Common Irregular Verbs (go, do, have, see…) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You just arrived at work/class late. You are talking to your friends and complaining about everything that went wrong this morning.
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete your story. Pay close attention to the past forms of the irregular verbs!
1 “I usually wake up at 7:00 AM, but today my alarm didn’t ring, and I _____ up at 8:30!”
(a) waked
(b) woke
(c) wake
2 “I was so late! I jumped out of bed and _____ dressed in two minutes.”
(a) got
(b) getted
(c) get
3 “I _____ my alarm clock because I was sleeping so deeply.”
(a) didn’t heard
(b) no hear
(c) didn’t hear
4 “I grabbed my bag and _____ the house at 8:45 AM.”
(a) leave
(b) leaved
(c) left
5 “I _____ to the bus stop as fast as I could.”
(a) runned
(b) ran
(c) run
6 “Did you _____ the 8:50 bus?” my friend asked.
(a) catch
(b) caught
(c) catched
7 “No, I missed it! So, I _____ a taxi to the office.”
(a) taked
(b) take
(c) took
8 “I was in such a hurry that I _____ my laptop on the kitchen table.”
(a) forgot
(b) forgetted
(c) forget
9 “Oh no! _____ you lose your house keys again, too?”
(a) Do
(b) Did
(c) Were
10 “Almost! I looked everywhere in my room, but I _____ them for ten minutes.”
(a) didn’t find
(b) didn’t found
(c) wasn’t find
11 “How did you _____ when you saw the traffic jam on the road?”
(a) felt
(b) feeled
(c) feel
12 “I was so stressed. I _____ time to drink a coffee this morning.”
(a) didn’t had
(b) didn’t have
(c) haven’t
13 “When I got out of the taxi, I tripped and almost _____ on the sidewalk!”
(a) fall
(b) fell
(c) falled
14 “What _____ your boss say when you finally arrived?”
(a) did
(b) was
(c) does
15 “She was annoyed. She _____ me to set two alarms next time.”
(a) told
(b) telled
(c) tell
16 “Before I left home, I _____ my coat on backward because I wasn’t paying attention.”
(a) putted
(b) puts
(c) put
17 “Because of all this crazy rush, I didn’t _____ any morning news.”
(a) read
(b) readed
(c) reading
18 “The worst part? I _____ the important meeting was at 10:00, but it was at 9:30!”
(a) thinked
(b) thought
(c) think
19 “Why didn’t you drive? _____ your husband drive the car to his office today?”
(a) Were
(b) Did
(c) Are
20 “Yes, he did. Anyway, the meeting _____ before I even walked into the room.”
(a) began
(b) beginned
(c) begun
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) woke
- Explanation: “Woke” is the irregular past tense of “wake”. Option (a) is a common mistake (adding “-ed”). Option (c) is the present tense.
2 (a) got
- Explanation: “Got” is the irregular past tense of “get”. Option (b) is a common mistake. Option (c) is the present tense.
3 (c) didn’t hear
- Explanation: For negative past simple sentences, we use “didn’t” + the base verb (“hear”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake (“didn’t” + “heard”).
4 (c) left
- Explanation: “Left” is the irregular past tense of “leave”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“leaved”). Option (a) is the present tense.
5 (b) ran
- Explanation: “Ran” is the irregular past tense of “run”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“runned”). Option (c) is the present tense.
6 (a) catch
- Explanation: In a past simple question using “Did”, the main verb must be in the base form (“catch”). Option (b) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is an invalid word.
7 (c) took
- Explanation: “Took” is the irregular past tense of “take”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“taked”). Option (b) is the present tense.
8 (a) forgot
- Explanation: “Forgot” is the irregular past tense of “forget”. Option (b) is an invalid word with “-ed”. Option (c) is the present tense.
9 (b) Did
- Explanation: “Did” is the correct auxiliary verb for Yes/No questions with an action verb in the past simple. Option (a) is present tense. Option (c) incorrectly uses the “to be” verb (“Were”).
10 (a) didn’t find
- Explanation: “Didn’t” must be followed by the base verb (“find”). Option (b) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) incorrectly mixes a “to be” verb with an action verb.
11 (c) feel
- Explanation: After the auxiliary “did”, the main verb must be in its base form (“feel”). Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (b) is an invalid word.
12 (b) didn’t have
- Explanation: The negative past of “have” is “didn’t have”. Option (a) is a double-past mistake. Option (c) is grammatically incorrect for a past simple action.
13 (b) fell
- Explanation: “Fell” is the irregular past tense of “fall”. Option (c) is a common mistake (“falled”). Option (a) is the present tense.
14 (a) did
- Explanation: To ask a Wh-question in the past simple, we use the auxiliary “did”. Option (b) uses “was”, which cannot be used with the main verb “say”.
15 (a) told
- Explanation: “Told” is the irregular past tense of “tell”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“telled”). Option (c) is the present tense.
16 (c) put
- Explanation: “Put” is an irregular verb that stays exactly the same in the past tense. Option (a) is a common mistake (“putted”). Option (b) is present tense (with ‘s’).
17 (a) read
- Explanation: After “didn’t”, the verb stays in its base form (“read”). Note: the past tense of read is also spelled “read” (pronounced “red”), but after “didn’t”, we use the base form (pronounced “reed”). Option (b) is a fake word.
18 (b) thought
- Explanation: “Thought” is the irregular past tense of “think”. Option (a) is a common mistake (“thinked”). Option (c) is the present tense.
19 (b) Did
- Explanation: We use “Did” to make a question about a past action. Options (a) and (c) use “to be” verbs, which are incorrect here.
20 (a) began
- Explanation: “Began” is the irregular past tense of “begin”. Option (b) is a common mistake (“beginned”). Option (c) is the past participle, not the simple past form.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Morning Routine Irregular Verbs: Many verbs used to describe our daily routines do not follow the “-ed” rule. You need to memorize their past forms to tell stories about your day:
- wake → woke
- get → got
- leave → left
- run → ran
- take → took
- forget → forgot
- fall → fell
- put → put (It doesn’t change!)
2 The Golden “Did” Rule: Just like in previous lessons, remember that when you ask a question (Did you…?) or make a negative sentence (I didn’t…), the main verb goes back to its normal Base Form.
- Affirmative: I woke up late.
- Negative: I didn’t wake up late. (Not: didn’t woke)
- Question: What time did you wake up? (Not: did you woke)