Các dạng của động từ
Dạng nguyên
/siːk/
Past Simple
Past Participle
Câu ví dụ
Dạng nguyên · seek
- Graduates seek jobs in many different industries.
Past Simple · sought
- They sought shelter from the storm in a cave.
- Did you seek it before lunch?
- I sought it as soon as I possibly could.
- We sought it together earlier this week.
Past Participle · sought
- His advice has been sought by leaders worldwide.
- He has sought it many times before.
- I have already sought it more than once.
- She has just sought the very same thing.
Thì chính
| Hiện tại đơn | Quá khứ đơn | Hiện tại hoàn thành |
|---|---|---|
I seek he / she / it seeks | I sought | I have sought |
| Hiện tại tiếp diễn:I am seeking · he / she / it is seeking | ||
Hướng dẫn ngữ pháp
The verb "seek" follows the ABB pattern: the past simple and past participle share one form ("sought"), while the base form ("seek") 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 "sought" 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 sought the whole report by herself." The action is seen as finished and anchored to a specific past time.
The past participle "sought" always works together with an auxiliary verb. It appears in: (1) the present perfect with have/has — "I have sought this several times before"; (2) the past perfect with had — "By the time we called, they had already sought"; (3) passive voice — "The decision was sought by the board." Never use "sought" as a standalone past-tense verb without an auxiliary.
Memory tip: because "sought" and "sought" 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 "seek" belongs to can make the form easier to remember long-term.
Câu hỏi nhanh
Câu nào đúng?
Quy luật chia động từ
Quá khứ đơn và quá khứ phân từ có cùng một dạng.