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Verbes irréguliers en anglais : la liste pour tout apprendre...et comprendre!

28 juin 2024

Author

Marco Monroy

Conjuguer les verbes en anglais, même les irréguliers, est vraiment simple à apprendre.

Apprendre les verbes irréguliers en anglais peut sembler intimidant, mais en réalité, ce n'est pas si complexe. Contrairement à d'autres langues comme l'espagnol, le français ou l'allemand, l'anglais n'a pas une conjugaison très compliqué. Vou n'avez pas besoin de passer des heures à mémoriser de nombreux verbes irréguliers.

La particularité de nombreux verbes irréguliers est qu'ils restent les mêmes selon les temps. Vous n'avez même pas à vous soucier de les conjuguer !

Cependant, il est important de savoir identifier les verbes irréguliers et de les distinguer des verbes réguliers pour éviter les erreurs. Apprenez les quatre types de verbes irréguliers pour les classer facilement et maîtriser leur conjugaison lorsque vous parlez ou écrivez.

Prêt à démarrer ? Dans ce guide pratique, nous allons tout vous expliquer sur les verbes irréguliers en anglais, y compris les quatre types. Apprenez une liste complète de 117 des verbes irréguliers les plus courants et cinq conseils d'experts pour les retenir. Allons-y !

Man checking irregular verbs in English on his phone while sitting in front of a laptop in his office

Que sont les verbes irréguliers en anglais et combien y en a-t-il ?

Les verbes irréguliers en anglais ne suivent pas les règles de conjugaison habituelles, comme l'ajout de -d ou -ed à la fin de la forme de base d'un verbe. Ils peuvent ne pas suivre ces règles pour former le passé simple ou le participe passé, voire les deux. Bien qu'il y ait environ 200 verbes irréguliers en anglais, beaucoup ne sont pas couramment utilisés. Ci-dessous, vous trouverez une liste de 117 des verbes irréguliers les plus communs.

Types de verbes irréguliers en anglais

Avant de vous montrer la liste complète des verbes irréguliers en anglais, parlons d'abord des quatre types de verbes irréguliers pour que vous sachiez à quoi vous attendre.

Group os students sitting at a table and discussing irregular verbs in English

Les verbes irréguliers ayant la même forme de base, le même passé et le même participe passé

Un des types de verbes irréguliers les plus simples à apprendre consiste à garder la forme de base du verbe pour le passé et le participe passé. Pas de changement ! Voici quelques exemples courants :

Bid (enchérir)
Broadcast (diffuser)
Set (fixer)

Verbes irréguliers avec le même passé et le même participe passé

Un autre type de verbe irrégulier présente la même forme pour le passé simple et le participe passé. C'est assez simple à apprendre puisque vous utilisez juste la même forme pour les deux. Voici quelques exemples :

Bend (plier) → Bent
Build (construire) → Built
Get (obtenir) → Got

Verbes irréguliers ayant la même forme de base et le même participe passé

Ce type de verbe irrégulier inclut les cas exceptionnels de tous les verbes anglais. Bien que le passé simple ait une conjugaison unique et souvent irrégulière, le participe passé reste identique à la forme de base du verbe. Bien que cela puisse sembler étrange, la liste de ces verbes n'est pas longue. Voici quelques exemples où la forme de base est suivie de la conjugaison au passé simple (souvenez-vous que le participe passé est le même que la forme de base !)

Run → Ran
Become → Became
Overcome → Overcame

Verbes irréguliers avec une forme de base, un temps passé et un participe passé différents

Enfin, nous avons les verbes irréguliers où chaque temps est complètement différent des autres. Bien que cela puisse sembler être le type de verbe le plus difficile à apprendre, nous avons quelques astuces pour les mémoriser facilement. Continuez à lire jusqu'à la fin de ce blog pour en savoir plus ! Pour l'instant, voici quelques exemples de verbes de cette catégorie, en commençant par la forme de base, suivie de la conjugaison au passé simple et du participe passé :

Freeze (geler) → Froze → Frozen
Write (écrire) → Wrote → Written
Eat (manger) → Ate → Eaten

Liste des 117 verbes irréguliers les plus courants en anglais et leur conjugaison au passé

Maintenant que vous comprenez les quatre types de verbes irréguliers en anglais, voyons les 117 verbes irréguliers en anglais :

