Verb forms
Base form
/θɪŋk/
Past Simple
/θɔːt/
Past Participle
/θɔːt/
Example sentences
Base form · think
- I think this is a brilliant idea.
Past Simple · thought
- He thought about the offer for a long time.
- They thought it again the following morning.
- He didn't think anything at the meeting.
- Did you think it before lunch?
Past Participle · thought
- I had never thought of it that way before.
- By the time we arrived, they had thought everything.
- We have never thought anything quite like it.
- He has thought it many times before.
Common collocations
think twice
to reconsider carefully
think over
to consider something carefully
think out loud
to speak your thoughts as they come
Key tenses
| Present Simple | Past Simple | Present Perfect |
|---|---|---|
I think he / she / it thinks | I thought | I have thought |
| Present Continuous:I am thinking · he / she / it is thinking | ||
Grammar guide
The verb "think" follows the ABB pattern: the past simple and past participle share one form ("thought"), while the base form ("think") 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 "thought" 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 thought the whole report by herself." The action is seen as finished and anchored to a specific past time.
The past participle "thought" always works together with an auxiliary verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have thought this several times before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "By the time we called, they had already thought"; (3) passive voice — "The decision was thought by the board." Never use "thought" as a standalone past-tense verb without an auxiliary.
Memory tip: because "thought" and "thought" 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 "think" 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.