“Went” and “Gone”: Reviewing the Past Tense and Past Participle of “Go”

Irregular verbs can be tricky. That’s because they don’t follow the usual conjugation patterns as regular verbs do.

Go is an irregular verb, which is why many people get confused with went and gone. Below, we’ll tell you which one is the past tense of go and which one is the past participle. We’ll also provide example sentences and teach you how to always use these words correctly.

Past Tense of “Go”: “Went”

The past tense of a verb is used to refer to an action that has happened or a state of being that previously existed. The past participle is used to talk about something that started and ended in the past. Regular verbs follow the predictable conjugation patterns of adding –ed or –d to the past tense and past participle. For example, here is the verb dance and talk in present and past tense, as well as the past participle mode:

Irregular verbs do not follow these patterns. Go is an irregular verb, and its past tense is went.

I went to the mall yesterday.

Jordanna went fishing and caught several fish.

You went to the party last night?

Past Participle of “Go”: “Gone”

As we previously stated, the past participle of a verb indicates an action that was started and completed entirely in the past. While regular verbs have a predictable pattern (adding –ed or –d), irregular verbs do not.

A past participle is used in all perfect tenses. The past participle of go is gone.

Jemma had gone to the mall.
(Past perfect)

I have gone to many cheerleading competitions.
(Present perfect)

I will have gone traveled to the moon and back by the time you’re done with your homework.
(Future perfect)

You could have gone with us.
(Modal Auxiliary)

“Went” or “Gone”?

Using went and gone correctly takes practice and familiarization. But here’s a tip to remember: While gone usually needs to be preceded by an auxiliary verb (a helping verb like have, had, has that helps expressed the main verb’s tense), went does not.

Another tip would be to use LanguageTool as your writing assistant. This multilingual text editor can detect an incorrect use of went or gone. On top of that, it will correct spelling and grammar errors in more than 20 languages. Try it out today.