away from gate in both form and meaning). There is also forsake–forsook–forsaken (this is from Old English forsōc "to legally act for or affair for", making it equivalent to for- + sake, but it has moved away from sake in both form and meaning). There is also beseech–besought–besought (this is from Old English besēcan "to seek or inquire about", making it equivalent to be- + seek, but it has moved away from seek in both form and meaning); however the form besought is now archaic, the verb normally being conjugated regularly (beseeched). List The following is a list of 204 irregular verbs that are commonly used in standard modern English. It omits many rare, dialectal, and archaic forms, as well as most verbs formed by adding prefixes to basic verbs (unbend, understand, mistake, etc.). It also omits past participle forms that remain in use only adjectivally (clad, sodden, etc.). For a more complete list, with derivations, see List of English irregular verbs. Further information, including pronunciation, can be found in Wiktionary. The list that follows shows the base, or infinitive form, the past tense and the past participle of the verb. a- : for abide, arise, awake, see bide, rise, wake be (am, is, are) – was, were – been be- : for become, befall, beset, etc. see come, fall, set, etc. bear – bore – borne [spelt born in passive and adjectival uses relating to birth] beat – beat – beaten beget – begot – begot(ten) [Biblical past tense: begat] begin – began – begun bend – bent – bent bet – bet – bet [past tense and participle also sometimes betted] beware – defective verb [see anomalous cases above] bid – bid – bid [as in an auction] bid – bade/bid – bidden/bid [meaning "request"] bide – bided/bode – bided/bidden [but abide mostly uses the regular forms only] bind – bound – bound bite – bit – bitten bleed – bled – bled blow – blew – blown break – broke – broken breed – bred – bred bring – brought – brought build – built – built burn – burnt/burned – burnt/burned burst – burst – burst buy – bought – bought can – could [defective; see anomalous cases above] cast – cast – cast [prefixed forms broadcast, forecast, etc. sometimes take -ed] catch – caught – caught choose – chose – chosen clad – clad/cladded –