How to Use Came or Come (Irregular Verb Conjugations)

First published on January 7, 2023 by Dalia Y.|Last revised on October 15, 2025

Come is the present tense and past participle form of the verb. Came is the past simple tense of come.

How to Use Came or Come (Irregular Verb Conjugations)

What's the past tense of "come"?

The simple past tense of come is came, and the past participle is come. Use came for simple past and come for past participle forms.

Definition of come

The Oxford English Dictionary defines come as "to move toward something or somewhere," particularly to a place where the speaker is physically located. It can also mean "to move or journey to a vicinity with a specified purpose," "to arrive", or "to reach a condition or conclusion."

The past tense of come is came.

The past participle of come is come.

Verb forms of 'come'

Simple Cont. Perfect Perfect Cont.

Present

I/you/they come • He/she/it comes

Past

I/you/they came • He/she/it came

Future

I/you/they will come • He/she/it will come

Present

I am/you are coming • He/she/it is coming

Past

I was/you were coming • He/she/it was coming

Future

I/you will be coming • He/she/it will be coming

Present

I/you have come • He/she/it has come

Past

I/you had come • He/she/it had come

Future

I/you will have come • He/she/it will have come

Present

I have been coming • He/she/it has been coming

Past

I had been coming • He/she/it had been coming

Future

I will have been coming • He/she/it will have been coming

Is "come" a regular or irregular verb?

Answer: Come is an irregular verb— its past conjugations are came and come.

Note: Regular verbs end in -ed in the past tense. Any other verb ending is considered irregular.

While an irregular verb, 'come' shows a highly common verb-conjugation pattern. Similar to other verbs like go/went/gone, do/did/done, and make/made/made, come uses different forms for past tense and past participle.

Similar irregular verbs

come

Past: came

Past part: come

When to use 'came' (past) vs. 'come' (participle)

Use 'came' for simple past actions: "I came to the party yesterday."

Use 'come' for perfect tenses: "I have come to understand the situation."

Sentence examples: come, came, come

Come (present tense)

• Will you come to my birthday party?

• My neighbour comes over every Friday.

• If worst comes to worst, we'll go with plan B.

Came (past simple)

• He only came to school one time!

• They came just in time for the event.

• I came to a conclusion.

Come (present or past perfect)

• I have come to understand the situation.

• She had come to realize her mistake.

• We have come a long way together.

Synonyms & nearby words

Synonyms for come

arrive reach approach appear show up turn up emerge materialize

Nearby phrases

come about come across come along come back come down come forward come in come out

Word origin

From Old English cuman “to move with the purpose of reaching, or so as to reach, some point; to arrive by movement or progression;” also “move into view, appear, become perceptible; come to oneself, recover; arrive; assemble” … from Proto-Germanic kwem- (source also of Old Saxon cuman, Old Frisian kuma, Middle Dutch comen…), from PIE root gwa- “to go, come.”‍

Practice: 'Come' conjugations

FAQs

What's the simple past of come?

The simple past tense of "come" is "came." This form describes a completed action in the past, as shown in the example, "I came home after midnight."

When is 'come' used for past actions?

"Come" is used for past actions when it functions as the past participle. It typically follows auxiliary verbs such as "have" or "had," for example: "They have come to a decision."

How do I know if I need came or come?

Use "came" for the simple past tense to show a completed action. Use "come" for the present tense or as the past participle, often with "have" or "had," depending on the specific tense.

What's an incorrect use of come?

Using "come" for a simple past action without an auxiliary verb is incorrect. An example from the post is "Yesterday, he come to visit us." The correct simple past form is "came."

What's an incorrect use of came?

Using "came" as the past participle, especially after "had," is incorrect. The post gives the example, "We had came to the conclusion." The correct past participle is always "come."

Sources

Oxford English Dictionary. "come, v." OED Online. Oxford University Press. Date of access 15 Oct. 2025.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. "come." Merriam-Webster.com. Date of access 15 Oct. 2025.