Infinitif	Passé simple	Participe passé	Exemple
To awake	Awoke	Awoken	I was awoken in the middle of the night by a loud bang.
To be	Was/were	Been	I think I might have already been asleep by the time you called me.
To bear	Bore	Born	Even though he wasn’t responsible for the accident, he alone bore the consequences.
To beat	Beat	Beaten	You beat me to the punch! I was about to say that.
To become	Became	Become	She became the top swimmer in her high school.
To begin	Began	Begun	I rushed as much as I could, but the competition had already begun by the time I got there.
To bend	Bent	Bent	I can’t use this part anymore because it’s bent.
To bid	Bid	Bid	She bid him farewell on a cold, rainy night.
To bite	Bit	Bitten	Luckily, I’ve never been bitten by a snake.
To bleed	Bled	Bled	I got a nosebleed last night and bled all over my pillowcase.
To blow	Blew	Blown	I think he blew it out of proportion — it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
To break	Broke	Broken	The handle broke as soon as I touched it.
To bring	Brought	Brought	She brought the same cookies she had brought last year!
To broadcast	Broadcast	Broadcast	The news report was broadcast this morning.
To build	Built	Built	This house was built in the 19th century.
To burn	Burned or burnt	Burn or burnt	I made some mac & cheese, but I left it in the oven too long and burnt it to a crisp!
To bust	Bust	Bust	The original dam bust from all the pressure in 1987, so they had to build a new one.
To buy	Bought	Bought	She bought him a new car for his birthday.
To catch	Caught	Caught	We caught our kid using his phone past his bedtime, so we had to take it away.
To choose	Chose	Chosen	The dress I had chosen is no longer in stock.
To cling	Clung	Clung	The cat clung on to the roof for dear life.
To come	Came	Come	I’m shocked, this news really came out of the blue.
To cost	Cost	Cost	Even though she bought this art piece as an investment, she had to sell it for less than what it had originally cost her.
To creep	Crept	Crept	The intruder crept into our house without making any noise.
To cut	Cut	Cut	Due to budget constraints, the school cut its arts program last year.
To dig	Dug	Dug	The dog randomly dug out a bone from the ground.
To do	Did	Done	It was too late by the time he realized what he had done.
To draw	Drew	Drawn	He was quite impressed with the results, considering he had never drawn anything like that before.
To dream	Dreamed or dreamt	Dreamed or dreamt	They finally moved into the home they had always dreamt of.
To drive	Drove	Driven	I had never driven on a coastline like this before.
To drink	Drank	Drunk	I had already drunk too much wine by the time we started having dinner.
To eat	Ate	Eaten	I was so hungry I could have eaten a whole cow!
To fall	Fell	Fallen	Nathan wasn’t careful so he fell into the river.
To feed	Fed	Fed	Even though it was a very long time, they kept me very well fed.
To feel	Felt	Felt	I felt like you weren’t listening to me.
To fight	Fought	Fought	I fought really hard to get to where I am today.
To find	Found	Found	You should check with the lost and found department to see if they have your card.
To flee	Fled	Fled	They fled their war-torn country when they were just children.
To fling	Flung	Flung	He just grabbed my notebook and flung it out the window!
To fly	Flew	Flown	The bird flew away before the cat could catch it.
To forbid	Forbade	Forbidden	Taking photos inside the museum is strictly forbidden.
To forget	Forgot	Forgotten	I had forgotten about the homework assignment, but luckily, I remembered right before the deadline.
To forgive	Forgave	Forgiven	No need to apologize, you’re already forgiven!
To freeze	Froze	Frozen	He froze when he heard her voice.
To get	Got	Got	I got a new pair of jeans yesterday.
To give	Gave	Given	He gave me flowers on our first date!
To grind	Ground	Ground	Do you want to buy ground coffee or whole beans?
To go	Went	Gone	Oh, she’s already gone! She left this morning.
To grow	Grew	Grown	I didn’t like the carpet at first, but it grew on me.
To hang	Hung	Hung	He hung his laundry in the balcony and it flew off!
To have	Had	Had	I think he already had lunch, so we can start eating without him
To hear	Heard	Heard	Hey! I heard you’re coming to visit next month?
To hide	Hid	Hidden	They found a hidden treasure at the beach and became rich!
To hit	Hit	Hit	He got injured while skiing because he hit a tree.
To hold	Held	Held	My cat loves being held like a little baby.
To hurt	Hurt	Hurt	Your words really hurt me, so it will take some time for me to move on.
To keep	Kept	Kept	I kept your letter after all these years.
To know	Knew	Known	I wish I had known before I came all the way here!
To lay	Laid	Laid	They laid a strong foundation before beginning construction on the megaproject.
To lead	Led	Led	Poor management led to the bankruptcy of what once was a thriving company.
To learn	Learned	Learned	I was placed two math levels above my grade because I had already learned most of what they were studying.
