The -OUGHT family
Past and participle sound the same: -ought / -aught
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| buy | bought | bought |
| bring | brought | brought |
| think | thought | thought |
| teach | taught | taught |
| catch | caught | caught |
| fight | fought | fought |
36 Verbs Grouped by Sound
Learn 36 English irregular verbs in one song. Level B1 (intermediate), for teenagers and adults learning English.
Also on YouTube. The singing voice is AI-generated; Remi is an animated character.
The verbs
The song groups the verbs by how they sound, so you learn whole families at once. The underlined part is the sound they share.
Past and participle sound the same: -ought / -aught
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| buy | bought | bought |
| bring | brought | brought |
| think | thought | thought |
| teach | taught | taught |
| catch | caught | caught |
| fight | fought | fought |
Past = participle, and it ends in -t
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| keep | kept | kept |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| feel | felt | felt |
| leave | left | left |
| meet | met | met |
| send | sent | sent |
| spend | spent | spent |
Only the vowel changes: i → a → u
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| begin | began | begun |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| sing | sang | sung |
| swim | swam | swum |
| ring | rang | rung |
| sink | sank | sunk |
The participle ends in -en
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| break | broke | broken |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
| write | wrote | written |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| give | gave | given |
Nothing changes. The easy bit!
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| cut | cut | cut |
| put | put | put |
| shut | shut | shut |
| let | let | let |
| cost | cost | cost |
| hit | hit | hit |
No pattern here: learn them by heart
| Base | Past | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | gone |
| do | did | done |
| see | saw | seen |
Practice
Your turn
Say it in a sentence, like: "I have never swum in the sea."
Answer in the YouTube comments