Past Tense Of Swim: Swimmed or Swam? (Pronunciation & Usage)

By Benjamin Essek

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:

  1. To feel confused or/and as if everything is turning around and around.

2. To seem to be moving around, mainly when someone is drunk or ill.

3. To be covered with plenty of liquid.

4. To cross or move through the water.

5. To spend time swimming with pleasure.

6. To move through the water by moving the legs and arms without touching the bottom.

Vocabulary Quiz: What Is Swim In Past Tense?

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Created on By Benjamin Essek

Past Tense Of Swim

Lastly, let’s go for some epic and exhilarating exercises. Please pick the correct verb form of “swim” for 5 sentences:

1 / 7

  1. I have learned to ……….. and dive after a fashion!

2 / 7

2. But after an hour, he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly, and ……….. farther than at first.

3 / 7

3. Summer is long and hot, followed by a charming Autumn when the sea is still warm enough to ………… in.

4 / 7

4. She ducked under the water and ………… a short distance before surfacing to ensure she wasn't close to any rocks.

5 / 7

5. She had dived into the pool and ………. several laps before emerging.

6 / 7

6. Drenched in sweat and dirt, she decided to go ……….. in the creek.

7 / 7

7. The larva, for a time………… freely in the seawater, having a circle of cilia around the body.

Your score is

The average score is 78%

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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:

  1. A period or an act of swimming

2. Used in compound nouns: something related to swimming