The truly irregular verbs
About this video
Some irregular verbs don't fit the -t, -en or vowel-shift patterns. A few change to -ught (teach/taught, catch/caught, bring/brought); some shift their vowel and add a 'd' sound (flee/fled, say/said); some don't change at all (bet, set, hurt). The modal helper verbs can/could, may/might, shall/should and will/would are also strange, and could, should and would have a silent L.
You'll be able to
- write the past tense of -ught verbs like taught, caught and brought.
- recognise verbs whose past tense is the same as the present, like bet, set and hurt.
- match modal verbs to their past forms, like can/could and will/would.
Key words
- irregular verb
- A verb that doesn't form its past tense with -ed.
- helper verb (auxiliary verb)
- A verb that helps the main verb, like can, may, shall or will.
- modal
- A special helper verb like can, may, shall or will that has its own unusual past form.
- silent letter
- A letter you write but don't say, like the L in could, should and would.
Transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians. Welcome to the last and strangest part of the irregular verb, the truly irregular. Yes friends, here I have compiled all the weirdest, all of the wooliest, all the eeriest and spookiest forms of verbs that don't otherwise fall into other categories.
So we can't say that they end with a changed -ed, we can't say that they end with an -en, and we can't say that there's a vowel shift. We've already covered those. This is the time for the weird stuff. First up, -ught. Huh, what a strange collection of letters that is to be found in English.
So we take a word like teach, and in the past tense it's taught. Likewise, catch becomes caught. And bring becomes brought. Yes, that's really strange. There are only a couple of words that behave that way. It's also pretty weird and pretty rare for there to be a vowel shift from the present to the past, and also a "d" sound.
So for example we take the word flee, which means to run away, and in the past it's fled. Likewise in the present, we say say, and in the past, we say said. So that "a" becomes "ai", and the "ee" becomes "e", and it's this weird vowel shift that's also followed up by a "d" sound.
There are some words for whom time does not exist. These are verbs for whom the present tense is the same as the past tense. Prepare to have your mind blown. The past tense of bet is bet. The past tense of set is set. The past tense of hurt is hurt. Yeah, it's weird.
Finally, there are some helper verbs, or auxiliary verbs called models, that are super weird, and have these properties that aren't repeated anywhere else in English. So present tense can becomes past tense could. I can stand on my head, or I could stand on my head when I was five.
May becomes might in the past. Shall becomes should. And will becomes would. And what's super weird about these L's in could, should, or would, is listen to me saying them! You don't pronounce the L's, and this is the only place in English where that silent L shows up.
It's so strange! Ah, I love it! These are the irregular verbs. And these, in fact, are the most irregular of the irregular. If you can master these, you will be a grammar champion. And I believe in you because you can learn anything. David, out.
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