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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary.
I'm Finn. And I'm Catherine.
In today's programme we're talking about irregular verbs.
Yes, and as you know there are lots of irregular verbs in English.
Lots and lots. Some, like right, have different forms for the past simple and past participle.
Wrote and written. Yes, and it's not always easy to remember all those different forms.
It's not. Today, though, we're going to explain how some of these verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.
We'll give you lots of examples.
We'll have a quiz. And we'll leave you with a top tip for learning vocabulary.
But first, let's hear my interview with singer -songwriter Andrea.
While you listen, think about this question.
Who hasn't spoken to Andrea for a long time?
Hi, Andrea. Now tell us, when did you begin to sing?
I sang in the school choir and I began to sing in bands when I was just 10.
Oh, wow. So how many songs have you written?
Oh, over a hundred.
I wrote one just before I drove here.
Right. And Andrea, I'm sure you have broken many men's hearts.
Tell us, who was the first?
He was a boy called Marcus.
I knew him at school.
We grew up on the same street.
He's not spoken to me since we broke up.
Oh, since you broke up.
That sounds bad. Thank you for coming and speaking to us today, Andrea.
Thanks for having me.
And there we are. So, we asked you, who hasn't spoken to Andrea for a long time?
And the answer is Marcus.
They haven't spoken since they broke up.
Broke is the past symbol of the verb break and it belongs to our first group of verbs.
It has the pattern break, broke, broken.
That's right. The past symbol is broke and the past participle is broken.
Listen to this clip.
Can you hear another verb with the same pattern?
Here's a clue. The word rhymes with broken.
He was a boy called Marcus.
I knew him at school.
We grew up on the same street.
He's not spoken to me since we broke up.
OK. And spoken rhymes with broken.
The verb speak forms its past participle and past symbol in the same way as break.
So it's speak, spoke, spoken.
And speak and break are pronounced differently although they both have e -a -k at the end.
They do. Now, another verb with the same pattern is wake.
So it's wake, woke, woken.
Although we spell wake, W -A -K -E.
It's not spelt E -A -K at the end.
Now, in the interview we had two other verbs with a different pattern.
That's right. We had the past forms new and grew.
Andrea knew Marcus at school and she grew up on the same street.
Yes, these are the past simple forms of know and grow.
So it's know, knew, known.
Grow, grew, grown. And another verb with this pattern is blow.
So it's blow, blew, blown.
So we've got two groups.
The first one is verbs like speak, spoke, spoken.
And we have in our second group verbs like grow, grew, grown.
Listen to this second clip and see if you can spot two more patterns.
Here's a clue. Listen to words that rhyme or have similar pronunciations.
When did you begin to sing?
I sang in the school choir and I began to sing in bands when I was just 10.
Oh, wow. So how many songs have you written?
Oh, over 100. I wrote one just before I drove here.
Did you hear the patterns begin, began and sing, sang?
So this pattern is begin, began, begun.
Exactly. And we've got sing, sang, sung.
In the clip we also had another pattern – wrote, written.
So that's the past simple and past participle of write.
And we heard another verb with the same pattern – drove, which is the past simple of drive.
And the past participle is… Driven.
So that's drive, drove, driven.
And now for a quiz.
I'll give you two parts of a verb and you have to complete the pattern.
Ready? Number one – swim, swam.
Swam. Well done if you got that right.
Number two is speak.
Spoken. Spoke. Correct.
And number three – wrote, written.
Right. And that's the end of the quiz.
Well done if you got them right.
And now today's top tip for learning vocabulary.
Combine irregular verbs with the same pattern in a short rhyme or story.
The pattern of the rhyme will help you remember the different forms.
There's more about this at bbclearningenglish .com.
Join us again for more six -minute vocabulary.
Bye. Six minutes vocabulary.
From bbclearningenglish .com