Irregular Past Tense Verbs

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Grade 3Reading & WritingGrammarCCSS L.3.1.d

Skill: Writing the past tense of common irregular verbs in sentences

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About this worksheet

Most verbs add -ed to show the past, like jump and jumped. Irregular verbs break that rule: go becomes went, see becomes saw, and bring becomes brought. Children hear these forms every day, but writing them correctly takes practice. This third-grade worksheet gives sixteen sentences about the past. Each sentence has a blank and a verb in parentheses. Students write the past tense form of the verb so the sentence makes sense.

The verbs are frequent ones that third graders use in their own writing, including eat, run, write, take, think, catch, fly, and swim. Sentences describe ordinary moments at school and at home, so the meaning is easy to follow and the focus stays on the verb.

How to use it: read each sentence aloud with the blank, then try the verb in it. Ask, "Does it sound right to say I goed?" Most children hear the mistake right away. Keep a small chart of irregular verbs that cause trouble, with the present and past forms side by side. After the page, invite your child to tell a short story about yesterday using five of the past tense verbs.

The answer key lists every past tense verb. This worksheet supports Common Core standard L.3.1.d (form and use regular and irregular verbs). It pairs well with our Parts of Speech and Nouns and Verbs worksheets for more grammar practice.

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