Past tense of tap
regular verb
The past tense of tap is tapped. The past participle is also tapped.
Forms of tap
| Base form (V1) | tap /tæp/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | tapped /tæpt/ |
| Past participle (V3) | tapped /tæpt/ |
| Present participle | tapping |
| Third person singular | taps /tæps/ |
Tapped in a sentence
- He tapped the ten-year-old whiskey from its barrel.
- For our supper, Ginger tapped the local butcher, who gave us the best part of two pounds of sausages.1931, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Hop-picking”, in Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus, editors, An Age Like This: 1920–1940 (The...
- He tapped his opponent out in what seemed like ten seconds.From the entry tap out
- After a month of sugaring, the local maples were all tapped out.From the entry tap out
- A tree or a vine bleeds when tapped or wounded.From the entry bleed
Meaning of tap
- noun A conical peg or pin used to close and open the hole or vent in a container.
- noun An object with a tapering conical form like a tap (etymology 1, noun sense 1); specifically, ellipsis of taproot (“long, tapering root of a plant”).
- noun A hollow device used to control the flow of a fluid, such as an alcoholic beverage from a cask, or a gas or liquid in a pipe.
Questions about the past tense of tap
- What is the past tense of tap?
- The past tense of tap is tapped.
- What is the past participle of tap?
- The past participle of tap is tapped.
- Is tap a regular or irregular verb?
- Tap is a regular verb: its past tense doubles the last letter and adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tap (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 tap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/tap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.