Past tense of govern
regular verb
The past tense of govern is governed. The past participle is also governed.
Forms of govern
| Base form (V1) | govern /ˈɡʌv.ən/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | governed /ˈɡəvɚnd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | governed /ˈɡəvɚnd/ |
| Present participle | governing /ˈɡʌvɚnɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | governs |
Governed in a sentence
- The old king governed the land wisely.
- Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.2016, Justin Deschamps, Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.
- Good decision-making is not governed by mere sentiment.From the entry sentiment
- Democracy’s legitimacy stems from the consent of the governed.From the entry legitimacy
- The Vatican City State, a sovereign city-state governed by Holy See, has a large number of embassies across the world.From the entry city state
Meaning of govern
- verb To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
- verb To exercise political authority; to run a government.
- verb To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
Questions about the past tense of govern
- What is the past tense of govern?
- The past tense of govern is governed.
- What is the past participle of govern?
- The past participle of govern is governed.
- Is govern a regular or irregular verb?
- Govern is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: govern (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 govern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/govern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.