Remember irregular verbs. Life hack: learning irregular English verbs fun and

Remember how back in school you first encountered irregular verbs? Remember how the vacation was hopelessly ruined by the task of learning the irregular verb table. Remember how you mechanically crammed endless columns from the very beginning of the list: begin - began - begun? … And since that time 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 beginning, stepping on the same rake.

Words are not remembered and are confused, you get nervous and give up this business.

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

For effective study a monotonous number of forms, memorizing words in alphabetical order is not the most best method, and most of you are already convinced of this. To make the study not only fruitful, 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 is convenient for you.

All irregular verbs of English language we can conditionally divide into three main groups.

To the first group we will attribute the verbs in which all three shapes are the same... This group is the smallest and these verbs are the easiest to memorize. Examples of verbs of the first group:

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

feel	felt	felt	feel
meet	met	met	meet, get to know
read	read	read	read * second and third forms are readable / red /
win	won	won	win, win second and third forms are readable / wʌn /**
run	ran	run	run

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

be	was / were	been	to be * the second form has two options: was for singular, were for multiple.
know	knew	known	know
eat	ate	eaten	eat, eat
drink	drank	drunk	drink
take	took	taken	take, take

Divide the verbs from your list into these three groups. Start learning from the first. When you memorize 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. Vowel change according to the principle: [ɪ] - [æ] - [ ʌ ]

drink	drank	drunk	drink
begin	began	begun	start off
ring	rang	rung	to call
sing	sang	sung	sing
swim	swam	swum	swim

2. Vowel change in the second and third forms:

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

4. Change (stunning) consonant:

build	built	built	build
spend	spent	spent	spend time, spend money
lend	lent	lent	lend
bend	bent	bent	bend, bend

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

6. The second form contains O or OO, and the third form ends with -en:

take	took	taken	take, take
break	broke	broken	break up
shake	shook	shaken	shake
speak	spoke	spoken	talk

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 great for both adults and children. Since many verbs are formed according to the same principles, they rhyme well. Poems are known to be memorized much faster than a list. By making short rhymes from four verbs, you will automatically memorize them yourself and help your children learn them. I'll give you some examples:

begin	began	begun
do	did	done
make	made	made
pay	paid	paid

buy	bought	bought
bring	brought	brought
break	broke	broken
speak	spoke	spoken

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

Many people find it easier to perceive a large amount of vocabulary if it is grouped into semantic categories. Irregular verbs can also be categorized by topic. For example:

1. Movements:

go	went	gone	go, go
ride	rode	ridden	to ride
drive	drove	driven	drive

2. Mental activities:

know	knew	known	know
forget	forgot	forgotten	forget
think	thought	thought	think

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

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

5. Education:

teach	taught	taught	teach
learn	learnt	learnt	study
mistake	mistook	mistaken	to be wrong

There can be as many categories as you want, and you can arrange 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 vocabulary... Create your own classification, write down the verbs that are familiar to you, and when you come across a new irregular verb, put it in one of the categories.

Be creative and smiling. With a positive attitude, you will succeed in more than learning irregular verbs

You can download a selection of English irregular verbs by sound

Half of my students have errors on forms in their speech. English irregular verbs... Many managed 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 and are needed for speech like bricks and mortar for the house.

There are positive moment- a person does not need to memorize all 470 irregular verbs, because often only 180 of them are used. However, a certain number of verbs will have to be learned by heart. Since the irregular verbs came from Old English, they formed chaotically, without any system or rules. Linguist Stephen Pinker resourcefully noted in the article: “ Whenever we use an irregular verb, we keep playing the messed up phone - a game that has been going on for over five thousand years.«.

Since irregular verbs need to be learned in any case, you can get creative. This will magically transform your studies into efficient, simple and fun process.

1) Always learn irregular verbs with translation

One of my students, a ninth grader, proudly informed me that he had learned twenty irregular verbs from my list. But when I asked him to give three forms of the verb "build", he said in surprise that he did not know what it would be in English. The fact is that at school they are not asked to translate verbs. The teacher just calls 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 has 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 meaning irregular verbs, and then the forms. Then he will be able to use them in speech and writing.

I usually check how the students memorized English irregular verbs in several steps. First, I name the verbs in Russian, and the student's task is to translate and give forms. Then I give whole sentences for translation in different times to make sure 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 immutable 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 memorizing verbs alphabetically - you will never use them in that order in real life... From my point of view, it is much more efficient to group verbs by sound... Some verbs still cannot be attached to any group, and you have to learn them separately, for example, do-did-done or hear-heard-heard.

Mine has only 80 lines. This list is more than enough to start with. If you learn ten verbs a day, it will take you only eight days to study the tablet. Later, you can gradually add the remaining hundred irregular verbs to the learned "backbone".

