Past tense of soften
regular verb
The past tense of soften is softened. The past participle is also softened.
Forms of soften
| Base form (V1) | soften /ˈsɒfən/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | softened /ˈsɒfənd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | softened /ˈsɒfənd/ |
| Present participle | softening |
| Third person singular | softens |
Softened in a sentence
- Before the invasion, we softened up the enemy with the artillery.
- Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.
- Don't overmelt the cheese: it should just be softened a little.From the entry overmelt
- In other words, it has aged (and softened and tawnied) in wood for many years.2019, Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, “Wine Roads Less Traveled: Fortified and Dessert Wines”, in Wine for Dummies (For Dummies), 7th…. From the entry tawny
- His father has mellowed, too; a bad hip has softened his cough.2016, Mary Morrissy, Prosperity Drive, →ISBN. From the entry soften someone's cough
Meaning of soften
- verb To make something soft or softer.
- verb To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).
- verb To make less harsh.
Questions about the past tense of soften
- What is the past tense of soften?
- The past tense of soften is softened.
- What is the past participle of soften?
- The past participle of soften is softened.
- Is soften a regular or irregular verb?
- Soften is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: soften (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 soften.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/soften. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.