What Is The Past Tense Of Strive?
You can be familiar with some irregular verbs like the verb weave or the verb sleep. But how about “strive”? If it’s a new word to you, stay tuned!
We are here to provide the ins and outs of “strive.”
So what is the strive past tense?
It’s “STROVE” or “STRIVED”. You can spell them S-T-R-O-V-E or S-T-R-I-V-E-D, respectively. The past participle form can be “STRIVED” or “STRIVEN.”
While “STRIVEN” is the traditional and widely used form, the word “STRIVED” was not originally accepted, but it has gained ground and become mainstream now.
For example, the Guardian has cited: “The need to pay VAT on outsourced services has proved a major obstacle as social housing providers have strived to be more efficient.”
Language note: The table below will describe other irregular forms of “strive”:
| Base/Infinitive Form (V1) | strive |
| Present Form/3rd Person/Singular Form | strives |
| Past Form (V2) | strove/strived |
| Past Participle Form (V3) | striven/strived |
| Present Participle/Gerund | striving |
You can turn to this video for more:
How To Pronounce Strive Correctly?
In this section, we’re all set to reveal the correct pronunciation of “strive” and its other verb forms based on the Oxford online dictionary (or other standard dictionaries):
|
Form of word |
Pronunciation |
|
| British English |
American English |
|
|
strive |
/straɪv/ | /straɪv/ |
| strives | /straɪvz/ |
/straɪvz/ |
|
strove |
/strəʊv/ | /strəʊv/ |
| strived | /straɪvd/ |
/straɪvd/ |
|
striven |
/ˈstrɪvn/ | /ˈstrɪvn/ |
| striving | /ˈstraɪvɪŋ/ |
/ˈstraɪvɪŋ/ |
What Does Strive Mean?
Move on to the section for the definitions of “strive.” It has only one meaning that is easy to learn by heart. Also, we will show you some examples of strive in a sentence.
Meaning: To try very hard to achieve something.
Examples:
- We encouraged our teammates to strive for the highest scores.
- The blog editor strove to be first with the best work. Hard work paid off. She hit the target with flying colors.
- Since last year, the woman has striven to find a measure appropriate for the public.
Daily Challenge: Vocabulary Quiz
FAQs
Past Participle Of Strive: What Is It?
As stated above, the past participle of “strive” is “striven” or “strived.” You can spell them S-T-R-I-V-E-N or S-T-R-I-V-E-D.
Is “Strive” An Irregular Verb?
Yes. Strive is an irregular verb. Its past tense, past participle, and present participle are “strove/strived,” “striven/strived,” and “striving,” respectively.
Is “Strive” Just A Verb?
Yes. Strive is just a verb. No noun, adverb, or adjective in the English language appears in the same structure.
Had It Strived Or Had It Striven?
Both are correct! As aforementioned, the past participle of “strive” is “striven” and “strived.” So, you can write this passive sentence in both ways “had it striven” or “had it strived.”
Will It Be Strived Or Strove?
You must use “will it be strived” because this sentence goes with the passive voice; the verb “strive” should be transferred into its past participle form – “strived” (to ensure the grammatical rules).
More than that, you’d better go for the website of Wordpreference for the well-rounded conjugation of strive as well.
Has Striven Or Has Strove?
The former is correct. To explain, after the auxiliary “has,” you must convert the verb base form to its past participle. In other words, instead of writing “has strive,” you need to use “has striven.” Otherwise, “has strived” is also an alternative, as the example from a Guardian article.
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.