What is the Past Tense of Drink

The verb “drink” is extremely useful for language learners since it is something that we need to do every day in order to live. “Drink” refers to the action of taking a liquid beverage into the mouth and then swallowing it, either out of necessity or for enjoyment. It’s not to be confused with its noun form, which refers to the beverage itself.

The past tense of drink is “drank,” and its past participle is “drunk.”

What is the past tense of “drink”?

Drink (verb):

(1) To take a liquid into the mouth and swallow it, either out of necessity or for enjoyment

• Infinitive                      to drink
• Simple Past                drank
• Past Participle             drunk

Conjugation Table of “drink”

Pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	drink	drank	have drunk	am drinking
You (sing.)	drink	drank	have drunk	are drinking
He/She/It	drinks	drank	has drunk	is drinking
We	drink	drank	have drunk	are drinking
You (pl.)	drink	drank	have drunk	are drinking
They	drink	drank	have drunk	are drinking

Example Sentences of “drink”

(1) Produce a picture or diagram by making lines, especially using a pen, pencil or similar instrument

• He likes to drink champagne on special occasions
• You drank too much beer this week, so no beer next week
• I am drinking a cup of coffee with my breakfast, and it’s fantastic
• You have drunk this wine before, right? I remember we had it at your birthday party
• What are they drinking? It looks good

Focus: Past Tense of Drink

The verb “drink” is an essential one to know in English, and so we have prepared some more example sentences below, this time focusing on the past-tense forms of the word. The following tenses are included in the list.

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

Simple Past of “drink”

• He drank two cups of coffee and immediately felt more awake
• They drank an aperitif before dinner and thought it was delicious
• We only drank water while we were visiting Tunisia, because it’s so easy to get dehydrated there

Present Perfect of “drink”

• I have drunk a cosmopolitan before; it’s a delicious cocktail
• We have drunk all the ginger beer they have here! We will have to order something else now
• You have drunk four beers already, so you can’t drive home

Past Continuous of “drink”

• I was drinking a glass of wine in Paris when I suddenly saw an old school friend
• We were drinking cocktails on the beach and reminiscing about the past
• My mother was drinking her morning coffee when she heard the commotion outside

Past Perfect of “drink”

• We had drunk two bottles of wine that day, so of course we were sleepy
• I had drunk the first two glasses of water quite happily, but the third one tasted funny

Understanding the Verb “Drink”

Originating from the Old English “drincan,” “drink” primarily refers to the intake of liquids, especially as refreshment.

Phrasal Verbs with “Drink”

1. Drink up: To finish one’s drink.
   • Drink up; we’re leaving soon.
   • She drank up her coffee and ordered another.
2. Drink down: To consume a drink quickly.
   • He drank down his beverage in one gulp.
   • They drank down the potion as instructed.
3. Drink to: To drink alcohol as an expression of honoring or wishing good luck to someone or something.
   • Let’s drink to their success.
   • They drank to the newlyweds.

Common Mistakes with “Drink”

• Incorrect: I drinked a lot of water today.
• Correct: I drank a lot of water today.

• Incorrect: Have you drinken your juice?
• Correct: Have you drunk your juice?

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		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

The past tense of drink in simple past tense is drank, and its past participle is drunk. However it can get confusing when drink is also a noun, and drunk is also an adjective! A saving grace is that of course no on reading this will ever need to use the adjective form of drunk ……right! 😉