Verb forms
Base form
/driːm/
Past Simple
Past Participle
Example sentences
Base form · dream
- I often dream about flying.
Past Simple · dreamt
- She dreamt of becoming an astronaut as a child.
- I dreamt it as soon as I possibly could.
- We dreamt it together earlier this week.
- She dreamt without any hesitation.
Past Participle · dreamt
- He has dreamt of this moment his whole life.
- She has just dreamt the very same thing.
- By the time we arrived, they had dreamt everything.
- We have never dreamt anything quite like it.
Key tenses
| Present Simple | Past Simple | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|
I dream he / she / it dreams | I dreamt | I have dreamt |
| Present Continuous:I am dreaming · he / she / it is dreaming | ||
Grammar guide
The verb "dream" follows the ABB pattern: the past simple and past participle share one form ("dreamt"), while the base form ("dream") is different. ABB is the most common pattern among English irregular verbs — roughly half of all irregulars fall here, so mastering this group pays dividends across the whole language.
Use the past simple "dreamt" to talk about a completed action or event at a definite moment in the past. It stands alone as the main verb — no auxiliary is needed. Common accompanying time expressions include yesterday, last week, ago, and when: "She dreamt the whole report by herself." The action is seen as finished and anchored to a specific past time.
The past participle "dreamt" always works together with an auxiliary verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have dreamt this several times before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "By the time we called, they had already dreamt"; (3) passive voice — "The decision was dreamt by the board." Never use "dreamt" as a standalone past-tense verb without an auxiliary.
Memory tip: because "dreamt" and "dreamt" are the same, you only need to memorise one past form. Many ABB verbs follow recognisable sound shifts — a large group ends in -ought (bring→brought, buy→bought, catch→caught, fight→fought, seek→sought, teach→taught, think→thought), and another group shows a vowel shift plus -t (feel→felt, keep→kept, leave→left, mean→meant, sleep→slept). Identifying which sub-group "dream" belongs to can make the form easier to remember long-term.
Quick quiz
Which sentence is correct?
Conjugation pattern
The past simple and the past participle share the same form.