What Is The Past Tense For Bite?
The bite past tense is “bit”. The bite verb is classified as an irregular form, so it doesn’t follow the rule of adding -ed after the verb’s basic form.
After remembering the past tense of bite, you continue to pocket past participle bite – bitten, and other bite verb forms.
Simple Present | He/She/It bites
I/You/We/They bite |
Present Continuous | He/She/It is biting
I am biting You/We/They are biting |
Present Perfect | He/She/It has bitten
I/You/We/They have bitten |
Present Perfect Continuous | He/She/It has been biting
I/You/We/They have been biting |
Simple Past | He/She/It/I/You/We/They bit |
Past Continuous | I/He/She/It was biting
You/We/They were biting |
Past Perfect | He/She/It/I/You/We/They had bitten |
Past Perfect Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They had been biting |
Simple Future | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall bite |
Future Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall be biting |
Future Perfect | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall have bitten |
Future Perfect Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall have been biting |
To know how to spell bite in past tense (bit) correctly and naturally, you can click on this video to pronounce it like a native speaker:
Pronunciation
According to the Macmillan dictionary, the IPA transcription of bit – the past tense of bite in English is /bɪt/. The participle of bite is pronounced as /ˈbɪt(ə)n/. You can take a glimpse at the table below to make it clearer.
Form of word |
Pronunciation |
|
US |
UK | |
bite | /baɪt/ |
/baɪt/ |
bit | /bɪt/ | /bɪt/ |
bitten | /ˈbɪt(ə)n/ |
/ˈbɪt(ə)n/ |
Definitions And How To Use Bit?
The verb form of “bite” has main meanings:
- To cut into or cut through something or someone by their teeth.
Example: After an intense afternoon class with no breaks, he came home, got a bite of doughnut, then found an apple on the table and immediately bit into it.
- To make a hole or mark in their skin (to hurt someone)
Example: Some European garden spiders bit, so gardeners chased them away or killed them.
- If a fish bites, it swallows the food from the end of the fishing line (the hook), and the fisherman can catch it.
Example: The fish bitten even the hook is too big.
- To get a severe or unpleasant effect
Example: The 2018 financial report said the recession bit, and consumers should prepare.
- To show one’s interest in buying something
Example: Last month, the store’s new service was not available but clients still bit them, even without any promotions.
The bite past tense meaning is the same as the V1 form, but it’s used to describe the action that happened in the past, before the time of speaking.
Examples:
- She bit a piece of pear and put it back in the fridge before her mom got home.
- Many fish bit yesterday because Bob and his friends have good baits and strong bite indicators.
- Yesterday she bit into ice cream at Frosty Bite and felt that her teeth were a bit loose. Thus, she had to meet a doctor to take a bitewing.
Exercises
FAQs
What Are Synonyms And Antonyms Of Bite?
Common synonyms of “bite” are sting, prick, sink one’s teeth into, chew, munch, crunch, tear at, masticate, nibble at, gnaw at, grip, and hold.
Retreat, flee, recede, scarper, skedaddle, scram, shrink, back away, and back off are named antonyms of “bite”.
“Bite” Is a Transitive Or Intransitive Verb?
“Bite” is both a transitive and intransitive verb and has the same means: to use teeth to cut something. As an intransitive verb, you can understand it as wound or sting. The remaining meanings belong to the transitive verb.
Bite Or Bit?
The past tense bite is wrong. Bite is the finite verb, used for 1st person singular. The past tense of bite in English is “bit”. To get the past tense of bite, you just need to remove the last letter of the word to get the bit.

His name is Benjamin Essek – The founder of Grammar Wiki. He is an English native speaker and has joined many English classes, learning communities to support other people with this common language as well.