Dive

[feathertail]

What is the past tense of the verb to dive?

 

[phrasemix]

dove

But don't ask me about the past participle. I'd say that MOST English speakers, when asked to use dove with "has ___", just laugh and say 3-4 possible answers, like "dived? dove? doven?" and then give up.

Some smart person on this message board will probably know what the past participle of "dive" is, but it's more than OK if you never learn it.

 

[Raymott]

What is the past tense of the verb to dive?

dived
'dive, dived, dived' where I come from.

 

[bhaisahab]

dived
'dive, dived, dived' where I come from.

Where I come from too.

 

[mmasny]

Usage Note: Either dove or dived is acceptable as the past tense of dive. Usage preferences show regional distribution, although both forms are heard throughout the United States. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, in the North, dove is more prevalent; in the South Midland, dived. Dived is actually the earlier form, and the emergence of dove may appear anomalous in light of the general tendencies of change in English verb forms. Old English had two classes of verbs: strong verbs, whose past tense was indicated by a change in their vowel (a process that survives in such present-day English verbs as drive/drove or fling/flung); and weak verbs, whose past was formed with a suffix related to -ed in Modern English (as in present-day English live/lived and move/moved). Since the Old English period, many verbs have changed from the strong pattern to the weak one; for example, the past tense of step, formerly stop, became stepped. Over the years, in fact, the weak pattern has become so prevalent that we use the term regular to refer to verbs that form their past tense by suffixation of -ed. However, there have occasionally been changes in the other direction: the past tense of wear, now wore, was once werede, and that of spit, now spat, was once spitede. The development of dove is an additional example of the small group of verbs that have swum against the historical tide.

usage Dive, which was originally a weak verb, developed a past tense dove, probably by analogy with verbs like drive, drove. Dove exists in some British dialects and has become the standard past tense especially in speech in some parts of Canada. In the United States dived and dove are both widespread in speech as past tense and past participle, with dove less common than dived in the south Midland area, and dived less common than dove in the Northern and north Midland areas. In writing, the past tense dived is usual in British English and somewhat more common in American English. Dove seems relatively rare as a past participle in writing.

M

 

[billmcd]

Dove or dived as past tense; Dived as past participle.