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Regular and irregular verbs
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<p>A regular verb is any <a href="/facts/Verb/zp42buvn">verb</a> whose <a href="/facts/Verb_conjugation/z1j65HK8">conjugation</a> follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. This is one instance of the distinction between <a href="/facts/Regular_inflection/mhXSXpmJ">regular and irregular inflection</a>, which can also apply to other word classes, such as nouns and adjectives. </p><p>In <a href="/facts/English_verbs/6oGpx1Mz">English</a>, for example, verbs such as <i>play</i>, <i>enter</i>, and <i>like</i> are regular since they form their inflected parts by adding the typical endings <i>-s</i>, <i>-ing</i> and <i>-ed</i> to give forms such as <i>plays</i>, <i>entering</i>, and <i>liked</i>. On the other hand, verbs such as <i>drink</i>, <i>hit</i> and <i>have</i> are irregular since some of their parts are not made according to the typical pattern: <i>drank</i> and <i>drunk</i> (not "drinked"); <i>hit</i> (as <a href="/facts/Past_tense/WkdWorjX">past tense</a> and <a href="/facts/Past_participle/rYxXQKaG">past participle</a>, not "hitted") and <i>has</i> and <i>had</i> (not "haves" and "haved"). </p><p>The classification of verbs as regular or irregular is to some extent a subjective matter. If some conjugational <a href="/facts/Inflectional_paradigm/mhXSXpmJ">paradigm</a> in a language is followed by a limited number of verbs, or if it requires the specification of more than one <a href="/facts/Principal_parts/9IzAHSCq">principal part</a> (as with the <a href="/facts/German_verbs/Sp00zKAz">German strong verbs</a>), views may differ as to whether the verbs in question should be considered irregular. Most inflectional irregularities arise as a result of series of fairly uniform historical changes so forms that appear to be irregular from a <a href="/facts/Synchronic_analysis/6xbpCYhK">synchronic</a> (contemporary) point of view may be seen as following more regular patterns when the verbs are analyzed from a <a href="/facts/Diachronic/6xbpCYhK">diachronic</a> (<a href="/facts/Historical_linguistics/nj5y6HDR">historical linguistic</a>) viewpoint. </p>