Il est nécessaire d'apprendre par cœur le prétérit des verbes irréguliers.
1. Be
• Be est un verbe irrégulier particulier ; il a deux formes au prétérit, was et were. Was est utilisé pour un you singulier, alors que were est employé pour un you pluriel. Les formes contractées à la forme négative sont plus souvent employées que les formes pleines : was not → wasn't, were not → weren't.
| (+) | (−) | ( ?) |
| I/he/she/it was happy. | I/he/she/it wasn't happy. | Was I/he/she/it happy ? |
| You/we/they were happy. | You/we/they weren't happy. | Were you/we/they happy ? |
• Pour les réponses brèves, on ne change pas de formule.
Were you at school ? Yes, I was. Was she at home ? No, she wasn't.
Were you at school ? Yes, I was. Was she at home ? No, she wasn't.
2. Les autres verbes irréguliers
• Pour la forme affirmative, une seule solution : apprendre par cœur. Heureusement, il n'y a qu'une forme pour toutes les personnes.
• Pour la forme négative et interrogative, on fait comme pour les verbes réguliers.
• Voici une liste de quelques verbes irréguliers incontournables. Il en existe plus de 200.
| BV | prétérit | traduction |
| buy | bought | acheter |
| learn | learnt | apprendre |
| catch | caught | attraper |
| make | made | faire, fabriquer |
| come | came | venir |
| meet | met | rencontrer |
| do | did | faire |
| run | ran | courir |
| drink | drank | boire |
| say | said | dire |
| eat | ate | manger |
| see | saw | voir |
| fall | fell | tomber |
| sing | sang | chanter |
| find | found | trouver |
| speak | spoke | parler |
| forget | forgot | oublier |
| take | took | prendre |
| get | got | avoir, obtenir |
| teach | taught | enseigner |
| go | went | aller |
| think | thought | penser |
| have | had | avoir |
| understand | understood | comprendre |
| keep | kept | garder |
| wake | woke | réveiller |
| know | knew | savoir |
| win | won | gagner |
| write | wrote | écrire |
Exercice n°1
Complète la phrase. Le prétérit des verbes irréguliers…
Coche la (ou les) bonne(s) réponse(s).
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On l'utilise pour raconter une histoire ou des événements finis du passé.
Exercice n°2
Complète la phrase. La forme négative d'un verbe irrégulier se forme…
Coche la (ou les) bonne(s) réponse(s).
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Exercice n°3
Complète la phrase. Be au prétérit…
Coche la (ou les) bonne(s) réponse(s).
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Be au prétérit a deux formes.
Exercice n°4
Complète avec les étiquettes ci-dessous.
Fais glisser les étiquettes dans les zones prévues à cet effet.
weren't
wasn't
Did
was
didn't
Were
Sarah
imcAnswer13?
perform last night. She imcAnswer14?
ready. imcAnswer15?
you see her show last week? It imcAnswer16?
great! imcAnswer17?
you in the front row? No, we imcAnswer18?
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