✍️ English verbs for kids: 7 tricks for tenses that really work

In the evening, he recites his irregular verbs without a single mistake. The next day, his story comes back with “we was”, “I seen it” and “she runned”. Every parent knows this scene, and it has nothing to do with how hard the child is working.

The good news: to master English verbs, children don’t need endless tables. English verbs are far more regular than they look, and a handful of well-chosen tricks cover most of the verbs your child will write before secondary school. We have gathered them, along with other classic traps, in The Big Book of Memory Tricks. Here they are, with quick tests you can do at the table.

Why verbs are tricky, even when the lesson is known

Three reasons — and none of them is called “not working hard enough”.

1. Everyday speech is forgiving. Many children hear “we was” or “I done it” around them, and the ear gets used to it. Writing asks for the standard form, which isn’t always the one they hear.

2. We learn verb by verb. Reciting go-went-gone, then see-saw-seen, then take-took-taken is just stacking lists, never seeing what they have in common. And irregular verbs have a lot in common.

3. The rule isn’t at hand mid-sentence. In the middle of a story, a child doesn’t have time to consult a table: they write by ear. The tricks below don’t replace the lesson — they give a two-second check that works mid-sentence.

Trick 1: find the subject before the verb

This is the most useful habit of all. In the present tense, the verb changes with who is doing the action. So before asking “how do I spell this verb?”, your child asks “who is doing it?”. The table fits on a card the size of your hand:

Look at the he/she/it line: it explains one of the most common mistakes in primary school, “she play”. That little -s is easy to forget — unless your child gets into the habit of checking the subject first.

Trick 2: the magic -s of he, she and it

In the present tense, when the subject is he, she or it — one person or one thing — the verb takes an -s: I play, he plays; they run, the dog runs. Think of it as a little hiss for one single person: “she playsss”. Two or more? No hiss.

• After s, x, ch, sh, add -es: watch → watches, fix → fixes, wash → washes.
• Consonant + y → -ies: fly → flies, carry → carries. But vowel + y just adds -s: play → plays.
• Three rebels to know by heart: have → has, do → does, go → goes.

One boss, one -s: in the present, the -s goes either on the noun (the dogs run) or on the verb (the dog runs), never on both.

Trick 3: the regular past and its three spelling rules

For most verbs, the past is easy: add -ed. It can sound like “t”, “d” or “id”, but it is always spelled the same way: jumped, played, wanted. That one rule fixes a lot of “jumpt” and “playd”.

• Verb ending in e → just add d: like → liked, smile → smiled.
• Consonant + y → -ied: cry → cried, carry → carried (but play → played).
• Short verb, one vowel + one consonant → double it: stop → stopped, clap → clapped, hop → hopped.

The same rules work for -ing: make → making (the e goes), run → running (the n doubles), hop → hopping. Compare with hope → hoping: one p, because the magic e was there.

Trick 4: irregular verbs in sound families

Some verbs refuse -ed. Instead of learning them in alphabetical order, learn them in families that sound alike, like a song:

• -ew family: blow → blew, grow → grew, know → knew, throw → threw, fly → flew.
• -ought family: buy → bought, bring → brought, think → thought, fight → fought (and its cousins with -aught: catch → caught, teach → taught).
• i – a – u family: sing → sang → sung, ring → rang → rung, drink → drank → drunk, swim → swam → swum, begin → began → begun.
• no-change family: cut → cut, put → put, hit → hit, let → let, shut → shut.
• the true rebels, to learn by heart: be → was/were, go → went, eat → ate, see → saw, do → did.

Say each family out loud three times, clapping on each form. The ear learns the rhythm before the head learns the list.

Trick 5: “did” or “done”, “saw” or “seen”: the helper test

Some verbs have two past forms, and children love to swap them. The rule: the second form (done, seen, gone, eaten, written) always needs a helper — have, has or had.

• “I did it” ✓ · “I have done it” ✓ · “I done it” ✗
• “I saw him” ✓ · “I have seen him” ✓ · “I seen him” ✗
• “She went home” ✓ · “She has gone home” ✓ · “She gone home” ✗

The test fits in one question: “Is there a have just before?” No helper → did, saw, went. A helper → done, seen, gone.

Trick 6: talking about the future

The future is the easiest tense in English: will + the verb, unchanged. I will play, she will play, they will play — no -s, no -ed, for every person. The same goes after can, must and should: “she can run”, never “she can runs”.

The other everyday future is going to: “I’m going to read”. The only trap is the part of “be” in front: I am going to, she is going to, they are going to.

Trick 7: the verb of the day, five minutes at the table

Verbs don’t need long sessions, just short, regular bursts. The routine that lasts all year fits into dinner time:

1. Pick a verb at random (labels in a jar, or the first verb you hear on the radio).
2. Pick a time: yesterday, today or tomorrow.
3. Go round the table out loud, one person each: I, you, he, we, they. Parents join in too, and are allowed to make mistakes.
4. On Fridays, write it down: just two sentences, using the week’s trickiest verb.

A few minutes every day beat a long session with tables on Sunday evening. It’s the same idea as for tricky words: short, repeated practice, with a spaced reminder a few days later.

Verbs from age 6 to 11: what to aim for

Progress varies from school to school, but the pattern is the same: first the present of everyday verbs, then the past, then the finer points.

• Age 6-7: spotting the verb, the present with I/you/he/we/they, the -s of he/she/it, the -ed past of regular verbs.
• Age 7-8: was or were, the most common irregular pasts (went, saw, ate, came, took), the future with will.
• Age 8-9: the -ed and -ing spelling rules (stopped, making), irregular verb families, did/done and saw/seen with a helper.
• Age 9-11: the present perfect (I have eaten), the past continuous (I was reading), keeping the same tense all through a story, and more irregular verbs.

If your child is struggling, go back a step without guilt: everything builds on the level before. A ten-year-old who writes “we was” needs to revisit was and were, not the present perfect.

Want all these tricks in one place, handy at homework time? The Big Book of Memory Tricks brings together the verb tricks from this article, plus many more for spelling and maths, in short sentences to reread. And for the spelling side — their, there, they’re — our article on homophones is the perfect companion.

To try these tricks with real exercises, start with our free printable workbook: just a few pages, no sign-up needed. And if the routine sticks, the 31-Day Adventure is a free daily challenge to keep up the pace.