You are an English learner, you must have heard of “terms” like V1 V2 V3 of verbs. So, what is V1 V2 V3? Are they acronyms for a word, a phrase, or a symbol?
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What is V1 V2 V3 in English?
V1 V2 V3 is the order of columns in the table of irregular verbs in English. In which, V means Verb and the numbers 1, 2, 3 are the ordinal numbers of the columns, corresponding to the verb forms, specifically as follows:
+ V1: Verb infinitive, standing in the first column.
+ V2: The verb conjugate in the past form (Past), stands in the second column.
+ V3: The verb is in the past participle form, standing in the 3rd column.
Regular verbs and Irregular verbs
Regular verbs | Irregular verbs |
| The past and participle forms always end with “-ed”. For example: Look (V1) -> Looked (V2) -> Looked (V3) | The past tense and participle form do not follow any rules. For example: Go (V1) -> Went (V2) -> Gone (V3) |
You might also like: Best List of Irregular Verbs in English
Example of V1 V2 V3 in English
V1 V2 V3 that does not change
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| beset | beset | beset |
| bet | bet | bet |
| beat | beat | beaten/beat |
| bid | bid | bid |
| burst | burst | burst |
| cast | cast | cast |
| cost | cost | cost |
| cut | cut | cut |
| hear | hear | hear |
| hit | hit | hit |
| hurt | hurt | hurt |
| input | input | input |
| inset | inset | inset |
| ………… | ………… | ………… |
Past Simple V2 verbs & Past Participle V3 are the same
+ V2 V3 ending in “ought” or “aught”
……⇒ _ought ⇒ _ought
…… ⇒ _aught ⇒ _aught
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| bring | brought | brought |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| teach | taught | taught |
+ V1 ending with -ay move to V2, V3 ending with -aid
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| lay | laid | laid |
| mislay | mislaid | mislaid |
| say | said | said |
| overlay | overlaid | overlaid |
| overpay | overpaid | overpaid |
| prepay | prepaid | prepaid |
| pay | paid | paid |
| repay | repaid | repaid |
+ V2, V3 change the number of vowels ‘ee’ to ‘e’ and add or change _t or _d at the end
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| creep | crept | crept |
| feel | felt | felt |
| feed | fed | fed |
| meet | met | met |
+ V1 verbs ending in _d are changed to V2, V3 endings in _t
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| rend | rent | rent |
| rebuild | rebuilt | rebuilt |
| spend | spent | spent |
| lend | lent | lent |
+ V1 verbs end in _m or _n, then V2 and V3 end in _t
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| burn | burnt | burnt |
| learn | learnt | learnt |
| mean | meant | meant |
| dream | dreamt | dreamt |
V1 contains i change to V2 is a and V3 is u
This case is also quite common and used a lot in English, so keep this rule in mind so you don’t get confused in using the past word!
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| ring | rang | rung |
| begin | began | begun |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| sink | sank | sunk |
V1 ends with _ow, moves to V2 ends with _ew and V3 is _own
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| blow | blew | blown |
| know | knew | known |
| grow | grew | grown |
| throw | threw | thrown |
V1 form ending in _ear, moves to V2 are _ore and V3 is_orn
* Except: The verb Hear ⇒ heard ⇒ heard does not follow this rule.
Example:
| V1 | V2 | V3 |
| bear | bore | born |
| tear | tore | torn |
| swear | swore | sworn |
| forbear | forbore | forborn |
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