Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are showing your roommate the new items you bought over the weekend and explaining where you went and how much you spent.
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence. Pay close attention to the past forms of these irregular verbs!
1 “On Saturday morning, I _____ to the new shopping mall in the city center.”
(a) went
(b) goed
(c) go
2 “I was so excited, and I _____ a lot of new clothes!”
(a) buyed
(b) bought
(c) buying
3 “First, I _____ a beautiful red dress in the window.”
(a) see
(b) seed
(c) saw
4 “I looked around and _____ the perfect pair of shoes to match the dress.”
(a) found
(b) finded
(c) finds
5 “I _____ for the shoes with my credit card.”
(a) payed
(b) pay
(c) paid
6 “I _____ to the electronics store because I only wanted clothes.”
(a) don’t go
(b) didn’t went
(c) didn’t go
7 “_____ you buy anything for our apartment?” my roommate asked.
(a) Did
(b) Were
(c) Do
8 “I _____ all my money on a very expensive jacket.”
(a) spended
(b) spent
(c) spend
9 “The jacket was so expensive that I _____ any new bags.”
(a) didn’t buy
(b) didn’t bought
(c) no buy
10 “After the clothing store, I _____ a taxi to the shoe shop.”
(a) taked
(b) take
(c) took
11 “I _____ the mall at about 4:00 PM because I was tired.”
(a) leaved
(b) left
(c) leave
12 “Look! I _____ some chocolate cookies for you, too.”
(a) brings
(b) bringed
(c) brought
13 “How did you _____ for all these expensive things?”
(a) paid
(b) pay
(c) payed
14 “I looked for a blue shirt for you, but I _____ one.”
(a) didn’t find
(b) didn’t found
(c) wasn’t find
15 “There were three colors for this hat, but I _____ the black one.”
(a) chose
(b) choose
(c) choosed
16 “I _____ a new phone, but I didn’t buy a new case.”
(a) get
(b) got
(c) getted
17 “This beautiful winter coat _____ me $100”
(a) costed
(b) costs
(c) cost
18 “What time _____ to the mall on Saturday?”
(a) did you go
(b) you went
(c) did you went
19 “Oh no! I _____ my new sunglasses on the bus!”
(a) forgetted
(b) forgot
(c) forget
20 “I didn’t have cash, so I _____ the cashier with my phone.”
(a) paid
(b) payed
(c) pay
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a) went
- Why it’s right: “Went” is the irregular past tense form of “go”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common mistake (adding “-ed” to an irregular verb). (c) is the present tense base form, which does not fit the past time marker “On Saturday morning”.
2 (b) bought
- Why it’s right: “Bought” is the irregular past tense of “buy”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“buyed”). (c) is the continuous “-ing” form, which requires a “to be” verb and doesn’t fit the simple past narrative.
3 (c) saw
- Why it’s right: “Saw” is the irregular past tense of “see”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common mistake (“seed”). (a) is the present tense.
4 (a) found
- Why it’s right: “Found” is the irregular past tense of “find”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common mistake (“finded”). (c) is the present tense for the 3rd person singular.
5 (c) paid
- Why it’s right: “Paid” is the correct irregular past tense of “pay”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common spelling mistake (“payed” is only used in very specific nautical contexts, never for money). (b) is the present tense.
6 (c) didn’t go
- Why it’s right: The negative past simple uses “didn’t” + the base verb (“go”).
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common double-past mistake (“didn’t” + “went”). (a) is the present negative form.
7 (a) Did
- Why it’s right: “Did” is the auxiliary verb used to make Yes/No questions in the Past Simple tense.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) incorrectly uses the “to be” verb with an action verb. (c) is the present tense auxiliary.
8 (b) spent
- Why it’s right: “Spent” is the irregular past tense of “spend”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“spended”). (c) is the present tense.
9 (a) didn’t buy
- Why it’s right: Negative sentences in the past require “didn’t” + the base verb.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common double-past mistake (“didn’t bought”). (c) is a basic structural error.
10 (c) took
- Why it’s right: “Took” is the irregular past tense of “take” (used here for “take a taxi”).
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“taked”). (b) is the present tense.
11 (b) left
- Why it’s right: “Left” is the irregular past tense of “leave”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“leaved”). (c) is the present tense.
12 (c) brought
- Why it’s right: “Brought” is the irregular past tense of “bring”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common mistake (“bringed”). (a) is the present tense.
13 (b) pay
- Why it’s right: Because the question already uses “did”, the main verb must be in its base form (“pay”).
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a double-past mistake (“did” + “paid”). (c) is a double-past mistake combined with a spelling error (“payed”).
14 (a) didn’t find
- Why it’s right: Negative past uses “didn’t” + base verb (“find”).
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common double-past mistake. (c) incorrectly mixes the “to be” verb with a main action verb.
15 (a) chose
- Why it’s right: “Chose” is the irregular past tense of “choose”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (c) is a common mistake (“choosed”). (b) is the present tense.
16 (b) got
- Why it’s right: “Got” is the irregular past tense of “get”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (c) is a common mistake (“getted”). (a) is the present tense.
17 (c) cost
- Why it’s right: “Cost” is an irregular verb that stays exactly the same in the past tense.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“costed”). (b) is the present tense (with ‘s’ for a singular subject).
18 (a) did you go
- Why it’s right: The correct question structure is: Wh-word + did + subject + base verb.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is missing the auxiliary verb “did”. (c) is a double-past mistake (“did you went”).
19 (b) forgot
- Why it’s right: “Forgot” is the irregular past tense of “forget”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (a) is a common mistake (“forgetted”). (c) is the present tense.
20 (a) paid
- Why it’s right: This is an affirmative clause (even though the first clause was negative), so it requires the irregular past form “paid”.
- Analysis of wrong options: (b) is a common spelling error. (c) is the present tense.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Shopping & Movement Verbs: Many verbs we use to describe shopping trips and movement are irregular. You must memorize them:
- go → went
- buy → bought
- pay → paid
- spend → spent
- take → took
- leave → left
- cost → cost (stays the same!)
2 The “Did / Didn’t” Rule: When you talk about what you did not buy, or when you ask a question about the trip, you must use did or didn’t. When you use these helping verbs, the main verb MUST go back to its original Base Form.
- Affirmative: I went to the mall.
- Negative: I didn’t go to the mall. (Not: I didn’t went)
- Question: Did you go to the mall? (Not: Did you went)