The Twelve Essays of Christmas: Ring/Rang/Rung

Almost every english verb 'generates' five forms, so to speak. For example:

1) The bells ring today.

2) The bell rings today.

3) The bells rang yesterday.

4) The bells have rung already.

5) The bells are ringing now.

Except 2 and 5 are always regularly derived (when they exist) from 1 by adding suffixes, so you could be justified in saying there's only three forms. Plus, numbers 3 and 4 are usually just number 1 plus an '-ed'.

But when they're not, it's called an irregular verb.

So, how may irregular verbs are there in english? The answer is: probably about 200, of which about 100 are common, but it depends.

It depends on whether you consider 'underdo' and/or 'overdo' and/or 'redo' to be separate verbs from 'do'. The same for 'spoil' and 'despoil', 'throw' and overthrow'. It depends whether you consider 'dreamed' and 'dreamt' to be equally valid past forms of 'dream'. And the same for 'pleaded' and 'pled'.

What about 'arise/arose/arisen' and 'rise/rose/risen' - are they separate entries in the list, or is the former merely an archaic variation in the latter? Just became some native speakers say 'quitted' or 'knowed', do you include these past forms as viable alternatives to 'quit' and 'knew'?

I've taken two purportedly complete lists of english irregular verbs, plus one which claims to be of the 70 most common, and combined them with my own dubious intuitions. Here's the result.

Column 1 is the 'infinitive' or base form, two is the preterite or past, and three is the past participle or passive participle, according to your preferred nomenclature. The 70 most common are in bold.

arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	born/borne
beat	beat	beat/beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bended/bent	bended/bent
beset	beset	beset
bet	betted/bet	/betted/bet
bid	bid/bade	bid/bidden
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcasted/broadcast	broadcasted/broadcast
build	builded/built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
burst	burst/bursted	burst/bursted
buy	bought	bought
can	could	[been able to]
cast	casted/cast	casted/cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealed/dealt	dealed/dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived\dove	/dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit	fit	fit
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade\forbad	forbidden
forego	forewent	foregone
foretell	foretold	foretold
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got/gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	been/gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hanged/hung	hanged/hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
knit	knitted/knit	knitted/knit
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leap	leaped/leapt	leaped/leapt
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lended/lent	lended/lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lighted/lit	lighted/lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
misspell	misspelled/misspelt	misspelled/misspelt
mistake	mistook	mistaken
mow	mowed	mowed/mown
pay	paid	paid
plead	pleaded/pled	/pleaded/plead
prove	proved	proved/proven
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	ringed/rang	ringed/rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	sawed	sawed/sawn
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shave	shaved	shaved/shaven
shear	sheared/shore	sheared/shorn
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone	shone
shoe	shoed/shod	shoed/shod
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	showed/shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk/shrunken
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slayed/slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid/slided	slid/slided
sling	slung	slung
slit	slit/slitted	slit/slitted
smell	smelt/smelled	/smelt/smelled
smite	smote	smitten
sow	sowed	sowed/sown
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped/speeded	sped/speeded
spell	spelt/spelled	/spelt/spelled
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt/spilled	/spilt/spilled
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat	spat
split	split/splitted	split/splitted
spoil	spoilt/spoiled	/spoilt/spoiled
spread	spread/spreaded	spread/spreaded
spring	sprang/sprung	sprung
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank	stunk
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove	striven
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swelled/swollen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	thrived/throve	thrived
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden
understand	understood	understood
uphold	upheld	upheld
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke	woken/waked
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
weave	weaved/wove	weaved/woven
wed	wedded/wed	/wedded/wed
weep	wept	wept
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
withhold	withheld	withheld
withstand	withstood	withstood
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written