Past tense of say
irregular verb
The past tense of say is said. The past participle is also said.
Forms of say
| Base form (V1) | say /seɪ/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | said /sɛd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | said /sɛd/ |
| Present participle | saying /ˈseɪ.ɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | says /sɛz/ |
Past tense of say by meaning
- to pronounce.: said
- to try; to assay.: sayed
Said in a sentence
- He said he would be here tomorrow.
- The note I think he said she wrote is nowhere to be found.
- One visitor named Hou Yugang said he was not too concerned about climate change and Baishui’s melting.From the entry name
- "I never could abide shoemakers," said an old servant,—and it ended in her marrying one.From the entry abide
- I thought you said you were above these kinds of antics.From the entry above
Meaning of say
- verb To pronounce.
- verb To recite.
- verb To tell, either verbally or in writing.
Verbs like say
Questions about the past tense of say
- What is the past tense of say?
- The past tense of say is said.
- What is the past participle of say?
- The past participle of say is said.
- Is say a regular or irregular verb?
- Say is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: say (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 say.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/say. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.