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

it powerful tool revitalizing irregular verbs (translation into active memory). Your story doesn't have to sound realistic at all. On the contrary, the more fantasy, the better you will remember irregular verbs, because you will connect the right hemisphere of the 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 are reading, or a textbook, keep your eyes on irregular verbs. Make a mental note and assign these verbs to one of the groups. This will help you learn irregular verbs. naturally instead of memorizing them as the first list of 80 most common verbs.

5) play games

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

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

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

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

Dmitry Romanov 06-07-2016

4263

Oh, these irregular English verbs ... How many nerves they have ruffled schoolchildren, students and adults, who in vain studied the tablets with the three forms of these ill-fated verbs. And the most unpleasant thing is that they fade from memory faster than you have time to watch the series of "Friends" in the original.

Don't panic! There is one life hack that will allow you to learn English irregular verbs quickly, fun, efficiently and for a long time. In mastering a new step in learning English, mnemonics will help us, but about everything in order.

introduction

We do not know who exactly came up with the tablets with a list of almost all irregular verbs (even rare and little-used ones). However, he hardly expected so much hatred in his direction from pupils, students and self-educated people. Is it really possible to effectively and accurately memorize such an array of words enclosed in tiny cells and then easily retrieve them from memory?

Infinitive	Past simple	Past Participle	Translation
be	was / were	been	to be
become	became	become	become
begin	began	begun	start off
break	broke	broken	break
bring	brought	brought	bring
buy	bought	bought	buy
come	came	come	to come
do	did	done	make
drink	drank	drunk	drink
eat	ate	eaten	eat
find	found	found	find
give	gave	given	to give
go	went	gone	go
grow	grew	grown	grow
have	had	had	have
hear	heard	heard	hear
keep	kept	kept	Keep
know	knew	known	know
learn	learnt	learnt	learn
leave	left	left	leave
lose	lost	lost	lose
make	made	made	make
meet	met	met	meet
pay	paid	paid	to pay
read	read	read	read
run	ran	run	run
say	said	said	talk
see	saw	seen	see
send	sent	sent	send
sing	sang	sung	sing
sit	sat	sat	sit
sleep	slept	slept	sleep
speak	spoke	spoken	talk
swim	swam	swum	swim
take	took	taken	take
think	thought	thought	think
win	won	won	win
write	wrote	written	write

Even the most diligent student is forced to spend eternity on this, and then regularly repeat, remember, write down and rewrite. Indeed, according to the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, an hour after cramming, up to 60% of the information learned is running away from memory. That is why many pupils and students learn signs with irregular verbs "for a tick" and getting a grade, memorizing only 30-50 of the most common forms like "go-went-gone".

A bit of theory

We will deliberately not delve into in what cases the first, second and third forms of an irregular English verb will be useful to you. Let's talk about this another time, but now we will talk about mnemonics and its benefits in learning foreign languages.

Mnemonics is a set of techniques that maximally simplify the process of memorizing complex, poorly remembered or non-memorized information. It consists in the fact that you create certain images in your head and in a special way The obtained data were “encoded”. When two images are linked together, it is much easier to retrieve them from memory and use them if necessary. Moreover, the correct sequence of the information received is preserved, which makes mnemonics many times more effective than the usual cramming.

There are several techniques of mnemonics, however, it is in the case of irregular verbs in English that rhyming is easiest. It allows you to create colorful images in your head and greatly simplifies the process of learning the most popular irregular verbs. Another plus is that both children and adults can use poems or couplets with rhyming. For the first, such a task will not seem boring, and for the second, they will not have to load their heads with a set of words that are hardly remembered and the process will go faster.

Many progressive English teachers and linguists use mnemonics in their work. Usually these are people who independently faced a problem in studying irregular verbs and became poets for a while, or those who tried to simplify the task for their own child in this difficult process at one time. It can be whole poems, short humorous couplets, funny stories, sometimes even anecdotes.

There are many similar creations on the Internet that seem funny and really effective. However, we were inspired by only a few of them and invite you to familiarize yourself with them below. Especially good, according to the My English Classroom team, are the poems of the psychologist, teacher and journalist Alexander Pyltsyn, who has developed an express intelligence method for learning English. We also liked the short verse-sayings of the poet and prose writer Eugene Papushi.

For the article, the simplest and most popular examples were selected that even a small child can learn. The rights to rhymes are reserved by the authors.

Basset Hound dog

Grandfather and grandmother find-found-found
Basset Hound dog.
Very close to old people
The dog become-became-become.

Give-gave-given grandfather to him
Dear basturma -
The dog needs feed-fed-fed
Something delicious for lunch.
Sala and cutlets themselves
Old folks don't let-let-let.

