The Dreaded Irregular Past Tense Verbs

This year in speech, we have worked quite a bit on irregular past tense verbs.  These can be very tricky for kids to master, because they are all so different.  For example, "I sing" becomes "I sang", but " I bring"  becomes "I brought".  "I think" becomes "I thought", but "I drink" becomes "I drank".  No wonder our kids get confused!

How can parents help their kids master irregular past tense verbs?  

1.  TALK  -- First of all, talk to them a lot, and use the verbs correctly in your own speech.  Sometimes adults are tempted to use ultra-casual (and sometimes incorrect) speech because "that's how everybody around here talks" and they want to make the people around them "feel comfortable".   Just like kids, adults want to "fit in".  But, do your kids a favor and model correct speech so that they will be better prepared when they leave school and hit the job market.

2. READ --  Read, read, read with them and encourage them to read on their own.  The more kids are exposed to correct sentence structure, the more it will stick in their brains.  I know it can be a challenge to get kids to read a book instead of sit in front of a video game.  You might have to bribe them with books that are more interesting to them, or semi-comic books like Calvin and Hobbs. That's okay as long as the books contain correct English.  Also, if you read yourself and look like you are enjoying it, your kids are more likely to pick up a book also.


Do you remember how you learned to talk?  Probably not.  But chances are you learned to talk by listening to the people around you, and then by reading to increase your vocabulary and understanding of more complex sentence structures.  If a child doesn't read, she may fail to pick up those more complex grammar rules that just aren't used very often in casual conversation.  That can have a negative effect on her schoolwork, especially in the upper grades where lots of reading and writing is expected.

3.  DON'T BE THE GRAMMAR POLICE -- If your child says something incorrectly, don't make too big a deal out of it.  Just repeat it using correct grammar.  For instance, if your child says, "I ain't going to eat those peas!"  Say, "You're not going to eat those peas?"  Emphasize the correct words by saying them a bit louder and more slowly than the rest.  If you jump on every error and point a finger at them, some kids will say it the wrong way just to annoy you.  (Or maybe your kids are different than mine!)

Here are some of the irregular past tense verbs that can be confusing to kids and adults alike:

I drink juice, I drank juice yesterday, I have drunk juice since I was a baby.
I swim in the pool, I swam in the pool yesterday, I have swum in this pool all summer. 
I sing in the choir, I sang in the choir yesterday, I have sung in the choir my whole life.

Here's a fun site that will help you find the correct form of any verb you need:  http://conjugation.com/verb/swim

Practicing new verbs by reading and telling stories is a great way to learn them.  I made a few silly stories to help my students practice the verbs we were learning.  You can download them here:

Irregular Verbs Story 1
Irregular Verbs Story 2

Good Luck!