To leave	Left	Left	I rushed to the airport to meet there, but she had already left by the time I got there.
To lend	Lent	Lent	Here are the books you had lent me.
To let	Let	Let	Our teacher let us out of class a few minutes early.
To lie	Lay	Lain	Yesterday was a great day, I just lay by the beach and ate a bunch of fruits.
To lose	Lost	Lost	I can’t believe I found the jacket I thought I had lost years ago!
To make	Made	Made	This dish is what made this restaurant an international phenomenon.
To mean	Meant	Meant	I don’t know what she meant by that, but she seems upset.
To meet	Met	Met	I had never met someone like you.
To pay	Paid	Paid	As long as I’m being paid, I don’t mind staying after closing.
To prove	Proved	Proven	We’re all innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.
To put	Put	Put	I can’t find my scarf. I know I put it somewhere, but I can’t remember where!
To quit	Quit	Quit	He had already quit his job before I had a chance to convince him not to.
To read	Read	Read	He read her a bedtime story before putting her to bed.
To ride	Rode	Ridden	I’ve ridden every single rollercoaster in this theme park.
To ring	Rang	Rung	He rang me up at the cash register upstairs.
To rise	Rose	Risen	It’s very inspiring to see how you rose from the bottom.
To run	Ran	Run	You should have already run at least 20 miles in one go before you attempt to run a marathon.
To say	Said	Said	I misunderstood what she had said.
To see	Saw	Seen	That was the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.
To seek	Sought	Sought	I sought some advice from my thesis advisor, but he was upset I even asked!
To sell	Sold	Sold	Fortunately, the house sold in less than two weeks.
To send	Sent	Sent	I sent my bags ahead of time so they were already at the hotel when I got there.
To set	Set	Set	I set the table earlier today so we should be ready for dinner.
To sew	Sewed	Sewn	This one-of-a-kind, hand-sewn dress was passed on to me by my grandma.
To shake	Shook	Shaken	I’m still a little shaken from the car accident, but, thankfully, I’m okay.
To show	Showed	Shown	He had already shown her the birthday party invite, so he ruined the surprise.
To shut	Shut	Shut	I forgot to shut the window and now my room is full of mosquitoes.
To sing	Sang	Sung	She sang a beautiful song at our wedding.
To sink	Sank	Sunk	The boat sank to the bottom of the ocean after hitting an iceberg.
To sit	Sat	Sat	My mom forgot she had to pick me up from school so I just sat there and waited for her for hours.
To sleep	Slept	Slept	I hadn’t slept that well in a really long time.
To slide	Slid	Slid	The dog slid down the waterslide like an enthusiastic child.
To sling	Slung	Slung	I was already on my way out but I still slung a few pieces of candy in my bag.
To sow	Sowed	Sown	The farmers sowed diligently all day long, but soon they will be able to feast on their harvest.
To speak	Spoke	Spoken	There you have it, spoken like a true native!
To spend	Spent	Spent	I spent the whole afternoon studying Spanish, and I think it’s actually paying off!
To spin	Spun	Spun	Everything was fine at first, but things just spun out of control.
To stand	Stood	Stood	Nobody dared to help after the accident, everyone just stood there in shock.
To steal	Stole	Stolen	They stopped construction because the government found out it was being financed with stolen money.
To sting	Stung	Stung	I’m very lucky because I’ve never been stung by a bee.
To stink	Stank	Stunk	All of our fruits went bad because the power went out while we were away, so our fridge stunk terribly when we returned.
To swear	Swore	Sworn	I could’ve sworn I saw you at the mall the other day.
To swim	Swam	Swum	I swam all the way to the island and back yesterday.
To swing	Swung	Swung	I swung at the ball as hard as I could, but I still didn’t hit a home run.
To take	Took	Taken	I think what I said might’ve been taken out of context.
To teach	Taught	Taught	Having taught children for over two decades, I think I can speak to children effectively.
To tear	Tore	Torn	I’m torn between these two dresses, what do you think?
To tell	Told	Told	I’ve told you a million times to always lock the door when you leave!
To think	Thought	Thought	Learning English is much easier than I thought.
To throw	Threw	Thrown	I threw my bags on the floor and ran to give him a hug as soon as I got home.
To understand	Understood	Understood	I finally understood how to conjugate verbs in Spanish after taking a few more online classes.
To wake	Woke	Woken	She woke me up right in time to make it to the airport to catch my flight.
To wear	Wore	Worn	He wore a sharp-looking suit with a striking red tie to the gala.
To weep	Wept	Wept	I was able to get over my last breakup, but only after I had wept for several days.
To win	Won	Won	They placed me with some novice players, so I had won the game before it even began.
To write	Wrote	Written	I think this might be the most beautiful story ever written.

