Verb forms
Base form
/tʃuːz/
Past Simple
/tʃoʊz/
Past Participle
/ˈtʃoʊzən/
Example sentences
Base form · choose
- Customers choose this brand for its quality.
Past Simple · chose
- She chose the blue dress instead of the red one.
- I chose it as soon as I possibly could.
- We chose it together earlier this week.
- She chose without any hesitation.
Past Participle · chosen
- He has been chosen to represent the school.
- I have already chosen it more than once.
- She has just chosen the very same thing.
- By the time we arrived, they had chosen everything.
Common collocations
choose wisely
to make a careful, good decision
Key tenses
| Present Simple | Past Simple | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|
I choose he / she / it chooses | I chose | I have chosen |
| Present Continuous:I am choosing · he / she / it is choosing | ||
Grammar guide
The verb "choose" is fully irregular — all three principal parts are distinct: the base form "choose", the past simple "chose", and the past participle "chosen". The ABC group contains many of the most common and important verbs in English, so learning them is essential for fluency.
Use the past simple "chose" for actions, events, or states that were completed at a definite point in the past. It is the main verb in the clause and needs no auxiliary: "We chose the whole project in three days." Typical time markers include yesterday, last week, ago, when, and at + a specific time. The past simple is the most frequently used past tense in spoken and written English.
The past participle "chosen" is never used on its own as a main verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have never chosen anything like it before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "She had already chosen before I arrived"; (3) passive voice with a form of be — "The final version was chosen by the whole team." These three structures together cover the great majority of perfect and passive constructions in English.
The ABC group demands the most memorisation because each verb has three unique forms to learn. Focus first on the highest-frequency verbs: be (was/were/been), do (did/done), go (went/gone), know (knew/known), take (took/taken), see (saw/seen), give (gave/given), and write (wrote/written). Regular reading and listening is the most effective way to make ABC verb forms automatic — passive exposure reinforces the patterns far better than drills alone.
Quick quiz
Which sentence is correct?
Conjugation pattern
All three forms are different — this group needs the most practice.
Verbs with the same pattern