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Past tense of “dig”

⛏️ To make a hole in the ground.

Number 84 of 175 by frequency — common in reading and television, less so in your own speech, and the past and the participle are both dug. Recognising it is the priority.

Mistakes people make with “dig”

Not “digged”. Dig does not take -ed — the past simple is dug, however regular it feels to add the ending.

Only the vowel moves

The consonants stay exactly where they are and the vowel changes underneath them: dig → dug, i → u. Nothing is added and nothing is dropped.

The past simple and the past participle are the same word, dug. Half the work disappears: learn dig · dug and you have the whole verb. What is left is telling the two jobs apart — The dog dug a hole in the garden. is the past simple, They have dug a well near the house. is the perfect, and have does all the signalling.

This is worth hearing rather than reading. Say dig and dug one after the other — the shape of your mouth changes, the word does not.

The same pattern — twins — runs through 73 verbs: