Past Tense Of Upset: Upseted or Upsetted? (Pronunciation & Usage)

What Is The Past Tense Of Upset?

The upset past tense is upset. Upset is an irregular verb; its 3rd person singular form in the present is upsets, its present participle form is upsetting, and its past participle is the same as upset in past tense.

Although upset is used in both V2 and V3, upset in V3 needs to follow auxiliary verbs such as have, has, and had. It indicates the action in a sequence but no longer happening in the present. The table below will provide you with other conjugated forms of upset.

How do you spell upset as naturally and correctly as native English speakers? The below video will help you to pronounce past tense upset exactly:

Pronunciation

According to the Cambridge dictionary, the IPA transcription of upset is /ˌʌpˈset/ in both British and American accents. You can watch the table below for more information.

Definitions And How To Use Upset?

What is the upset definition? The English verb upset has the following meanings:

• To make someone/yourself feel worried, unhappy, angry, or anxious 

Example: He upset you many times, so say goodbye to him. So don’t let the bad emotions bother you and your family.

• (Upset something) To change/stop a plan, situation, etc., to make it goes wrong

Example: Machine problems upset all production activities of our company. We had to spend time repairing or replacing it if necessary. 

• To push/knock something out of its usual position, causing it to fall (by accident)

Example: The dogs are extremely happy that they upset all the picnic tables, causing food to be scattered everywhere. We had to calm them down and clean up the mess caused by them.

• (Upset one’s stomach) To make somebody feel slightly sick (want to vomit) after they eat or drink something

Example: Onions and garlic upset his stomach. He hasn’t been able to eat onions or garlic since childhood simply because of their strong and pungent smell. However, this got worse as he got older.

The past tense for upset is the same as the meaning of the base form. Like the past tense of other verbs, upset in V2 is used to talk about the action that happened and was completed in the past.

Examples:

• The death of his grandfather upset him for a long time. Even now, when he grows up, the image of his grandfather playing with him in the garden has not faded over time.
• He came over an hour and upset all of our plans. We had to make an appointment with our partner on another day and apologize to them for being negligent that day.
• Alcoholism upset my stomach for a long time. It caused me to be hospitalized continuously for 2 years, and I had to spend a lot of money on treatment.

Exercises

1

Created on May 11, 2023 By Benjamin Essek

Past Tense Upset

Choose the correct verb tense to fill in the blanks:

1 / 5

She was …… because he had left without saying goodbye. They used to have a period of passionate love, but gradually, they realize there are barriers they cannot overcome.

upsetting

upsets

upsetted

upset

2 / 5

Strong-tasting foods like surstromming or stinky tofu really …… my stomach. That's why Japanese cuisine has won my heart. Most Japanese dishes are mild in taste and do not use too much spice.

upsetted

upsetting

upset

upsets

3 / 5

The cats chased each other in the garden and accidentally …… all the items she had set up to take pictures. The vase was broken and the mirrors were thrown aside.

has upset

upset

upsetting

upsetted

4 / 5

The recent intermittent power outages have …… the entire operations of processing plants. Their production activities were severely damaged as the city kept shutting off power without warning.

upsetted

upset

upsets

upsetting

5 / 5

I can understand how …… you were to receive that low score, but cheer up because there are so many great things waiting for you.

upset

upsets

upsetting

upsetted

Your score is

The average score is 100%

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FAQs

What Are Synonyms And Antonyms Of Upset?

According to Macmillan Thesaurus, the synonyms of the verb upset are: wound, disturb, depress, worry, distress, devastate, dismay, and stab.

Wound means to inflict an injury on somebody. Disturb means (somebody/something) interrupts someone while doing something. Depress means to make somebody feel discouraged or sad.

Devastate means causing somebody severe or overwhelming shock. Dismay means to make someone feel consternation and distress.

Is Upsetted A Word?

The answer is no. The word upsetted does not exist. It has neither meaning nor a verb form of the word upset. Upset is an irregular form, so it doesn’t follow the rule of adding -ed at the end of the base form.

Benjamin Essek

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.