Past tense of hem
regular verb
The past tense of hem is hemmed. The past participle is also hemmed.
Forms of hem
| Base form (V1) | hem /hɛm/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | hemmed |
| Past participle (V3) | hemmed |
| Present participle | hemming /ˈhɛmɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | hems |
Hemmed in a sentence
- A small yard hemmed about by a tall hedge.
- The last thing you want is to get hemmed up in prison.From the entry hem up
- He placed him in a choke-hold and hemmed him up on the brick wall.2014, Tiffany Bolado, The Legacy of Misperception, page 89. From the entry hem up
- Taking him home she hemmed him up soon as they stepped in the door.2006, Kali James, Can U Get Away?, page 17. From the entry hem up
- Terra is hemmed in on all sides by the ancient Centauran Empire.1953, Philip K. Dick, “The Variable Man”, in The Early Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick, Dover, published 2013, page 140. From the entry Centauran
Meaning of hem
- interjection Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound.
- noun An utterance or sound of the voice like "hem", often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention.
- verb To make the sound expressed by the word hem; to hesitate in speaking.
Questions about the past tense of hem
- What is the past tense of hem?
- The past tense of hem is hemmed.
- What is the past participle of hem?
- The past participle of hem is hemmed.
- Is hem a regular or irregular verb?
- Hem is a regular verb: its past tense doubles the last letter and adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hem (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 hem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/hem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.