Talking about the past is one of the most important skills when learning English, and knowing how to describe your childhood is a great way to practice. Understanding the difference between irregular verbs and regular verbs in past tense will help you build sentences with confidence and accuracy.
What are irregular verbs and how do they change in past tense?
Irregular verbs are words that change completely when you transform them into the past tense. There is no single pattern to follow, so you need to memorize them. Here are some common examples [0:38]:
- Eat becomes ate.
- Drink becomes drank.
- Sing becomes sang.
- Become turns into became.
- Choose turns into chose.
- Do turns into did.
- Feel turns into felt.
- Give turns into gave.
- Have turns into had.
These verbs are used constantly in everyday English. For instance, you can say: "He gave her a flower" or "She did her homework" [2:10]. Notice how the verb looks and sounds entirely different from its present form.
How do you use "was" and "were" to talk about the past?
The verb to be has its own irregular past forms: was and were [2:48]. In the present, you say "I am at home today," but when referring to yesterday, you say "I was at a concert yesterday."
The rule for choosing between was and were is straightforward:
- Use was with I, he, she, and it.
- Use were with you, we, and they.
For negative sentences, simply add not: wasn't and weren't [4:00]. For example:
- "They weren't at the library. They were at school."
- "We weren't exercising. We were painting."
These structures allow you to describe situations, locations, and feelings in the past with precision.
What makes regular verbs different from irregular verbs?
Regular verbs follow a simple and predictable pattern: they all end in -ed when converted to past tense [5:30]. While the pronunciation may vary slightly, the written form always has the same ending.
- Walk becomes walked.
- Play becomes played.
- Call becomes called.
- Accept becomes accepted.
- Bake becomes baked.
- Change becomes changed.
- Decide becomes decided.
- Imagine becomes imagined.
- Talk becomes talked.
Practice examples include: "Kevin baked a cake last week" and "They played video games all night" [6:40].
How can you describe your childhood using both types of verbs?
When someone asks "What was your childhood like?", you can combine regular and irregular verbs to paint a complete picture [7:15]. Take the example of Joshua:
- "He played in the park." (regular verb)
- "He had long hair." (irregular verb)
A more complete answer might sound like this [8:05]:
- "My childhood was very nice."
- "I played with my friends."
- "I had many toys."
- "I lived with my parents and my siblings." (Your siblings are your brothers and sisters.)
- "I loved cartoons."
Notice how mixing both verb types creates natural, descriptive sentences. The key is to identify whether the verb is regular or irregular and then apply the correct past form.
Now it is your turn to practice. Think about your own childhood and write a few sentences using both regular and irregular verbs. Share your answers and keep building your confidence with past tense in English.
