What’s the past tense of “shine”?
Let’s shine a light on this grammar question: what’s the past tense of the verb, to shine? As explained by the Chicago Manual of Style, the past tense of shine, as in, ‘to give or make light” which is intransitive, is shone. The transitive verb, to shine, describes when a thing is caused to shine (and therefore takes on a sentence object). The past tense here is shined.
The sun shone brightly through the clouds.
She shined her silver necklace until it sparkled.
The car’s headlights shone directly into my eyes.
He shined with pride after winning the award.
When to use shined vs. shone
The intransitive verb, shine, defined by the Oxford Learner’s dictionary as, “to produce or reflect light; to be bright”. As a transitive verb, to shine means “to aim or point the light of a lamp, etc. in a particular direction”.
| Verb Form | Example Sentence |
|---|---|
| Shine (present tense) | I can shine the light on the road so he can see. |
| Shone/Shined (simple past) | The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky. |
| Shining (present participle) | A light was shining in the distance. |
| Shines (third-person singular) | He shines the light on the road so he can see. |
| Shone/Shined (past participle) | When I first bought it, my car had shone like a glowing star. |
Shined/shone past tense vs. past perfect/continuous
With participle forms of verbs, use the helper verbs have/had. With the simple past tense, auxiliaries are omitted and the verb stands on its own to reflect tense.
Past tense: The doctor shone the light in my eyes several times.
Past participle: He had shined the flashlight on the campfire to see whether it was burning.
Simple present tense, shine
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Present Participle | A light was shining in the distance. (present participle)
The stars were shining and the moon was bright. (present participle) |
| Other | These qualities shine forth in all that he produced.
He failed to shine academically but he was very good at sports. She has set a shining example of loyal service over four decades. |
Examples of shone/shine (simple past tense)
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Other | The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky.
He shined shoes and sold newspapers to make money. The hot desert sun shone down relentlessly. The watchman shone his torch at us. The doctor shone the light in my eyes several times. |
“shine’s” past tense, associate “shone” with the sun (intransitive: the sun shone) and “shined” with actions (transitive: she shined her shoes).
Origin of the verb shine
Middle English shinen, from Old English scinan “shed, send forth, or give out light; be radiant, be resplendent, illuminate,” of persons, “be conspicuous”.
Practice: Shined or shone
Which is correct? “Yesterday, the sun ____ brightly through the clouds.”
Which is correct? “She ____ her silver necklace until it sparkled.”
Which is correct? “He ____ with pride after winning the award.”
Which sentence correctly uses the past tense for aiming light?
A. The watchman shined his torch at us.
B. The watchman shone his torch at us.
Which sentence is incorrect according to the post?
Which is correct? “He had ____ the flashlight on the campfire to see whether it was burning.”
Which is correct? “David has really ____ in his role as team captain.”
FAQs
When to use shined vs shone?
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When do I use “shone”?
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When do I use “shined”?
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Can “shone” be a past participle?
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Can “shined” be a past participle?
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Yash, D. "How to Use Shined or Shone (Irregular Verb Conjugations)." Grammarflex, Sep 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/shined-or-shone/.
