Showed or Shown? Past Tense and Past Participle of Show

Show, Showed, Shown — See the Pattern

Read these sentences. Look at how the verb changes:

• I show photos to my friends every day. (now — it happens often)
• She showed me the way to the station. (past — it is finished)
• He has shown great progress this year. (past with “has”)

Did you see the pattern? There are three forms:

When to Use Showed and When to Use Shown

This is the part that confuses many learners. Here is the simple rule:

Use “showed” when you talk about the past — something that is finished:

• He showed us the new classroom yesterday.
• The teacher showed a video during the lesson.

Use “shown” when there is a helping word before it — have, has, or had:

• She has shown me her new flat. (with “has”)
• We have shown the visitors around the building. (with “have”)
• He had shown his ticket before they let him in. (with “had”)

You also use shown after “was” or “were” — when something was done to you:

• The film was shown at the cinema last week.
• We were shown to our seats by a waiter.

Easy way to remember: If you see have, has, had, was, or were before it, use shown. If not, use showed.

How to Use Show, Showed, and Shown in Everyday English

Here are examples you might use every day:

• My friend showed me a funny video on her phone. (past — it is finished)
• The map showed us the fastest way home. (past — it is finished)
• He has shown that he can do it by himself. (with “has” — use shown)
• I have already shown you how to do this. (with “have” — use shown)
• Can you show me where the bus stop is? (now — use show)

You are doing great. Now let’s look at the mistakes many learners make.

Three Mistakes to Avoid With Show

Even advanced learners mix up “showed” and “shown” sometimes — so if you get confused, you are not alone. Even native speakers make this mistake in everyday conversation.

How to remember: Think of know, knew, known. It follows a similar pattern — the past form with a helping word ends in -own: shown, known, grown.

Other verbs like this: grow → grew → grown, know → knew → known, throw → threw → thrown, blow → blew → blown.

Test Yourself: Showed or Shown?

Choose an answer to see your feedback immediately. Your first answer counts towards your score.

Keep Going — You Are Building Something

You just learned show, showed, shown. That is one more irregular verb you will never get wrong again.

Use the examples above to practise this pattern. When you are ready, choose your next topic below.

Related Lesson for Review: Know, Knew, or Known — Which One Do You Use?

Source

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of show.” Online Etymology Dictionary

Khamis Maiouf

I’m Khamis Maiouf. I’m studying Health and Social Care and have completed Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Level 3 Hairdressing. I have taught ESOL in my community and helped students with GCSE English. I run English Teacher Site to help people learn and practise English.