Irregular verb
The verb to go
go → went → gone
A1Meaning: to move or travel somewhere; to leave a place · Type: irregular · Frequency: Top 10 English verbs
Key points to remember
- Present Simple:
I/you/we/they go·he/she/it goes - Past Simple:
went(the same for every person) - Past participle:
gone - -ing form:
going
Conjugation of the verb to go
Present Simple
| I | go |
| You | go |
| He / She / It | goes |
| We | go |
| You (pl.) | go |
| They | go |
Present Perfect
| I | have gone | I've gone |
| You | have gone | You've gone |
| He / She / It | has gone | He's / She's / It's gone |
| We | have gone | We've gone |
| You (pl.) | have gone | You've gone |
| They | have gone | They've gone |
All the forms of the verb to go
Present Simple
Full pagego / goes
“I go to school by bus. She goes to the gym on Tuesdays.”
See the pagePresent Continuous
Full pageam / is / are going
“I am going to the park right now.”
See the pagePast Simple
Full pagewent
“We went to London last summer.”
See the pagePast Continuous
Full pagewas / were going
“I was going to the park when the phone rang.”
See the pagePresent Perfect
Full pagehave / has gone (or been)
“She has gone to Paris. I have been to Japan.”
See the pagePast Perfect
Full pagehad gone
“She had already gone to the park when I arrived.”
See the pageFuture Simple
Full pagewill go
“I will go to the park tomorrow.”
See the pageGoing to Future
Full pageam / is / are going to go
“I'm going to go to the park this weekend.”
See the pageConditional (would)
Full pagewould go
“I would go to the park if I had time.”
See the pageHow to use to go
1. Going somewhere
- I'm going to the supermarket.
- They went to Paris last weekend.
- She has gone to bed.
2. Talking about the future: be going to
Be going to + verb shows a plan (I'm going to call her) or a prediction from what you can see now (dark clouds → It's going to rain).
- I'm going to call her tomorrow.
- Look at those clouds! It's going to rain.
3. Common phrasal verbs with go
Go on means to continue, go out means to leave your home to have fun, go back means to return, go through means to pass from one side to the other, and go over means to check or revise something.
- go on
- go out
- go back
- go through
- go over
A common mistake
She has gone to London (for a past visit) ❌
In the Present Perfect, use gone when the person is not back yet, and been when the person has come back (or for an experience). She has gone to London: she left, and she is still there. She has been to London: she visited London, and now she is back.
Going further
Conjugating to go is a key skill in the English contest
Every year, the Big Challenge tests the key English verbs. Register your students so they can check their level in a real contest.
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Practise on PLAYYou can conjugate to go. Now say it out loud.
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Related pages: go
Pages on a similar topic or with a similar use, so you can keep exploring.
Frequently asked questions
What is the past simple of go?+
The Past Simple of go is went. It is an irregular verb: I went to school yesterday. Go → went → gone.
What is the past participle of go?+
The past participle of go is gone. Use it after have / has in the Present Perfect: She has gone to London.
What is the difference between gone and been?+
She has gone to London means she left and she is not back yet: she is in London now. She has been to London means she visited London in the past and came back. Here, been is the past participle of be.
Is go a regular or irregular verb?+
Go is irregular: go → went → gone. It does not follow the -ed rule, so never say goed.
Updated on 12 November 2026 by the Big Challenge teaching team. Every year, more than 500,000 students across Europe take part in our English contest, created in 1999. Our teaching approach →
The Big Challenge · Updated on 12 November 2026 · Source: www.thebigchallenge.com/bl/academy/learn-english/verbs/go
© The Big Challenge. Copying allowed for classroom use. Every year, more than 500,000 students across Europe take part in our English contest, created in 1999.