Earlier grandma sit-sat-sat,
Knit-knit-knit yourself a jacket
And now her grandfather tells her
This is a quit-quit-quit business;

Today grandmother and grandfather
Life is different lead-led-led:
Grandfather is dozing in the bath with a smile,
Dwell-dwelt-dwelt in the closet
The dog in the bed is lie-lay-lain,
As the emir of the country of Bahrain

A. Pyltsyn

Through the fire from longing at times
tigers in the circus throw, threw, thrown

Yu Papusha

There will always be no use
where they speak profusely, spoke, spoken

Yu Papusha

The sound went flying ...
It's hear, heard, heard

Yu Papusha

Doodle with Scoundrel

Doodle with Scoundrel all day
Together we played "rubbish".
"I win-won-won." - said the Dummy,
You are lose-lost-lost, ”said Scoundrel!

A. Pyltsyn

All the countries of the Rollingstones
by plane fly, flew, flown

Yu Papusha

The poet feels with his heart ...
This word feel, felt, felt

Yu Papusha

For the rich, no question:
How much is cost, cost, cost?

Yu Papusha

Any people on Earth
for freedom fight, fought, fought

Yu Papusha

First class sandwich

I'm in the buffet buy-bought-bought
First class sandwich
I pay-paid-paid for him,
Lay-laid-laid in the classroom
And not at all thought-thought-thought,
That his neighbor will make him smart.
And now I am very sad -
Smell-smelt-smelt it's delicious!

A. Pyltsyn

A lazy fat cat is sleeping
he does not catch mice, caught, caugh

Yu Papusha

Who is blind in love
after it will be - weep, wept, wept

Irregular verbs are a problem for English learners. It seems unrealistic to remember this infinitely long list. Think of the huge table of irregular verbs. Is it really necessary to refer to her every time to see the desired form?

In an effort to make life easier for themselves, English learners use different methods: Someone teaches irregular verbs in poems and songs, others try to group them by sound and memorize them.

In this article, we'll take a look at how effective these ways to learn irregular verbs are and tell you how how to learn them correctly.

How to remember irregular verbs?

Irregular Verbs- these are verbs, the past form of which does not change according to the rules. There is no logic in its formation, so you just need to remember the verbs. How do you do this?

Most often, people resort to 2 ways to memorize irregular verbs:

1. Teach in verse.

2. Learn by grouping verbs by sound.

Let's take a closer look at each of them and find out how effective they are.

Attention! Can't remember English words? Learn on in Moscow how to learn words correctly so as not to forget them.

Method number 1. Learn irregular verbs in poetry

One of the ways to learn irregular verbs is to memorize them using special rhymes. Let's look at an example of such a poem.

Aircraft fly - flew - flown (to fly).
Our children grow - grew - grown.
Well, the wind blow - blew - blown
He know - knew - known about everything.

Memorizing such a rhyme is much easier than just memorizing irregular verbs. Such rhymes are quickly stored in memory.

But will they help us use these verbs in our lives? After all, we teach them for this. Unfortunately, this method of memorization has significant disadvantages:

1. You will not be able to use the required verbs easily and quickly.

Why? You will understand now. Imagine a situation when you are communicating with a person. You pronounce a sentence with an irregular verb. Since you learned them in verse, then you will have to mentally recall the whole verse and all forms of the verb in order to remember the right one. After all, you learn them together (know - knew - known), and not separately. Needless to say, how long will your interlocutor have to wait until you do this?

2. You learn the rhyme-appropriate verbs, not the ones you will use.

I have said many times that you need to learn the words that you use or will use in life right away, and not after 10 years. So, you will not be able to find a rhyme containing the words you need. After all, verbs in poetry are selected according to rhyme. Perhaps you will not use some part of the verbs from such verses, since you will never come across them.

3. It will be difficult for you to remember the translation of the verbs.

As you noticed, there are three forms of the verb included in the rhyme, and the translation is indicated in brackets. You will remember the verse, therefore, it will be difficult for you to remember the translation. And without understanding what a word means, you cannot use it. It is also important to understand that all three forms have different translations.

He know - knew - known about everything;

know - knew - known.

Despite the ease of memorizing such verses, this method is not effective. Since memorizing a verse is one thing, but using the desired form in your speech is completely different.

This method has a small plus. It can be used to teach English to young children as a supplement.

Method number 2. Learn irregular verbs by grouping them by sound

Despite the fact that irregular verbs do not have the logic of forming past forms, some of them are similar in sound. For example:

catch - caught - caught - catch;
teach - taught - taught - teach;
keep - kept - kept - keep;
feel - felt - felt - feel.

It is believed that such rhymed blocks are much easier to remember than to learn verbs of different sounds. In addition, unlike poetry, there is nothing superfluous here, you remember only the verb forms.

But there are also disadvantages to this method.

1. You will not be able to achieve automaticity in your speech.

Of course, when you learn words this way, you don't have to remember an entire verse to say a phrase. However, when you need to remember past form verb, the whole chain starting with real form: feel - felt - felt.

