What’s the past tense of “win”?
The verb to win has one past tense verb form, which is is won (pronounced like one). Won is the only past tense and past participle form of the present tense verb, win. Whether we use won in the simple past vs. as a past participle, it remains unchanged, and is simply won.
Verb conjugations: win/won
The verb to win is defined by the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary as “to be the most successful in a competition, race, battle, etc.: ‘He wins the prize every year’” (third-person present singular).
| Present | Past | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | I win | I won | I will win |
| Continuous | I am winning | I was winning | I will be winning |
| Perfect | I have won | I had won | I will have won |
| Perfect Continuous | I have been winning | I had been winning | I will have been winning |
Win vs. Won: what’s the difference?
What differentiates the pastsimpletense from the pastparticiple form of the verb, to win? Let’s have a look:
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Past tense: He won the race yesterday. |
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Past participle: The trophy hadbeenwon by a different team last year. |
Notice how the participle form of the verb, won, uses an auxiliary/helping verb, such as has/have/had. To create the past perfect tense, use had + past participle, won.The auxiliary had indicates that it’s the past participial form of the verb and not the simple past tense.
| base verb | past tense | past participle |
| spit | spat | spat |
| sit | sat | sat |
| tell | told | told |
| win | won | won |
| shoot | shot | shot |
| lose | lost | lost |
Examples of the word won in sentences
| Examples |
|---|
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He won a scholarship to study at Stanford. When was the last time our country won the World Cup? Yesterday, I won. The Yankees won the game. I won at poker. |
Have/had won (past participle)
| Examples |
|---|
|
I hadwon every single game. The Jays hadwon all their games this season You havewon the prize every year. Eric hadwon the game since Michael forfeited. You havewon me over. |
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| win synonyms | conquered, gained, triumphed, defeated, prevailed, succeeded, overcame, beat |
| idioms/phrases | in it to win it; the house always wins; you win some, you lose some; slow and steady wins the race; to win by a landslide |
| Types of verbs & verb tenses | what’s the past tense of …? |
|---|---|
| forms of ‘to be’ | … seek? |
| auxiliary verbs | … teach? |
| present tense | … catch? |
| future tense | … buy? |
| past tense | … read? |
| perfect tense | … draw? |
| transitive vs. intransitive | … drive? |
| participles | … throw? |
| irregular verbs | … lead? |
| modals | … spell? |
She ______ the championship last year.
He has ______ three awards for his research.
If you ______ the lottery, what would you do?
The team ______ their final match of the season.
She hopes to ______ a scholarship next year.
FAQs
What’s the past tense of win?
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Is ‘won’ also the past participle?
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How is past tense won different from participle?
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How do you pronounce the word ‘won’?
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Give example of ‘won’ as past participle.
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Sources
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Etymology online, the origin of win.
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Definition of win from Oxford Learner’s Dictionary.
Yash, D. "How to Use Win vs. Won (Irregular Verb Conjugations)." Grammarflex, Aug 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/win-vs-won/.
