Formas del verbo
Forma base
/iːt/
Past Simple
Past Participle
Frases de ejemplo
Forma base · eat
- We eat dinner together as a family every evening.
Past Simple · ate
- He ate three slices of pizza at the party.
- They ate it again the following morning.
- He didn't eat anything at the meeting.
- Did you eat it before lunch?
Past Participle · eaten
- Have you eaten anything since breakfast?
- He has eaten it many times before.
- I have already eaten it more than once.
- She has just eaten the very same thing.
Tiempos clave
| Presente Simple | Pasado Simple | Presente Perfecto |
|---|---|---|
I eat he / she / it eats | I ate | I have eaten |
| Presente Continuo:I am eating · he / she / it is eating | ||
Guía gramatical
The verb "eat" is fully irregular — all three principal parts are distinct: the base form "eat", the past simple "ate", and the past participle "eaten". 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 "ate" 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 ate 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 "eaten" is never used on its own as a main verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have never eaten anything like it before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "She had already eaten before I arrived"; (3) passive voice with a form of be — "The final version was eaten 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.
Mini test
¿Qué oración es correcta?
Patrón de conjugación
Las tres formas son diferentes: este grupo requiere más práctica.