Built, Slept, Lost: Verbs Whose Past Ends in -t
Quick Answer
These verbs do not add -ed. They add a hard -t instead, and usually shorten the vowel: sleep → slept, build → built. The past and the have form are the same.
See the Pattern First
Say each pair aloud — the vowel gets shorter and the ending gets harder.
- I sleep late. I slept until ten. I have slept well.
- They build houses. They built one. They have built many.
- He loses his keys. He lost them. He has lost them again.
- We meet on Fridays. We met last week. We have met before.
The long “ee” of sleep and meet becomes a short “e” in slept and met. Your mouth does less work — which is exactly why the forms survived.
The Full List
Again, the past and the have-form are identical. One form to learn, not two.
| Verb | Past | With have/has/had |
|---|---|---|
| build | built | built |
| deal | dealt | dealt |
| lead | led | led |
| lose | lost | lost |
| meet | met | met |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| weep | wept | wept |
| feel | felt | felt |
| keep | kept | kept |
| shoot | shot | shot |
These come up often, so they have their own full lesson with more practice: the past tense of shoot.
The Lead / Led Spelling Trap
Lead (to guide) is pronounced “leed”, and its past tense is led — spelled without the a. But there is also the metal lead, which is spelled the same and pronounced “led”.
So people write “he lead the team yesterday”, copying the metal spelling. The past tense is always led: three letters, no a.
Short vowel, hard -t. Past = have-form.
Careful With These Two
Two verbs in this family look similar but are not related:
- lose → lost (to not find something). One o.
- Loose is a different word entirely — it means “not tight” and is an adjective, not a verb.
“I lost my keys” (verb). “My shoelace is loose” (adjective). Different words, one letter apart.
Mistakes Learners Make (You Are Not Alone)
These three appear constantly in writing:
- ✗ I sleeped well → ✓ I slept well
- ✗ he lead the team yesterday → ✓ he led the team yesterday (past tense is led, no a)
- ✗ I loosed my keys → ✓ I lost my keys (lose/lost, not loose)
The lead/led one catches native speakers more than learners. If you get it right, you are ahead of a lot of people.
Your Turn — Quick Quiz
Five questions. Take your time — the table above is still there if you need it.
1. 1. I ____ for nine hours last night.
2. 2. They ____ the bridge in 1995.
3. 3. She ____ the team to victory last season.
4. 4. I have ____ my wallet somewhere.
5. 5. We ____ at the station an hour ago.
Keep Going
That is another ten verbs where the past and the have-form are the same word.
Finally, a handful of verbs belong to no family at all. Go, went, gone. Do, did, done. They are the most common verbs in English — and the strangest.
Next lesson: Go, went, gone: the one-of-a-kind verbs
Sources
I’m Khamis Maiouf. English is not my first language – I learned it as an adult in the UK, passed Functional Skills Level 2 in English, qualified in Hairdressing at Level 3, and I’m now studying Business at university. For over five years I’ve taught ESOL classes in my community and tutored students through GCSE English. I write every lesson on this site myself, for the learner I used to be.
