Past tense of earn
regular verb
The past tense of earn is earned or earnt. The past participle is also earned or earnt.
Forms of earn
| Base form (V1) | earn /ɜːn/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | earned /ɝnd/ earnt /ˈɜːnt/ |
| Past participle (V3) | earned /ɝnd/ earnt /ˈɜːnt/ |
| Present participle | earning /ˈɝnɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | earns /ɜːnz/ |
Earned and earnt in a sentence
- You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well.
- With their hard work and dedication, they earned respect and a seat at the table.
- During the summer, Peter earned some extra cash by leafleting for a local pizza delivery restaurant.From the entry leaflet
- Income must be reported in the period in which it is earned, whenever payment is actually received.From the entry whenever
- Patrick was the unlikely match-winner as Berkeley earned a fortunate victory over Chisolm.From the entry fortunate
Meaning of earn
- verb To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
- verb To receive payment for work or for a role or position held (regardless of whether effort was applied or whether the remuneration is deserved or commensurate).
- verb To receive payment for work.
Questions about the past tense of earn
- What is the past tense of earn?
- The past tense of earn is earned or earnt.
- What is the past participle of earn?
- The past participle of earn is earned or earnt.
- Is earn a regular or irregular verb?
- Earn is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: earn (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of earn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/earn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.