Formas del verbo
Forma base
/spiːk/
Past Simple
/spoʊk/
Past Participle
/ˈspoʊkən/
Frases de ejemplo
Forma base · speak
- She speaks three languages fluently.
Past Simple · spoke
- He spoke to the manager about the problem.
- Did you speak it before lunch?
- I spoke it as soon as I possibly could.
- We spoke it together earlier this week.
Past Participle · spoken
- English is spoken in many countries around the world.
- By the time we arrived, they had spoken everything.
- We have never spoken anything quite like it.
- He has spoken it many times before.
Colocaciones comunes
speak your mind
to say what you really think
speak up
to talk more loudly or give an opinion
Tiempos clave
| Presente Simple | Pasado Simple | Presente Perfecto |
|---|---|---|
I speak he / she / it speaks | I spoke | I have spoken |
| Presente Continuo:I am speaking · he / she / it is speaking | ||
Guía gramatical
The verb "speak" is fully irregular — all three principal parts are distinct: the base form "speak", the past simple "spoke", and the past participle "spoken". 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 "spoke" 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 spoke 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 "spoken" is never used on its own as a main verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have never spoken anything like it before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "She had already spoken before I arrived"; (3) passive voice with a form of be — "The final version was spoken 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.