Went, saw, took

  • A2 · Elementary
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min
  • irregular verbs

The past simple of irregular verbs, learned in sound groups: bring → brought, sit → sat, grow → grew, keep → kept, put → put. From the true story of a Barcelona opera house that reopened in 2020 with a concert for 2,292 plants to a story made up with the tutor.

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wentsawtookbought

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2In this lesson
  3. 3Reading: a concert for plantsReading comprehension
  4. 4What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  5. 5Find the past forms without -edGrammar exercise
  6. 6Irregular verbs in groupsGrammar rule
  7. 7Which group?Grammar exercise
  8. 8Ilse's phoneGrammar exercise
  9. 9Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  10. 10Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  11. 11Story chainSpeaking practice
  12. 12About youGrammar exercise
  13. 13Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: which past form?Grammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: a message from a festivalGrammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  4. 4Homework: at a showDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. Do you often go to concerts or shows? What was your last one?
  2. Are there any plants in your home? Tell me where one of them came from.
  3. Think about last weekend. Finish these two sentences: "I saw…" and "I bought…"

Grammar rule

Irregular verbs in groups

Irregular verbs in the past

Regular verbs take -ed: stay → stayed, open → opened. Irregular verbs have their own past form, and it is the same for I, you, he, she, it, we and they: I went, she went, they went. (Only be has two forms: was and were.) Many of them come in groups: their past forms sound alike.

GroupExamples
-ought / -aught (they rhyme with caught)buy → bought · bring → brought · fight → fought
i → asing → sang · swim → swam · sit → sat
-ewfly → flew · grow → grew · blow → blew
-t at the end: d becomes t, or a different vowel + tspend → spent · send → sent · sleep → slept · leave → left
the vowel becomes odrive → drove · write → wrote · ride → rode · speak → spoke · break → broke
no changeput → put · shut → shut · cost → cost · hurt → hurt
learn them one by onego → went · see → saw · take → took · come → came · eat → ate · have → had · make → made · get → got · hear → heard · find → found · say → said · tell → told · meet → met · fall → fell · run → ran · stand → stood

Time words for the past: yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago, in 2020, on June 22.

Watch out: no -ed on an irregular verb (not goed, buyed, thinked). bought (from buy) and brought (from bring) are two different verbs. read → read: the same spelling, but the past sounds like "red".
Questions and negatives in the past (Did you go? I didn't go.) are the next lesson.

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