What Is The Past Tense Of Speak?
The past tense of speak is “spoke”. “Speak” is an irregular verb, so speak in the past tense doesn’t follow the normal rule of adding -ed after the verb’s infinitive form. You need to learn this V2 form by heart.
In addition to speak past tense, below are perfect forms, participle forms, and other “speak” tense forms:
| Simple Present | He/She/It speaks
I/You/We/They speak |
| Present Continuous | He/She/It is speaking
I am speaking You/We/They are speaking |
| Present Perfect | He/She/It has spoken
I/You/We/They have spoken |
| Present Perfect Continuous | He/She/It has been speaking
I/You/We/They have been speaking |
| Simple Past | He/She/It/I/You/We/They spoke |
| Past Continuous | I/He/She/It was speaking
You/We/They were speaking |
| Past Perfect | He/She/It/I/You/We/They had spoken |
| Past Perfect Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They had been speaking |
| Simple Future | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall speak |
| Future Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall be speaking |
| Future Perfect | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall have spoken |
| Future Perfect Continuous | He/She/It/I/You/We/They will/shall have been speaking |
To know how to correctly pronounce “spoke”, you can watch this video to have native speakers’ accent:
Pronunciation
According to the Macmillan dictionary, the IPA transcription of “spoke” is /spəʊk/. The past participle of speak is “spoken”, pronounced as /’spəʊkən/. The table below can make it clearer.
|
Form of word |
Pronunciation | |
|
US |
UK |
|
| speak | /spiːk/ |
/spiːk/ |
|
spoke |
/spoʊk/ | /spəʊk/ |
| spoken | /ˈspoʊ.kən/ |
/ˈspəʊ.kən/ |
To know how to correctly pronounce “speak, “spoke” and “spoken”, you can watch this video to have native speakers’ accent:
Definitions And How To Use Speak?
The verb form of “speak” has 3 main meanings:
- To talk/ have a conversation with someone.
Example: I shared my viewpoint and spoke about my plan for the future.
- To be able to express yourself through a language
Example: They spoke Spanish in the past.
- To make a speech
Example: Professor Keith spoke to his class about their next topic’s report.
The past tense for speak – “spoke” is used to describe an action that happened before the time of speaking.
Examples:
- I heard that she spoke publicly about the cause of the Minister’s accident on that day.
- We freely spoke our wishes, concerns, and plans at the confidential meeting.
- She spoke with a British accent and showed me the evidence.
Exercises
FAQ
Speaked Or Spoke?
Speak in the past tense is “spoke”. It is classified as an irregular verb, so we don’t add -ed at the end of the basic form. Therefore, to remember this special past tense, you need to learn it by heart.
What Are Synonyms And Antonyms Of Speak?
Common synonyms of “speak” are chat, communicate, convey, declare, deliver, express, go, say, shout, and tell.
Conceal, hold, keep, retain, withhold, deny, hide, mumble, and praise are named antonyms of “speak”.
“Speak” Is a Transitive Or Intransitive Verb?
“Speak” is both a transitive and intransitive verb. As an intransitive verb, it means to talk with somebody, to mention something, or to make a speech. As a transitive verb, it means that it enables you to use a particular language.
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.