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The -en finishers

The participle ends in -en or -n; the past does its own thing. The model to keep in your head is take · took · taken, and 48 of the 175 verbs on this site follow it.

Where this group comes from

The largest group here, and the one that preserves the oldest participle ending in English. That -n on taken, given, written, seen predates -ed entirely; it is what participles looked like before the regular ending spread.

Within the group there are two ways the third form gets built, and telling them apart is most of the work. Some verbs build it from the base — take → taken, give → given — while others build it from the past: wear → wore → worn, swear → swore → sworn. Reaching for the wrong source is what produces I have tooken.

All 48 verbs in this pattern

Covered in detail here

These 10 verbs are rare enough that a separate page would mostly repeat the explanation above. What is worth saying about each of them is said here instead.

prove · proved · proven / proved

⚖️ To show that something is true. Number 95 of 175 by frequency — common in reading and television, less so in your own speech, and three separate forms to keep apart. Recognising it is the priority.

Mistakes people make with “prove”.

Not “have proved”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have proven, never I have proved. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

Proven is winning, especially before a noun — a proven method. Proved is still perfectly standard after have: it has proved useful.

mistake · mistook · mistaken

🔀 To think one thing or person is another. Number 116 of 175 by frequency — common in reading and television, less so in your own speech, and three separate forms to keep apart. Recognising it is the priority.

Mistakes people make with “mistake”.

Not “mistaked”. Mistake does not take -ed — the past simple is mistook, however regular it feels to add the ending.

Not “have mistook”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have mistaken, never I have mistook. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

overtake · overtook · overtaken

🏁 To catch up with someone and pass them. Number 153 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “overtake”.

Not “overtaked”. Overtake does not take -ed — the past simple is overtook, however regular it feels to add the ending.

Not “have overtook”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have overtaken, never I have overtook. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

undertake · undertook · undertaken

📋 To agree to do a task or a job. Number 154 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “undertake”.

Not “undertaked”. Undertake does not take -ed — the past simple is undertook, however regular it feels to add the ending.

Not “have undertook”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have undertaken, never I have undertook. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

swell · swelled · swollen / swelled

🦵 To become bigger, often after an injury. Number 156 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “swell”.

Not “have swelled”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have swollen, never I have swelled. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

The participle swollen is the usual choice, especially as an adjective. Swelled works for the verb itself: the crowd had swelled.

tread · trod · trodden / trod

👣 To step or walk on something. Number 157 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “tread”.

Not “have trod”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have trodden, never I have trod. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

Trodden in British English, and Americans often prefer trod. Both are standard.

weave · wove · woven

🕸️ To make cloth by crossing threads. Number 158 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: the participle is the past plus -n. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “weave”.

Not “have wove”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have woven, never I have wove. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

shear · sheared · shorn / sheared

🐑 To cut wool off a sheep. Number 162 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “shear”.

Not “have sheared”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have shorn, never I have sheared. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

Shorn for wool and hair, sheared for machinery and metal.

mow · mowed · mown / mowed

🌿 To cut grass. Number 165 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: three separate forms to keep apart. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “mow”.

Not “have mowed”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have mown, never I have mowed. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

Mown and mowed are both fine; mown is more common as an adjective, as in newly mown grass.

cleave · clove / cleft / cleaved · cloven / cleft / cleaved

⚔️ To split something with force. Number 173 of 175 by frequency, so one of the rarer ones: the participle is the past plus -n. You will meet it in books and set phrases more than in conversation, and it can wait.

Mistakes people make with “cleave”.

Not “have clove”. After have, has or had the verb switches to its third form: I have cloven, never I have clove. This one survives into quite advanced English, so it is worth over-learning.

British and American English.

Two opposite meanings collided in one verb: to split, and to cling to. The old forms clove and cleft belong to the splitting sense; cleaved covers both and is what anyone would say today.

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