloggers teaching English. This way you will remember not only all forms of irregular verbs, but also their correct pronunciation.

Reception No. 4. Offers

Surely many have heard that human memory works especially effectively when we are in a good mood. Make up at least 5 funny sentences or one short story using irregular verbs that are new to you. This way you will not only lift your mood, but also expand your vocabulary.

Reception No. 5. Notice me!

It is this request that should be fulfilled in relation to irregular verbs. Whatever you do: watch a movie, TV series, listen to your favorite music or read a book in English, try to pay attention to all the verbs, checking their presence in the list of irregular ones or remembering their forms if you have learned them before.

Method number 6. Poems

Anything that rhymes is always easier and more fun to remember. Try fun rhymes using all three forms irregular verbs. If such creativity does not appeal to you, use existing material like the rhymes of Alexander Pyltsyn, which you can familiarize yourself with

Choose the most suitable way for you to learn irregular verbs, improve your English and you will be happy! ;)

And we wish you strength and success!