The past tense

An tràth caithte

Anna and Iain used a lot of past tenses in their conversation. We’ll give you an overview here of how to form the past tense.

The past tense of regular verbs

We will use question and answer format to show you how to form the past tense of regular verbs.

How do you form the past tense of regular verbs?

First, you need to find out the imperative, (also known as the root or basic form) of the verb.

Imperative means the verb used to give instructions and it is listed in most dictionaries. In the LearnGaelic dictionary, we show this with an exclamation point.

Does the imperative start with one of the following consonants b, c, d, g, m, p, s, t?

If the imperative starts with one of the consonants:  b, c, d, g, m, p, s, t, then the word lenites when it is in the past tense.

Coisich -> choisich

Walk -> walked

Does the imperative start with one of the vowels a, e, i, o, u?

If the imperative starts with one of the vowels a, e, i, o, u then the word begins with dh’ in the past tense.

Ith -> dh’ith

eat -> ate

Òl -> dh’òl

drink -> drank

Does the imperative start with one of the following consonants l, n, r, sg, sm, sp or st ?

If the imperative starts with one of the consonants:  l, n, r, sg, sm, sp or st then the word stays the same when it is in the past tense.

leugh -> leugh

read -> read

sgrìobh -> sgrìobh

write -> wrote

Does the imperative start with f + a vowel?

If the imperative starts with f + a vowel, then the word begins with dh’ and it lenites when it is in the past tense.

fuirich -> dh’fhuirich

stay -> stayed