Les 5 meilleures façons d'apprendre les verbes irréguliers :

Woman with headphones listening to music that includes irregular verbs

1. Les regrouper par type

Avant de vous lancer dans la mémorisation des verbes irréguliers sans structure, regroupez-les par type. Vous n'avez pas besoin de mémoriser plus de 100 verbes à la fois. Choisissez les plus importants pour vous et classez-les selon le type. Cela vous aide à vous souvenir si vous devez modifier tout le verbe ou seulement le radical, et si vous devez le changer dans tous les temps ou seulement dans certains.

2. Récitez l'infinitif, le passé simple et le participe passé

Pour faciliter la mémorisation des verbes irréguliers, essayez d'apprendre les trois formes conjuguées en même temps. Cela vous aidera à retenir les conjugaisons qui sont un peu plus difficiles. Vous pouvez même créer une sorte de rime amusante pour vous aider à les mémoriser. Par exemple, répétez rapidement ces conjugaisons :

Freeze, froze, frozen
Begin, began, begun
Sing, sang, sung
Stink, stank, stunk
Wear, wore, worn

N'est-ce pas amusant ? C'est un peu comme réciter un petit jeu de mots !

3. Vérifiez toujours si un verbe est irrégulier

Bien sûr, la plupart des verbes ne sont pas irréguliers. La grande majorité des verbes anglais suivent des règles de conjugaison régulières, faciles à appliquer. Cependant, une erreur fréquente faite par les apprenants d'anglais est de conjuguer les verbes irréguliers comme s'ils étaient réguliers. Un conseils : à chaque fois que vous rencontrez un nouveau verbe, n'hésitez pas à vérifier dans le dictionnaire s'il est régulier ou irrégulier !

4. Utilisez une application de révision espacée pour les verbes difficiles

Parfois, vous rencontrez des verbes très difficiles qui vous posent problème à plusieurs reprises. Cela arrive, c'est normal ! Dans ces cas-là, ajoutez simplement le verbe et ses conjugaisons à votre application de répétition espacée (SRS) favorite et continuez à réviser jusqu'à ce que vous le maîtrisiez ! Si vous n'avez pas encore d'outil SRS, je vous recommande Anki, très populaire parmi les apprenants en langues.

5. Écoutez de la musique avec des verbes irréguliers

Apprendre une nouvelle langue est plus amusant et efficace lorsque vous vous amusez ! Utiliser la musique pour apprendre une langue est une excellente idée, , même les verbes irréguliers. Voici quelques chansons amusantes avec beaucoup de verbes irréguliers :

"Return to Sender" d'Elvis Presley
"Sympathy for the Devil" des Rolling Stones
"Because You Loved Me" de Céline Dion

Ces chansons peuvent vous aider à mémoriser des verbes irréguliers utiles car elles en contiennent beaucoup. Ils vous restent en tête après quelques écoutes.

Évitez les tracas avec cette liste pratique de verbes irréguliers en anglais.

L'anglais n'a pas une conjugaison complexe mais il faut veiller à ne pas confondre les verbes irréguliers avec les verbes réguliers ! Dans cet article, nous avons couvert les verbes irréguliers les plus courants, les quatre types de verbes irréguliers et cinq conseils essentiels pour tous les mémoriser.

Si vous avez apprécié cet article, n'oubliez pas de parcourir le reste de notre blog ! Retrouvez-y de nombreux guides pratiques (gratuits !) sur la grammaire anglaise, le vocabulaire et même des anecdotes amusantes ! Nos récents articles incluent un guide sur la rédaction de lettres ou d'e-mails en anglais, une liste de 1000 adjectifs anglais, et notre guide ultime pour maîtriser l'anglais des affaires.

Pour une compréhension encore plus approfondie de la langue anglaise, vous pouvez rejoindre nos classes d'anglais et apprendre en groupe ou prendre des cours d'anglais avec un instructeur privé.