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Past tense of “catch”
⚾ To take hold of something that is moving.
Number 52 of 175 by frequency, well inside the everyday core, and the past and the participle are both caught. Worth learning properly rather than recognising vaguely.
Mistakes people make with “catch”
Not “catched” or “cotch”. Catch does not take -ed — the past simple is caught, however regular it feels to add the ending.
Say it right
The past caught rhymes with bought; the -gh- is silent, as it is in every verb of this family.
Phrases you will actually hear
These are worth learning whole. A verb sticks far better inside a phrase somebody would really say than on its own in a table.
Unrecognisable base, predictable ending
Catch and caught barely look related, and that is normal for this group. What holds it together is the ending: -ought or -aught, shared by think, buy, bring, catch, teach, seek and fight.
The good news is that the past and the participle are identical — caught covers both — so there is one strange word to learn rather than two. The gh is silent; it is a fossil from a sound English lost centuries ago.
- Past simple: He caught the ball with one hand.
- Past participle: Have you ever caught a fish?
The same pattern — the -ought gang — runs through 8 verbs:
Practise it
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