Spelling of Verbs in the Present Perfect Simple
How to spell regular and irregular verbs in the Present Perfect Simple
You need know all forms of the irregular verbs very well. For the Present Perfect Simple you need the form of the verb which can be found in the 3rd column of the table of the irregular verbs.
do → did → done
Add –ed with regular verbs:
regular verbs → infinitive + –ed
Sometimes there are exceptions in spelling when adding –ed:
1. Adding -ed
1.1. consonant after a short, stressed vowel at the end of the word
Double the consonant.
stop – stopped
sob – sobbed
tap – tapped
We do not double the consonant if the vowel is not stressed:
benefit – benefited (Here we stress the first e, not the i.)
In British English we double one -l at the end of the word:
travel – travelled
equal – equalled
1.2. one -e at the end of the word
Only add -d.
bake – baked
save – saved
smile – smiled
1.3. verbs ending in -y
Change -y to -i after a consonant. Then add –ed.
hurry – hurried
Add –ed with verbs ending in -y preceded by a vowel (a, e, i, o, u):
play – played
Explanations
- Present Perfect Simple – Overview
- Diagram of the Present Perfect Simple
- Form of the Present Perfect Simple
- Be Do & Have in the Present Perfect Simple
- Questions in the Present Perfect Simple
- Signal Words for the Present Perfect Simple
- Short Forms and Long Forms in the Present Perfect Simple
- Spelling of Verbs in the Present Perfect Simple