Past tense of understand
irregular verb
The past tense of understand is understood. The past participle is also understood.
Forms of understand
| Base form (V1) | understand /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | understood /ʌndəˈstʊd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | understood /ʌndəˈstʊd/ |
| Present participle | understanding /ʌndəˈstandɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | understands |
Understood in a sentence
- The students understood the assignment.
- There's been no formal declaration, but it's understood that a state of war exists between the two countries
- He breathed the words into her ear, but she understood them all.From the entry breathe
- He's working out with weights. Weight-bearing exercise is now understood to be just as important as cardio.From the entry weight
- Three crewmembers are understood to have been injured in the explosion.From the entry understood
Meaning of understand
- verb To know the meaning of; to parse or have parsed correctly; to comprehend.
- verb To know the meaning of.
- verb To be thoroughly familiar with; to be able to undertake properly.
Verbs like understand
- stand (stood)
- withstand (withstood)
- tread (trod)
- misunderstand (misunderstood)
Questions about the past tense of understand
- What is the past tense of understand?
- The past tense of understand is understood.
- What is the past participle of understand?
- The past participle of understand is understood.
- Is understand a regular or irregular verb?
- Understand is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: understand (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 understand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/understand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.