19. April 2021 – THE FLENSBURG FILES

One of the least talked about subjects in the English Language are verbs, whose conjugations are both regular and irregular. Some are probably thinking why that is the case. There are two arguments for why they are not even mentioned in the classroom:

1. The endings are different but the meanings are the same. This argument applies for the different endings between British and American, where the past and perfect endings have either a -t or an -ed at the end. In many cases they can be used interchangeably. Example of such include

Dream (present) Dreamed/ Dreamt (past simple) Dreamed/ Dreamt (perfect)

Smell (present) Smelled/Smellt (past simple) Smelled/Smellt (perfect)

The same applies for irregular tenses, where a verb both have a regular and irregular form but the meanings are the same and are sometimes used in both types of English. This includes:

Wet (present) Wet/Wetted (past simple) Wet/Wetted (perfect)

Dive (present) Dove/Dived (past simple) Dived (perfect)

2. People would understand the meaning of the words without having to make the difference in conjugation. Two examples come to mind that would counter this argument:

Lie: Lie has two different conjugations but also two different meanings. You can lie to the person to save yourself from trouble, but you cannot lay unless you’re speaking a “red neck” version of English. 😉 By the same token, one can lie down or lay down for taking a nap.

Find: Find has a past tense that has a conjugation of its own. You can found a company and establish it from the ground up, but when you say I find a company (or even finded), then you discovered the company either by research on the internet or by chance while playing hide and seek. 😉

Then there is the third argument which states that the numbers are so few that it would make no sense to learn them. English, like any other foreign language features vocabulary whose difference in pronunciation (including homophones) and lettering (including the affixes) produce different meanings. Therefore it is important to cover all the aspects of each word, including the meanings and the context. This is important especially when translating the words into your own language because each word has a different equivalent, regardless of how the English word is conjugated.

I did some research and asked some of the native speakers and experts who taught English and found that verbs with both types of conjugation can be divided up into different categories. The German translations for each word is marked in orange. They include the following:

American <=> British Type 1: Word pairs that have the same meaning but the endings in past/perfect tenses are both –ed and –t. As a rule, the irregular forms are typically British English; the regular forms are typically American

Verb	Present + V-ing	Past Simple	Perfect Form	Meaning/ Translation
dream	dreaming	dreamed	dreamed	To think of something while sleeping
dream	dreaming	dreamt	dreamt	German: schlafen

learn	learning	learned	learned	To collect knowledge for future use
learn	learning	learnt	learnt	German: lernen

spoil	spoiling	spoiled	spoiled	To ruin a food product or event
spoil	spoiling	spoilt	spoilt	German: verderben

burn	burning	burned	burned	To apply heat to a surface sometimes causing a fire
burn	burning	burnt	burnt	German: brennen

lean	leaning	leaned	leaned	To tilt against someone or something
lean	leaning	leant	leant	German: neigen

smell	smelling	smelled	smelled	To have a scent of an object or area
smell	smelling	smelt	smelt	German: riechen

spill	spilling	spilled	spilled	To empty the contents onto a surface
spill	spilling	spilt	spilt	German: verschütten oder verstreuen

American <=> British Type 2: Word pairings where even though the meaning is the same, the verb endings with –ed are used in British English; in American English they stay the same and are considered irregular verbs.

Verb	Present + V-ing	Past Simple	Perfect Form	Meaning/ Translation
quit	quitting	quitted	quitted	To discontinue doing
quit	quitting	quit	quit	German: aufhören

wet	wetting	wetted	wetted	To add fluid to a surface to make it softer
wet	wetting	wet	wet	German: nass machen

Regular British and Irregular American Forms: Word pairings that function both as a regular as well as an irregular verb form but have the same meaning; can be used in both British and American English.

Verb	Present + V-ing	Past Simple	Perfect Form	Meaning/ Translation
light	lighting	lighted	lighted	To make glow
light	lighting	lit	lit	German: beleuchten, anzünden, Feuer machen, u.A.

dive	diving	dived	dived	To jump head first into the water; to drop rapidly
dive	diving	dove	dived	German: Kopfsprung machen; fallen/ sinken

Present Pairs with Different Meanings: Word pairs where each verb in present simple tense has a different meaning per conjugated regular and irregular form

Verb	Present + V- ing	Past Simple	Perfect Form	Meaning/ Translation
ring	ringing	ringed	ringed	Forming a circle around something/ German: kreiseln
ring	ringing	rang	rung	Making a sound like a bell on a telephone/ German: ringen

shine	shining	shined	shined	To polish/ German: polieren
shine	shining	shone	shone	To glow or cast with light/ German: scheinen

slay	slaying	slayed	slayed	To strongly impress someone/ German: beeindrücken
slay	slaying	slew	slain	To kill or destroy/ German: töten od. zerschlagen

hang	hanging	hung	hung	To attach something high off the ground and allow to sway/ German: hängen
hang	hanging	hanged	hanged	To be suspended by neck in mid-air, causing death/ German: erhängen

abide	abiding	abided	abided	To continue to live and act in a similar fashion/ German fortbestehen; ertragen
abide	abiding	abode	abode	To live in a home/dwelling/residence German: leben/wohnen

Past Pairs with Different Meanings: Word pairs whose past simple tense form has its own set of conjugations and meaning. The past tense version functions as a regular verb form.

Verb	Present + V-ing	Past Simple	Perfect Form	Meaning/ Translation
find	finding	found	found	Look for something/ finden
found	founding	founded	founded	Establishing a business or organization/ German: (be)gründen

wind	winding	wound	wound	Wrap around something/ German: (auf)wickeln
wound	wounding	wounded	wounded	To injure someone’s feelings or through a knife-stab or gunshot/ German: verletzen

fall	falling	fell	fallen	To drop down to the ground from above/ German: fallen
fell	felling	felled	felled	To cut down a tree or tall object / German: fällen

feel	feeling	felt	felt	To sense something/ German: (sich) fühlen
felt	felting	felted	felted	To try and perceive or twist/ German: wahrnehmen/ empfinden

see	seeing	saw	Seen	To look at something with the eyes/ German: sehen
saw	sawing	sawed	sawn	To cut apart a tree or object with a saw/ German: segen

bear	bearing	bore	born	To make into life; tolerate/ German: gebären; tolerieren
bore	boring	bored	bored	To make uninteresting or tiring/ German: langweilen; langweilig machen

Despite having a list for each of the categories, I also concluded that there are more examples of such verbs in English that exist, yet they are at best seldomly mentioned. Furthermore there may be a little bit of leeway in terms of the word pairs and the meanings. Therefore I would like to ask you to mention any further examples that you know in the language that fit into one of the five abovementioned categories. Any missing verbs will be added including the conjugations and the German translations. You will do yourself, yours truly as well as teachers of English as a Foreign Language and the students (regardless of age and school) a big favor. 🙂