（1）一般情况下,动词词尾加 ed ,如：
work—worked； play—played；want— wanted； act—acted
（2）以不发音的 e 结尾动词,动词词尾加 d,如：
live—lived； move—moved； decide—decided； decline—declined； hope—hoped；
（3）以辅音字母 + y结尾的动词,把y变为i 再加ed,如：
studied tried copied justified cried carried embodied emptied
（4）以一个辅音字母结尾的重读闭音节动词,双写词尾辅音字母,再加 ed,如：
stopped begged fretted dragged dropped planned dotted dripped
（5）注：不规则动词的过去式变化规律性不强,须多加记忆.
go - went,make - made,get - got ,buy - bought ,come - came ,fly-flew ,is/am-was,are-were ,see-saw,bring-brought,do-did,teach-taught,think-thought,say-said,sit-sat.read-read,spend-spent,eat-ate,give-gave,sit-sat,tell-told,write-wrote,feel-felt,find-found,hear-heard,know-knew,
put-put,grow-grew,take-took,catch-caught,come-came,become-became,swim-swam,sweep—swept,sing—sang,draw—drew,
以上的（1）至（4）条中的发音均有改变,具体分别有/d/ /t/ /id/.
而不规则动词的过去式的发音则略有不同,但是有些还是按照一定规律变化的.如以上的：make - made,get - got ,buy - bought ,come - came ,fly-flew ,bring-brought,teach-taught,think-thought,say-said,sit-sat.read-read,spend-spent,give-gave,tell-told,write-wrote,feel-felt,find-found,hear-heard,know-knew,put-put,grow-grew,take-took,catch-caught,come-came,become-became,swim-swam,sweep—swept,sing—sang,draw—drew.
仔细看一看,能发现它们的一些变化规律,也就是说不需要死记硬背这些过去式,知道了原型和变化规律,就可以写出来了.有的变化部分读音也是有规律的.分类记忆是对学习过去式很有帮助的!