The past tense of “teach” is taught. Since “teach” is an irregular verb, its past tense doesn’t follow the usual “-ed” rule. Instead, the word changes form.
Read on to learn more about the verb “teach”.
What Does Teach Mean?
To teach means to provide information or instruction to others to help them learn. When you teach, you guide someone’s understanding. This can be done in many different contexts, whether it’s in a classroom, through a book, or in daily life.
The verb “to teach” is therefore commonly used in schools, universities, and everyday situations. If you share knowledge or skills with someone, you teach them.
In the present simple tense, “teach” has two forms: teach and teaches. You use “teach” with subjects like “I,” “you,” “we,” and “they.” For example:
- I teach English abroad.
- They teach young students how to draw.
For third-person singular subjects (he, she, it), you add “es” to form teaches. Here are some examples:
- He teaches science at a local school.
- She teaches new employees the company policies.
The Past Tense of Teach
The past tense of “teach” is taught. Since “teach” is an irregular verb, its past tense doesn’t follow the usual “-ed” rule. Instead, the word changes form. For example:
- Yesterday, I taught my cousin how to swim.
- The teacher taught us about ancient civilizations last week.
It’s essential to remember that irregular verbs like “teach” do not add “ed” in the past tense, so saying “teached” is incorrect.
Taught is pronounced like this: /tɔːt/. It helps to imagine that it has an ort at the end rather than aught. Taught rhymes with “bought” and “caught”.
The Past Participle of Teach
The past participle of teach is taught. The past participle form is used in conjunction with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses (present perfect, past perfect) or passive voice constructions. It doesn’t typically stand alone. For example:
- Present Perfect: I have taught English for five years.
- Past Perfect: She had taught the class before the exam.
- Passive Voice: The students were taught by a well-known professor.
The past participle “taught” remains the same regardless of the subject or tense when used with auxiliary verbs.
Important note
Taught is both the past simple form and past participle form of teach.
However, it’s important to remember that the past simple and the past participle forms of a verb serve different grammatical functions. While the past participle can be the same as the past simple in many irregular verbs like “teach” (taught for both forms), the past simple and past participle are not always the same for other words.
When to Use Taught
Here is when you can use “taught”:
Past Simple and “Taught”
In the past simple tense, you use “taught” to describe an action that happened and was completed in the past. It often has a specific time reference. For example:
- I taught English last year.
Here, “taught” is the past simple form used to describe a completed action.
You can use “taught” in positive sentences, but in negative sentences, you use the base form “teach” with “didn’t” instead of “taught.”
- Positive: I taught the class how to solve equations last Friday.
- Negative: I didn’t teach the lesson on fractions.
So, in negative sentences we use this formula: subject + didn’t + teach.
Present Perfect and “Taught”
The present perfect tense combines “have” or “has” with the past participle of the verb. In this case, the past participle of “teach” is taught. This tense refers to actions that happened at some point in the past but have relevance to the present. For example:
- I have taught at this school for ten years.
- She has taught many students over the years.
This uses the formula: subject + have/has + taught.
In negative sentences, you use “haven’t” or “hasn’t” with “taught” instead:
- I haven’t taught this topic yet.
- He hasn’t taught that class since last semester.
Past Perfect and “Taught”
The past perfect tense is used to describe an action completed before another action in the past. To form this tense, you use “had” with the past participle taught. Here are some examples:
- Before the new teacher arrived, I had taught all the beginner courses.
- They had taught in the old building before it was renovated.
For affirmative sentences like these, we use this formula: subject + had + taught.
For negative sentences in the past perfect, use “hadn’t” with “taught”:
- I hadn’t taught him before our first lesson together.
- They hadn’t taught that subject before the curriculum change.
Has That Taught You Everything?
To summarize, the past tense of “teach” is taught. You use taught, have/has taught, or had taught, depending on the context. Each form helps you describe when the teaching took place.
Hopefully, that has taught you everything you need to know about the past tense of “teach”!
James has been helping people teach English abroad for over twelve years. He’s traveled to over 30 countries, lived in 3, and taught English in Chile and online.
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