What is the Past Tense of Buy

The verb “buy” is one that all ESL beginners learn quite early and quickly, mostly because of its everyday utility and common use. The most common meaning for the verb “buy” is to purchase something; obtain goods or services in exchange for money.

However, there is one additional and somewhat more abstract usage, which means to believe; to accept the truth of something.

The past tense of “buy” is “bought” and the past participle is also “bought.”

What is the past tense of “buy”?

Buy (verb):

(1) Purchase; obtain goods or services in exchange for money

(2) To believe something

• Infinitive                       to buy
• Simple Past                bought
• Past Participle             bought

Conjugation Table of Buy

pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	buy	bought	have bought	am buying
You (sing.)	buy	bought	have bought	are buying
He/She/It	buys	bought	has bought	is buying
We	buy	bought	have bought	are buying
You (pl.)	buy	bought	have bought	are buying
They	buy	bought	have bought	are buying

Example Sentences of Buy

(1) Purchase; obtain goods or services in exchange for money

• Do you want to buy these oranges? They’re sweet and delicious!
• I’m thinking about buying a new house. What do you think?
• We bought the tickets yesterday, and are excited to get going!

(2) To believe something

• He said that? I don’t buy it.
• They explained that the reason for costs being so high was the knock-on effect of rising labor costs in Romania where their factory is, but frankly I don’t buy it
• I don’t buy his excuses anymore, I think it’s time to move on

Focus: Past Tense of Buy

As an irregular verb, the past-tense forms of the verb “buy” can be the most troublesome and confusing for some learners. The change between infinitive and past tense is quite great, after all. To strengthen our knowledge on the past-tense forms, we have prepared example sentences using the following tenses:

• Simple past
• Present perfect
• Past continuous
• Past perfect

Simple Past of Buy

• In the end, I bought the sunglasses because I thought I should treat myself
• We bought a new house last year and now we are regretting that decision
• They bought a new car even though they have been experiencing money troubles

Present Perfect of Buy

• I have bought a puppy for the kids’ Christmas present this year
• We have bought you dinner on many occasions, but you’ve never returned the favor
• What have you bought Andrew for his birthday?

Past Continuous of Buy

• I was buying a round of drinks at the bar when I realized I had left my wallet at home
• They were out buying new clothes in New York all day yesterday, so you can’t have seen them in Connecticut
• Were you buying a car when I saw you at the dealership yesterday, or just looking?

Past Perfect of Buy

• He had already bought the house when he discovered dry rot in the basement
• She had bought the dress on sale, and so the store wouldn’t let her return it or get a refund

Understanding the Verb “Buy”

The verb “buy” comes from Old English “bycgan,” and it relates to acquiring possession of something in exchange for payment. In casual English, it can also imply believing something without skepticism.

Phrasal Verbs with “Buy”

1. Buy into: To believe in something, especially an idea or concept.
   • Not everyone is buying into the new company philosophy.
   • She didn’t buy into the popular beliefs.
2. Buy out: To purchase someone’s share of something, often a business.
   • The larger company bought out the smaller one.
   • They want to buy out the competitors.
3. Buy up: To purchase all or large quantities of something.
   • Investors bought up all the available shares.
   • There was a sale, and customers bought up most of the stock.

Common Mistakes with “Buy”

• Incorrect: I buyed a new car yesterday.
• Correct: I bought a new car yesterday.

• Incorrect: He has buy a new suit for the wedding.
• Correct: He has bought a new suit for the wedding.

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

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

Buy is a common verb to be introduced at the beginning of an English learners journey, and one of the more complex at least it terms of spelling, hopefully the explanation and tables above help you and/or your students master the past tense of buy easily 🙂