Drive Past Tense: Drove vs Driven

First published on December 17, 2022 by Dalia Y.|Last revised on October 20, 2024

The simple past tense of drive (rhymes with hive) is drove (rhymes with trove). Driven is the past participle form.

Which form of ‘drive‘ correctly completes the sentence?

What's the past tense of "drive"?

Both drove and driven are past verb forms of the present tense verb, drive. This makes drive another one of those irregular verbs with multiple past tense forms, like ate and eaten, or bit/bitten. When it comes to these irregular verb conjugations, there isn’t really a rhyme or reason, we just have to memorize them.

Definition of drive

The verb drive refers to when someone "operates a car or other vehicle and controls its movement and direction."

The past tense of drive is drove.
The past participle of drive is driven.

Verb forms of 'drive'

The verb drive refers to when someone "operates a car or other vehicle and controls its movement and direction." The simple past tense form of drive, drove, shares the same spelling and pronunciation as the collective noun drove ("a herd of livestock"), but this is not the same sense in which we’re using the verb drove in this article.

Simple Cont. Perfect Perfect Cont.

Present

I/you/they drive • He/she/it drives

Past

I/you/they drove • He/she/it drove

Future

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

Present

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

Past

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

Future

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

Present

I/you have driven • He/she/it has driven

Past

I/you had driven • He/she/it had driven

Future

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

Present

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

Past

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

Future

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

Is "drive" a regular or irregular verb?

Drive is an irregular verb because its past forms do not use -ed. Instead, drive changes to drove in the past tense and driven as the past participle, following an irregular vowel-change pattern.

When to use drove vs. driven

My brother drove us to the airport.

Many attendees have driven a long way to get to the event.

The verb drive uses different forms for simple past tense and present or past perfect), it requires an auxiliary verb like have, has, or had. The simple past doesn't use a helper verb since it's a complete tense, so drove can stand alone in sentences, whereas participles require an auxiliary verb.

Similar irregular verbs

Drive is an irregular verb because its past forms do not use -ed. See the chart of other irregular verbs in the same class:

drive

Past: drove

Past part: driven

Sentence examples: drive, drove, driven

Drive (present tense)

• I need to learn to drive before the road trip.

• She drives to work every morning to save time.

• They are driving through the night to reach the coast.

Drove (past simple)

• I drove to Bendigo last weekend.

• He drove the tractor across the field.

• My father drove me to Bendigo to learn how to drive.

Driven (present or past perfect)

• The herd was driven toward the market at dawn.

• She has often driven that model of car in testing.

• They had driven the plough all morning before lunch.

Quotes from the media and literature

He is more like a cowboy: galloping hard to drive his herd forward, hooting at the stragglers, lassoing the wayward, moving 'em on and heading 'em up.
— J. Miles, Anat (2018)

I learnt to drive in Bendigo. My father taught me first-up and then my boyfriend at the time.
— Canberra Sunday Times, 2000

The ploughmen will be marked on how straight they can drive the plough and how they impact the ground.
— Brentwood Gazette, Oct. 2017

Fantastic demonstration this afternoon by David Charles of driving #bees at Quantock Beekeepers apiary near Spaxton #Somerset.
— social post

Synonyms & nearby words

Synonyms for drive

operate steer pilot ride lead direct motivate spearhead advance propel

Nearby phrases

drive a car drive forward drive change drive traffic drive innovation

Common phrases with "drive" (detailed)

drive a car

Literal: operate a motor vehicle. Example: I learned to drive a car when I was 17.

drive the team

Lead or motivate a group toward a goal. Example: As project lead, she will drive the team through the launch.

drive change

Initiate or push through transformation. Example: The CEO's plan helped drive change across the company.

drive forward

Advance or propel progress. Example: New funding will drive forward the research.

drive home a point

Emphasize something until it's clearly understood. Example: He used data to drive home the point about safety.

drive traffic

Bring visitors or attention (often to a website). Example: The campaign helped drive traffic to the site.

drive innovation

Encourage or foster new ideas and advances. Example: Cross-team work will drive innovation in product design.

Practice: drove or driven

Origin of the verb/word, drive

Old English drifan "to compel or urge to move, impel in some direction or manner; to hunt (deer), pursue; to rush against" from Proto-Germanic *dreibanan.

FAQs

What are the past forms of 'drive'?

Both "drove" and "driven" are considered past verb forms of the present tense "drive". "Drove" functions as the simple past tense, while "driven" serves as the past participle.

When is "drove" used?

The simple past tense of drive is drove. Use it for actions completed entirely in the past without auxiliary verbs, like in the example "She drove to the grocery store."

When is "driven" used?

Driven is the present or past perfect) or with "be" in passive constructions.

Can I use "driven" alone?

No, it's incorrect to use "driven" alone for simple past tense (e.g., "I driven..."). "Driven" requires an auxiliary verb like "have," "had," or "be."

Is "drive" a regular verb?

Drive is an irregular verb. Its past tense form ("drove") and present or past perfect) do not follow the standard pattern of adding "-ed" like regular verbs do.