What Is the Past Tense of Bend?

English Past tenses need a little practice and learning especially when factoring in Irregular Verbs along side the more common regular verbs in the English language. We have a large number of verb pages that will help show you the difference formats ( conjugations) of English irregular verbs and the more tricky regular verbs. – Those that don’t follow the “rules” and be warned there are quite a few!

So you can use the search bar below after you have learnt the past tense of bend to search for other English verbs you need to know

The Past tense of bend is bent in its simple past tense form. This means the final letter /d/ is replaced with /t/ to make an irregular past tense form. However in perfect tenses for example /ing/ can be added to create the past and present participle.

The full past tense forms you can see in the table below. We have also added other tenses of the verb ‘bend’ following the past tense of bend ( in all its forms) including present, future and the perfect tenses. So we can give a resource on just one page rather than multiple pages on the different conjugations ( ways to use) the verb bend.

Speaking of resources we also have games, activities and worksheets on both past tense of copy and other verbs, and other verb tenses below the table for free download.

Table 1: Past Tense of Bend, including other tenses and conjugations.

Tense and Verb Form ‘bend‘	Verb Form (conjugation)	Verb tense Sentence Examples of ‘bend’
Imperative	bend / bends	I bend over all day at work. She bends over to reach the TV remote.
Simple Past Tense	bent	She bent over so much yesterday she can hardly stand up straight.
Past participle	bent	I had bent myself in knots till i heard from you
Past Continuous tense	bending (was/were)	we were all bending over to dig holes in the garden.
Past Perfect tense	bent (had)	I had bent over when i heard my back click.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense	bending (had been)	The class had been bending over backwards to welcome the new teacher.
present participle	bending	They are bending the rules to let us in.
Third person singular	bends	She bends my ear when i talk to her.
Present continuous tense	bending	I am bending the spoons with my mind.
Present perfect tense	bent	I have bent my bike frame in the crash.
Present perfect continuous tense	bent (has / have)	We have been bending the councilors ear all day.
Simple future	bend (will)	we will make all of them bend to our way of thinking.
Future Continuous	bending (will be)	James will be bending in the gymnastics competition.
Future perfect tense	bent (will have)	I will have bent over backwards by the end of the day
Future perfect Continuous tense	bending (will have been)	We will have been bending trees over all day when you get home.

Bend is an irregular verb, though not as complex as some others, the majority of difficult verbs in English are irregular. We have many of the most common here on the site which you can access with the search above and below. If you wish for an extensive list this site has a comprehensive list of irregular verbs in English.

Understanding the Verb “Bend”

Originating from the Old English word “bendan,” “bend” means “to bind or confine.” Over time, its meaning transitioned to “curve or incline.” The verb emphasizes a physical or metaphorical transformation from a straight form.

Phrasal Verbs with “Bend”

Bend is part of several phrasal verbs, which enhance its semantic range:

• Bend back: To curve or angle something backwards.
  • The gymnast can bend her spine back into an incredible arch.
• Bend over backwards: To try very hard to do something.
  • She bent over backwards to make the party a success.

Nuances in Usage

• “Bend vs. Fold”: While both suggest a form of curvature, “fold” often implies a sharper angle than “bend.”
  • You bend a wire, but you fold a paper.
• “Bend + Direction”: It’s common to specify the direction of the bend.
  • The road bends to the right after the bridge.

Common Mistakes

Avoid these pitfalls when using “bend”:

Incorrect: He bend the rule to favor his friend.

Correct: He bent the rule to favor his friend.

Resources to Teach Tenses

if you find yourselves on our site and are a teacher, or a parent or even a student for that matter, we are called Making English Fun, and we aim to make learning English a little more fun. So with that in mind we have a selection of resources to teach past tense of bend, and any other verb actually that you can access from the list below.

• Free Simple Past Tense Worksheets
• Past Tense of Copy
• Simple Present Tense Worksheets
• Regular and irregular past tense worksheets
• Free online past tense games.
• Present perfect tense worksheets
• Simple Future tense worksheets
• Simple Past tense ‘ed’ ending rules and handouts

You can check other past tense words by clicking on the links in the table below.

Table 2: Table of Links for irregular Past Tense Verbs

bend	meet	copy	beat
lay	draw	buy	Fly
Drink	Think	wear	dive
rise	dream	Speak	bite
bear	begin	freeze	sink
get	give	take	sing
learn	keep	find	be
say	catch	eat	come
go	know	do	cut
drive	fall	let	make
pay	read	build	become

We also have articles and worksheets which we will link examples of below, and if you need more you can try the search box.

• Free Simple Past Tense Worksheets
• irregular verb list
• Simple Present Tense Worksheets
• Regular and irregular past tense worksheets
• Free online past tense games.
• Present perfect tense worksheets
• Simple Future tense worksheets
• Simple Past tense ‘ed’ ending rules and handouts

Conclusion

So the simple answer, and where you will be correct most of the time, is that the past tense of bend is bent unless you are using some of the more complex English tenses. Especially perfect and future tenses which require will or have/has been within them to be grammatically correct. you can see from the table above how they change the infinitive version of the verb bend.

We have highlighted those in the table as well for your assistance and reference.

We also have a full list of irregular verbs from A – Z on the site which you can access from the link here.

References

• https://makingenglishfun.com/2022/12/24/what-is-the-past-tense-of-bend/
• https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-past-tense-of/bend.html
• https://www.myenglishpages.com/english/grammar-lesson-list-irregular-verbs.php?past-verb=bend
• https://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/bend
• https://writingexplained.org/bended-or-bent-difference