Here's a breakdown:
* Regular verbs change their form in a predictable way when they are conjugated (used in different tenses). For example, the verb "walk" becomes "walked" in the past tense, and "walking" in the present participle. This pattern applies to most verbs in English.
* Irregular verbs, however, don't follow this pattern. They have unique, often unpredictable forms for their past tense and past participle. For example, the verb "go" becomes "went" in the past tense and "gone" in the past participle.
Why are some verbs irregular?
The reasons for irregular verbs are rooted in the history of the English language. Many irregular verbs are remnants of Old English, which had a more complex system of verb conjugation. Over time, most verbs became regular, but some retained their original, irregular forms.
Examples of irregular verbs:
* be: am, is, are, was, were, been
* do: do, did, done
* have: have, has, had, having
* see: see, saw, seen
* go: go, went, gone
In summary:
Irregular verbs are called so because they don't adhere to the regular patterns of verb conjugation in English. They have unique forms for their past tense and past participle, which often have roots in the history of the language.