What is The Past Tense of Wear

The verb “wear” is an interesting one given how its multiple definitions seemingly have so little to do with each other. Broadly speaking, the word “wear” can be defined either as the act of having something on one’s body as an item of clothing or a related accessory, or as the action of damaging or eroding something through friction.

The past tense of wear is “wore.” and the past participle in worn

What is the past tense of “wear”?

Wear (verb):

(1) Have on one’s body, or a part of one’s body, as clothing or alternatively for protection or some other specific purpose

(2) Erode or damage something through friction or a similar physical action

• Infinitive                       to wear
• Simple Past                wore
• Past Participle             worn

Conjugation Table of “wear”

Pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	wear	wore	have worn	am wearing
You (sing.)	wear	wore	have worn	are wearing
He/She/It	wears	wore	has worn	is wearing
We	wear	wore	have worn	are wearing
You (pl.)	wear	wore	have worn	are wearing
They	wear	wore	have worn	are wearing

Example Sentences of “wear”

(1) Have on one’s body, or a part of one’s body, as clothing or alternatively for protection or some other specific purpose

• He always wears a suit to work
• What are you wearing? It looks awful!
• They all wore sunglasses when visiting the beach at Malaga

(2) Erode or damage something through friction or a similar physical action

• Over time, this great river will wear away these banks and form great meanders
• The ridges in the limestone are caused by centuries of rainfall wearing the rock away
• His shoes wore out so fast because he almost never took them off!

Focus: Past Tense of Wear

Through additional examples of “wear” in various past-tense forms we can see the different ways that we can use this common verb. Read on below for examples in all of the following tenses:

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

Simple Past of “wear”

• The girls wore matching dresses to their aunt’s wedding
• He washed his hands so often that he wore the soap bar to a nub in just a week
• The wealthy ladies at Ascot all wore fabulous designer hats

Present Perfect of “wear”

• He has worn the same t-shirt for five days in a row
• These two tennis pros have worn the grass away at many tennis tournaments
• My grandmother gave me this necklace, and I have worn it ever since that day

Past Continuous of “wear”

• Did you see that man? He was wearing a bright green sweater
• We were wearing our best outfits because it was an important day
• He was pacing up and down the room so fast, we thought he was wearing a hole into the floor

Past Perfect of “wear”

• We had worn the same suits to the ball every year until this year when we both suddenly changed our minds
• I was scrubbing the walls so hard, I didn’t realize that I had worn away some of the original plaster

Understanding the Verb “Wear”

The verb “wear” originates from Old English “werian,” referring to having clothing or adornments on the body. It encompasses the act of carrying something as a means of protection or ornament.

Phrasal Verbs with “Wear”

1. Wear out: To use something so much that it becomes thin or damaged.
   • These shoes have worn out; I need a new pair.
   • He’s worn out the carpet by pacing back and forth.
2. Wear down: To make someone gradually lose their energy or confidence.
   • The constant criticism wore her down.
   • Time and weather have worn down the ancient statues.
3. Wear on: As time passes, especially slowly or tediously.
   • As the evening wore on, the guests began to leave.
   • The day wore on with no news from them.

Common Mistakes with “Wear”

• Incorrect: She is wearing her hair in a pony.
• Correct: She is wearing her hair in a ponytail.

• Incorrect: He wears a glasses.
• Correct: He wears glasses.

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 wear is wore, and the past participle is Worn. it can be a tricky one but both meanings of the word follow the same past tense rules which is at least something.

Don’t forget we have hundreds, or will, do of these pages to help you master the past tense in English and we are working through getting all irregular verbs up on the site.

Bear with us while we work through this, its a big task! We will be worn out!