For each verb listed, the citation form is given first, with a link to the relevant Wiktionary entry. This is followed by the simple past tense, and then the past participle. If there are irregular present tense forms, these are given in parentheses after the infinitive. In the case of modal verbs the present and preterite forms are listed, since these are the only forms that exist. The right-hand column notes whether the verb is weak or strong and whether it belongs to a subclass, and links to descriptions elsewhere. Information about the development of these verbs generally can be found at English irregular verbs; details of the etymology and usage of specific verbs can be found by consulting Wiktionary. In some cases, there are two or more possibilities for a given form. In the table, the preferred or more common usage is generally listed first, though for some words the usage is nearly equal for the two choices. Sometimes the usage depends on the dialect. In many cases, such as spell, learn, and spill, American English normally uses the regular form, while British English tends to favor the irregular. In other cases, such as dive and sneak, the opposite is true. Australian, New Zealand and South African English tend to follow the British practice, while Canadian English often sides with the American usage. This list only contains verb forms which are listed in the major dictionaries as being standard usage in modern English. There are also many thousands of archaic, non-standard and dialect variants. Modern English still has remnants of formerly irregular verbs in other parts of speech. Most obviously, adjectives like clean-shaven, beholden, or forlorn fossilize what are originally the past participles of the verbs shave and behold, and Old Englishforleosan. However, forleosan has fallen out of use and shave is now regular, so these verbs are not listed, and behold, while still irregular, can no longer be listed this participle form.
Though the list of verbs irregular in the preterite or past participle is long, the list of irregular present tense verbs is very short. Excepting modal verbs like "shall", "will", and "can" that do not inflect at all in the present tense, there are only four :
: I am, thou art, you are, he is, we are, they are.
: I do, you do, he does, we do, they do where "does" is pronounced in contrast to, the pronunciation of the infinitive and the other present tense forms.
: I have, you have, he has, we have, they have.
: I say, you say, he says, we say, they say where "says" has the standard pronunciation in contrast to the used for the infinitive and other present tense forms.