Therefore, the word felt will not immediately appear in your head, but first will appear. Because of this, you will constantly make mistakes, or you will not be able to pronounce the phrase without delay, automatically.

2. You will have no idea when to use these verbs.

One translation is given for all three forms. For example: write - wrote - written - write. However, you should understand that these words are translated differently and, accordingly, are used in different situations: write - wrote - written.

3. There is no point in learning all three forms until you know how to apply them.

Why would you need to learn all 3 forms if you do not know why you need a third and are not going to use it? Until you get to those sections of grammar (passive form, Present perfect), where the 3rd form is needed, it is useful for you to know only the first 2.

It turns out that by grouping the verbs by sound, it will be easier to memorize them. but quickly remember the desired verb in a certain situation it will be difficult for you to use it in your speech.

It cannot be said that this method is ineffective. Despite all these disadvantages, many people learn irregular verbs this way. Over time, if a person actively uses verbs in speech and writing, he will be able to get rid of remembering unnecessary forms. But why wait until that time comes?

Now I will tell you which method is the best.

How to learn irregular verbs correctly?

The main drawback of the previous methods was that in order to remember the desired verb, you need to remember a lot of unnecessary information: either a rhyme or other forms of the verb. Therefore, you will not be able to speak automatically. This problem is solved by this method.

If you're just starting out with English, it's best to learn the irregular verb forms gradually. That is, teach as you go by the times in which you need to use them.

There is no point in learning all three forms of the verb at once if you only know the present tense. You will only use initial form... You will not use the other two forms, which means you will forget them. But when you get to the past tense, it makes sense to learn the second form of irregular verbs.

If you already know grammar, within which you can use all 3 forms, you can learn verb strings, only you need to do it correctly.

Let's take an example.

We have a chain of irregular verbs: break - broke - broken.

Step 1. Look in the dictionary for the meaning and translation.

We need meaning and translation in order to understand in what situations we use it.

Step 2. Make sentences with this word.

To memorize this word, you need to immediately start using this verb in your speech and writing. To do this, make sentences with this word (from 3 to 10, depending on the difficulty of memorization).

Read more on how to learn words correctly.

Now we do these two steps with the words broke and broken.

Having learned the verbs in this way, during a conversation, you will immediately remember the right word, and not go through all the forms of this verb, choosing the right one. Thus, you can easily use irregular verbs in your speech and achieve automatism in their use.

So, it is quite possible to learn these verbs. The main thing is to always remember - you are learning irregular verbs not just to know them, but in order to be able to use them in your speech.

How do you learn irregular verbs? I would be glad if in the comments you share your opinion on the methods discussed in the article!

You have probably encountered this problem. Irregular verbs make up a fairly large part in English grammar, and in English they are found all the time. Today we'll 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 only you will choose those that you like best.

The good old method is to memorize!

Nothing new and surprising! The old and proven methods still work. To learn these words, you simply open the table of 100 irregular verbs, take the first 5-6 of them and begin to methodically repeat them in your voice. Repeat each form several times and in 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 several times in a voice. Then ask a friend to give you a little irregular verb dictation.

Cheat sheets have not been canceled yet!

This is indeed the case. Easily and quickly learn English irregular verbs you can use small pieces of adhesive paper, the so-called stickers, or just cards. Write 5-10 words on each piece of paper and paste them wherever possible: on your desktop, at your computer, in the kitchen. Let these leaves be colored, so new words will be memorized in a fun, simple and quick way.

Imagine you sit down at a computer, and a leaf is attached to it with the following, for example, verbs:

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

Let these stickers or cards catch your eye as often as possible, frequent repetition will speed up memorization.

Irregular verb exercises

This method is also effective. It will take a little longer, but it will be worth it. You can do these exercises on weekends. Grammar exercises using irregular verbs will help you. It can be a parenthesis expansion with a choice correct shape, finding and selecting the desired verb, search for the desired shape, etc.

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

Irregular sentences

If you do not 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. Put 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 the English past tenses (Past Simple, Past Perfect, Present Perfect). Thus, you train visual memory, you better remember the spelling of these irregular verbs, you train writing English speech etc. Also, you can ask a friend to dictate to you a whole text with these constructions or simple phrases and sentences.

Interesting irregular verbs

We bring to your attention small funny and slightly absurd poems with irregular verbs. In these rhymes, the "wrong" constructions are matched into a rhyme. Learning irregular verbs in this way is very exciting, fun, fast and easy.

Here are these wonderful and funny verses:

I'm in the buffet buy-bought-bought
First class sandwich
For him I pay-paid-paid, (to pay).

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

So, we have offered you several ways to learn English irregular verbs. If you do not have free time for these "unfortunate" verbs, but you still need to learn them, just drop 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!