What's the past tense of "weep"?
The simple past tense of weep is wept, and the past participle is also wept. Use wept for both simple past and past participle forms.
Definition of weep
The Oxford English Dictionary defines weep as "to express deep sorrow for usually by shedding tears." It can also mean "to drip" as in "water was weeping through the basement wall." Most often weep is used to mean cry or grieve while shedding tears.
- The past tense of weep is wept.
- The past participle of weep is wept.
Verb forms of 'weep'
Is "weep" a regular or irregular verb?
Note: Regular verbs end in -ed in the past tense. Any other verb ending is considered irregular.
While an irregular verb, weep shows a highly common verb-conjugation pattern. Similar to other verbs like sleep/slept, leap/leapt, and keep/kept, weep uses one form for all past tenses (and in the present perfect).
When to use "wept" (past) vs. "wept" (participle)
She wept uncontrollably when I received the heartbreaking news.
The children, exhausted from crying, had wept themselves to sleep.
The participle form of a verb (shown in the second sentence) uses the auxiliary verb have as a contraction, had.
When auxiliaries like have or had appear in the same sentence as a past participle verb form, this indicates that the verb's aspect is in the present or past perfect, and not the simple past tense.
Remember, a participle always uses a helper verb to form the complete tense or aspect. Simple tenses, on the other hand, can stand on their own.
Similar irregular verbs
These verbs follow a similar pattern to weep, where the past tense and past participle are the same form.
Sentence examples: weep, wept, wept
• I weep every time I watch a sad movie.
• I could hear them weeping during the film's most emotional scenes.
• Don't weep alligator tears.
• She wept silently during the entire memorial service.
• We wept as we said our final goodbyes.
• He wept tears of joy on numerous occasions.
• I have wept many times over the pain of losing a loved one.
• We had wept all night long, overwhelmed by grief.
• The children, exhausted from crying, had wept themselves to sleep.
Synonyms & nearby words
Synonyms for weep
Nearby phrases
Origin of the word weep
Old English wepan "shed tears, cry; bewail, mourn over; complain" (class VII strong verb; past tense weop, past participle wopen), from Proto-Germanic wopjan. The modern form "wept" developed in Middle English.
Practice: "Weep" conjugations
She ______ silently during the entire memorial service.
He has ______ tears of joy on numerous occasions.
The children, exhausted from crying, had ______ themselves to sleep.
In the present tense, the old willow tree ______ over the pond.
They ______ with relief when they found out their loved one was safe.
FAQs
What is the past tense of "weep"?
Is "weeped" the correct past form?
What is the past participle of weep?
Simple past vs past participle wept?
Why isn't weep's past tense "weeped"?
Sources
-
Oxford English Dictionary. "weep, v." OED Online. Oxford University Press. Date of access 15 Jan. 2025.
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Cambridge Dictionary. "weep." Cambridge University Press. Date of access 15 Jan. 2025.
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