Irregular English verbs: -ode and -ade

by Jakub Marian

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It is no wonder Raj in the Big Bang theory couldn’t find the right past tense of “forbid”. The verb “bid” in the sense of either issuing a command or uttering a greeting is the only verb root following the “pattern” -id/-ade/-idden in the past tense:

bid – bade – bidden
(In the sense of bidding in an auction, the verb does not change at all in the past tense: he bids – he bid – he has bid.) For example:

He bade me farewell.

The only other verb following the same pattern is its derived form forbid:

forbid – forbade – forbidden

A slightly more common pattern is -ide/-ode/-idden:

stride – strode – stridden
ride – rode – ridden; also “override”
hagride – hagrode – hagridden

“Hagride” is an uncommon verb meaning “to afflict with worry or dread”. Its past tense has also another archaic form:

hagride – hagrid – hagrid

(so now you know where the name of Hagrid in J.K.Rowling’s universe came from). Finally, the verb abide, meaning “to stay in a place” or “endure” can follow two different patterns:

abide – abided – abided
abide – abode – abode

The past participle of “abide” can be also “abidden”, but this form is archaic and rare.

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