How to use hid or hidden?
Unless you’re referring to tanned animal skin, the verb hide has two past tenses: hid and hidden. To hide, which is the action of putting “[someone/something] where it cannot be seen or found”, is an irregular verb, as its past tenses do not end in “-ed”.
- Hid is the simple past tense.
- Hidden is the past participle, used with helper verbs like had or have to form perfect tenses.
Forms of the verb ‘hide’
| Tense | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | I hide | I hid | I will hide |
| Continuous | I am hiding | I was hiding | I will be hiding |
| Perfect | I have hidden | I had hidden | I will have hidden |
| Perfect Continuous | I have been hiding | I had been hiding | I will have been hiding |
When to use hid or hidden?
He hid the letter in a drawer.
No wonder he had hidden his feelings for so long.
The past participle form, hidden, is used with a helper verb (like had, has, or have) to create the perfect tenses. The past perfect tense (had hidden) is often used to clarify the order of two events that both happened in the past.
Similar irregular verbs
| Base verb | Past tense | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| do or does | did | done |
| write | wrote | written |
| bite | bit | bitten |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| hide | hid | hidden |
| ride | rode | ridden |
“Hide” / “hid” / “hidden” in sentences
| Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| hide/hides (Present) | She hides herself away in her office all day.
I have never tried to hide the truth about my past. |
| hid (Past Tense) | He hid the book under his bed.
They hid me from the police in their attic. |
| hidden (Past Participle) | The little porch was hidden from view by a screen of roses.
Hypnotherapy can bring out previously hidden emotions. |
phrases with hide
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| To hide one’s face in shame | To be so embarrassed that you cover your face. |
| To hide your light under a bushel | To conceal your talents from others. |
| Hide one’s head in the sand | To ignore or refuse to face a problem. |
| Hidden in plain sight | Something obvious that is overlooked. |
| You can run, but you can’t hide | You cannot escape from your problems or consequences. |
origin of the verb hide
From etymology online on hide (v.):
Old English hydan (transitive and intransitive) “to hide, conceal; preserve; hide oneself; bury a corpse,” from West Germanic *hudjan.
Practice: forms of ‘hide’
The child ______ behind the curtain during the game of hide-and-seek.
She had ______ the birthday gift so well that it took an hour to find it.
The shy cat always ______ under the sofa when visitors arrive.
I think someone is ______ behind that large plant.
You can run, but you can’t ______ forever.
sources
- Nordquist, Richard. “Perfect Aspect of Verb Construction.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/perfect-aspect-1691604.
Yash, D. "How to Use Hid or Hidden (Explained, With Examples)." Grammarflex, Aug 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/hid-or-hidden/.
