Past tense of serve
regular verb
The past tense of serve is served. The past participle is also served.
Forms of serve
| Base form (V1) | serve /sɜːv/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | served /sɝvd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | served /sɝvd/ |
| Present participle | serving /ˈsɜːvɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | serves /sɝvz/ |
Served in a sentence
- That night Annie served him grilled halibut and English peas, plus tomatoes, of course, and a salad.2007, Larry McMurty, When the Light Goes
- About twenty minutes after waiters served the soup, a guest got up and left.2009, Dominic A Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography, page 195
- Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe.From the entry beer
- The floor of a cave served the refugees as a home.From the entry floor
- Without context, I can't tell if dish refers to a plate, or to the food served thereon.From the entry context
Meaning of serve
- verb To be a formal servant for (a god or deity); to worship in an official capacity.
- verb To be a servant for; to work for, to be employed by.
- verb To wait upon (someone) at table; to set food and drink in front of, to help (someone) to food, meals etc.
Questions about the past tense of serve
- What is the past tense of serve?
- The past tense of serve is served.
- What is the past participle of serve?
- The past participle of serve is served.
- Is serve a regular or irregular verb?
- Serve is a regular verb: its past tense adds -d.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: serve (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 serve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/serve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.