Past tense of speak
irregular verb
The past tense of speak is spoke. The past participle is spoken.
Forms of speak
| Base form (V1) | speak /spiːk/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | spoke /spəʊk/ |
| Past participle (V3) | spoken /ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/ |
| Present participle | speaking /ˈspiː.kɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | speaks /ˈspiːks/ |
Spoke and spoken in a sentence
- He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203
- It's been ages since we've spoken.
- She spoke with a strong accent that betrayed her southern roots.From the entry accent
- I was surprised to learn that he was an immigrant, as he spoke without any accent.From the entry accent
- I only spoke to my lawyer and yourself about the issue.From the entry yourself
Meaning of speak
- verb To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
- verb To have a conversation.
- verb To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
Verbs like speak
Questions about the past tense of speak
- What is the past tense of speak?
- The past tense of speak is spoke.
- What is the past participle of speak?
- The past participle of speak is spoken.
- Is speak a regular or irregular verb?
- Speak is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: speak (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 speak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/speak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.