Hurt past tense

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Learn past tenses to communicate in English accurately

Meaning of hurt

to cause physical pain or injury to someone or something.

Infinitive

Word: hurt /hɜːt/
Examples:
  • 1. She generally avoids activities that hurt her knees.
  • 2. If your tooth continues to hurt, you should see a dentist.
  • 3. Loud noises hurt his ears easily.

Past Simple

Word: hurt /hɜrt/
Examples:
  • 1. After falling off his bike, Timmy hurt his knee.
  • 2. The sharp criticism from her best friend hurt Julia more deeply than she expected, leaving her feeling betrayed and alone.
  • 3. Trying to carry the heavy boxes without any help hurt his back, and he had to lie down for the rest of the afternoon to ease the pain.

Past Participle

Word: hurt: /hɜrt/
Examples:
  • 1. The letter had been hurtfully discarded by the time she found it.
  • 2. She has been hurt by their words more than once.
  • 3. By the end of the day, his feelings were deeply hurt by the unintentional slight.

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Bare infinitive

  1. To describe a current pain or injury.
    Example. 'My head hurts when I read for too long.'
  2. To express a habitual action or general truth.
    Example. 'Sugar hurts your teeth if you don't brush regularly.'
  3. To state a fact that is always true.
    Example. 'Betrayal hurts, no matter the circumstances.'

Past Simple

  1. To talk about a specific instance of pain or injury that occurred in the past.
    Example. 'I hurt my leg while playing soccer yesterday.'
  2. To describe an action of causing pain or damage that happened at a particular time in the past.
    Example. 'He hurt her feelings with his rude comments last week.'
  3. To narrate a past event where something was detrimental to someone or something.
    Example. 'Their harsh words hurt me deeply at the party.'

Past Participle

  1. In perfect tenses to describe actions or states relating to pain or injury that have a connection to the present or are of unspecified time.
    Example.'I have hurt my back, so I can't lift heavy things.'
  2. To form passive voice sentences where the focus is on the action being done to the subject.
    Example. 'She was hurt in the accident but is recovering now.'
  3. In conditional sentences to express a possible result of an action in the past that didn't happen.
    Example. 'If you had warned me, I could have avoided getting hurt.'

Common mistakes

— 01

Incorrect verb form usage

A common mistake involves confusing the past simple form of a verb with its past participle form, or vice versa. However, the word 'hurt' is an irregular verb that remains the same in its base, past simple, and past participle forms. The mistake arises when learners, expecting a change in form due to the irregular nature of most verbs, incorrectly conjugate it. For example, they might incorrectly use 'hurtted' instead of 'hurt' for both past simple and past participle contexts because they are applying regular verb conjugation rules to an irregular verb. Correct usage. 'I hurt my knee yesterday' (past simple) and 'I have hurt my knee before' (past participle).

— 02

Tense application

Another mistake is misapplying the tense, particularly confusing when to use the past simple versus the past participle form. Since 'hurt' remains the same in both forms, the error often lies in auxiliary verb usage or omission. For instance, saying 'I have hurt my knee yesterday' mixes the past participle with a specific time in the past, which requires the past simple. The correct form is 'I hurt my knee yesterday.'

— 03

Overgeneralization of rules

Learners might overgeneralize the rule that many irregular verbs change forms and mistakenly believe 'hurt' should have different forms for past simple and past participle. This overgeneralization can lead to invented forms of the word that do not exist. Correct understanding and memorization of 'hurt' as an exception to the pattern of changing forms for irregular verbs can prevent this mistake.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the past simple form of 'hurt'?

The past simple form of 'hurt' remains 'hurt'. This verb is one of the irregular verbs in English that does not change its form for the past tense. For example, 'Yesterday, I hurt my leg while playing soccer.'

What is the past participle form of 'hurt'?

Like the past simple form, the past participle form of 'hurt' is also 'hurt'. This means it remains unchanged when used in perfect tenses. For instance, in the sentence 'I have hurt my leg,' 'hurt' serves as the past participle.

How can I use 'hurt' in a sentence to indicate an action in the past?

When using 'hurt' to indicate an action in the past, you can use it in simple past tense without any changes. For example. Simple Past. 'She hurt her hand while cooking.' Present Perfect. 'He has hurt his back doing heavy lifting.' Both sentences indicate past actions, but the form of 'hurt' does not change.

Can you give an example of 'hurt' used in a sentence as both past simple and past participle?

Sure! Here's how 'hurt' can be used in both contexts within two different sentences. Past Simple. 'Last week, I accidentally hurt my brother's feelings.' Past Participle in Present Perfect. 'I have never hurt anyone intentionally in my life.' In both examples, 'hurt' is used to describe an action affecting someone or something in the past, but the structure around the verb changes depending on the tense and aspect of the sentence.