What’s the past tense of “strike”?
It’s sing, sang, sung, and ring, rang, rung, so shouldn’t it also be strike, strack, struck? Not exactly—says the rules of English verb conjugations—the verb and word strike doesn’t operate this way. The verb strike has several related meanings, and can be understood as any of the following:
To aim and usually deliver a blow
to cause a person or place to suffer severely from the effects of something very unpleasant that happens suddenly
Another application of ‘strike’ refers to the deliberate act of refusing to work, typically by unionized workers.
We’re going on strike for better pay and improved safety standards.
When to use struck vs. stricken
There is a third form of strike, which is stricken, which is used only as an adjectival past participle. Compare the following:
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Past tense: The clock has struck five. |
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Adjectival past participle: A grief-stricken widow. |
The former is a proper verb that describes the action of the sentence subject. Stricken, on the other hand, is describes the subject sentence itself.
Forms of the verb strike
| Present | Past | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | I strike | I struck | I will strike |
| Continuous | I am striking | I was striking | I will be striking |
| Perfect | I have struck | I had struck | I will have struck |
| Perfect Continuous | I have been striking | I had been striking | I will have been striking |
What’s the difference between the past tense and the past participle form of a verb? Verbs that stay the same in the simple past and as a past participle, like sting/stung, stick/stuck; buy/bought, catch/caught; and lose/lost), we can tell which verb form is used based on the presence of auxiliary verbs; which, in the past perfect is always had.
Strike, struck, stricken (in sentences)
| Verb: Strike | Example sentences |
|---|---|
| Strike (strikes/striking) |
They will likely go on strike at this point. I have life insurance in case disaster strikes. I'm thinking of striking a deal with the company. |
| Struck (stricken*) | I was grief stricken and wept for days. The writer struck a chord with his audience. The witness had struck struck the jury as compelling. |
Origin of the verb strike
Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) “pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub,” also “go, move, proceed,” from Proto-Germanic *strikan-
Practice: Strike conjugations
The idea suddenly ______ him as a brilliant solution.
The old clock tower had ______ midnight just moments before.
A cobra ______ its prey with incredible speed and precision.
The image of the sunset was particularly ______.
The union members voted to ______ for better working conditions.
FAQs
What is the past tense of strike?
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Is ‘strack’ the past tense?
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How is ‘stricken’ used?
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Is ‘striked’ the correct past tense?
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Past tense struck vs past participle?
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Sources
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Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of strike.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 16 January, 2023.
Yash, D. "How to Use Struck vs. Stricken." Grammarflex, Sep 15, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/struck-vs-stricken/.
