Past tense of know
irregular verb
The past tense of know is knew. The past participle is known.
Forms of know
| Base form (V1) | know /nəʊ/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | knew /ˈnjuː/ |
| Past participle (V3) | known /nəʊn/ |
| Present participle | knowing /ˈnəʊɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | knows /nəʊz/ |
Less standard forms: knowed (nonstandard).
Knew and known in a sentence
- He knew something terrible was going to happen.
- Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
- Before we knew it, the forest was on us, and the air grew colder and damper.From the entry on
- She gave me a wink afterwards, so I knew she was joking.From the entry give
- If more drivers knew how to zipper, the accident would not have disrupted traffic so much.From the entry zipper
Meaning of know
- verb To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
- verb To be or become aware or cognizant.
- verb To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
Verbs like know
Questions about the past tense of know
- What is the past tense of know?
- The past tense of know is knew.
- What is the past participle of know?
- The past participle of know is known.
- Is know a regular or irregular verb?
- Know is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
- Is knowed correct?
- knowed is marked nonstandard in Wiktionary. The usual past tense of know is knew.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: know (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 know.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/know. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.