Past tense of give
irregular verb
The past tense of give is gave. The past participle is given.
Forms of give
| Base form (V1) | give /ˈɡɪv/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | gave /ɡeɪv/ |
| Past participle (V3) | given /ˈɡɪvən/ |
| Present participle | giving /ˈɡɪvɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | gives /ɡɪvz/ |
Gave and given in a sentence
- I gave him my coat.
- I gave my coat to the beggar.
- We gave three deals of grain in tribute to the king.From the entry deal
- The politician gave a somewhat abstract answer when asked about their plans to cut spending.From the entry abstract
- The large bull gave a basso trumpet as he charged the hunters.From the entry trumpet
Meaning of give
- verb To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).
- verb To make a present or gift of.
- verb To pledge.
Verbs like give
Questions about the past tense of give
- What is the past tense of give?
- The past tense of give is gave.
- What is the past participle of give?
- The past participle of give is given.
- Is give a regular or irregular verb?
- Give is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give (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 give.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/give. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.