What Is The Past Tense Of Swim?
Swim is an irregular verb like the verb weave and the verb rise. So, the swim past tense won’t follow the ED-suffixes rule. Be mindful that “swimmed” is not the correct form of any word in English.
In other words, the past tense for swim is “swam,” which is spelled S-W-A-M. On the flip hand, the base form “swim” is spelled S-W-I-M.
Besides, this table depicts how you write other verb tense forms of swim in this foreign language.
Base/Infinitive Form (V1) | swim |
Present Form/3rd Person/Singular Form | swims |
Past Form (V2) | swam |
Past Participle Form (V3) | swum |
Present Participle/Gerund | swimming |
Let a vibrant video spice things up by giving the details on how to use the past tense of swim and other word forms precisely:
Time Of Speaking: How To Pronounce Swim Correctly?
We often refer to the Oxford online dictionary to round up these verb forms’ pronunciations in British and American English accents. Check out this table:
Form of word |
Pronunciation |
|
British English |
American English | |
swim | /swɪm/ |
/swɪm/ |
swims |
/swɪmz/ | /swɪmz/ |
swam | /swæm/ |
/swæm/ |
swum |
/swʌm/ | /swʌm/ |
swimming | /ˈswɪmɪŋ/ |
/ˈswɪmɪŋ/ |
How About The Swim Definition?
After learning the pronunciations of “swim,” let us throw light on its definitions – one of the cornerstones in today’s post. Check them out:
- To feel confused or/and as if everything is turning around and around.
- Ten hours ago, her head swam, and she swayed dizzily.
- She had swayed like that for about 5 hours.
2. To seem to be moving around, mainly when someone is drunk or ill.
- All the book’s pages swam before my eyes.
- She said that all images of the good old days had swum before her eyes.
3. To be covered with plenty of liquid.
- The entire engine swam in oil.
- Due to the storms, the whole village has been covered by water since last night.
4. To cross or move through the water.
- Ducks swam around on the pond.
- The dog had successfully swum across the river to save his owner’s life.
5. To spend time swimming with pleasure.
- The team went swimming together in the local pool yesterday.
- The couple has gone swimming at Laguna beach for 2 hours.
6. To move through the water by moving the legs and arms without touching the bottom.
- I swam underwater with my siblings two weeks ago.
- I have swum in this village’s river for quite a long time, and I relish this outdoor activity.
Vocabulary Quiz: What Is Swim In Past Tense?
FAQs
What Is The Past Participle Of Swim?
Long answer short: it’s “swum.” You can spell the word S-W-U-M. Meanwhile, “swim” is the base verb form, spelled S-W-I-M.
Swam Vs. Swum: What Is The Difference?
“Swam” and “swum” are the past tense form and past participle form of “swim,” respectively.
Is Swim A Noun Or A Verb?
Swim is both a verb and a noun. As a noun, it means:
- A period or an act of swimming
- He asked me to go for a swim last night.
2. Used in compound nouns: something related to swimming
- A swim meet: A competition regarding swimming.

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.