What is the Past Tense of Bear

The English verb “bear” has multiple meanings but is invariably connected with carrying or shouldering a burden or responsibility, as well as enduring some sort of hardship or difficulty. It can be used in a literal or physical sense, and also in a more abstract sense.

Bear is something of an irregular verb when it comes to forming the past tense, with the simple past tense being “bore” and the past participle being “born.”

What is the past tense of “bear”?

Bear (verb):

(1) To carry the weight of something; to support the weight of something

(2) To endure or withstand some manner of difficulty or hardship (including pain)

• Infinitive                       to bear
• Simple Past                bore
• Past Participle             born

Conjugation Table of “bear”

Pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	bear	bore	have born	am bearing
You (sing.)	bear	bore	have born	are bearing
He/She/It	bears	bore	has born	is bearing
We	bear	bore	have born	are bearing
You (pl.)	bear	bore	have born	are bearing
They	bear	bore	have born	are bearing

Example Sentences of “bear”

(1) To carry the weight of something; to support the weight of something

• He is a strong man, able to bear the weight of many full bags
• That sack is so heavy, are you sure you can bear it?
• He’s bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders

(2) To endure or withstand some manner of difficulty or hardship (including pain)

• How are you bearing up in these difficult times?
• It’s just so painful, I can’t bear it!
• I can’t bear the sound of her voice!

Focus: Past Tense of Bear

The verb “bear” is one of those that some learners may think they can do without, but then quickly realize just how commonly it is used in both spoken and written forms. The simple past tense of bear is “bore” but we have included more examples below that include all of the following past-tense forms:

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

Simple Past of “bear”

• He bore the weight of his workload with real panache
• Even though the boxes were heavy, they bore them all the way from the office to their cars with relative ease
• Though life would never be the same, she bore the loss of her husband with tremendous grace and dignity.

Present Perfect of “bear”

• I have born the weight of many emotional burdens in my life
• We have born these hardships for too long, and now we think there must be change
• He has born a real burden in being the eldest child of that family

Past Continuous of “bear”

• She was bearing the workload with ease until her sudden promotion to supervisor, after which things got a lot more difficult
• They were bearing the weight of numerous responsibilities during that semester
• He was bearing the loss of his mother with fortitude for a time, but then he suffered a serious emotional breakdown

Past Perfect of “bear”

• You had born many tremendous responsibilities that month, so of course you were more stressed than usual
• I had born the extra weight of the suitcases with ease for the outgoing journey, but when it came to the return journey, that was another story.

Understanding the Verb “Bear”

The verb “bear” comes from the Old English “beran,” meaning “to carry or bring.” The term has various connotations, from enduring something to giving birth.

Phrasal Verbs with “Bear”

1. Bear with: To ask for patience.
   • Please bear with me while I explain the situation.
   • Bear with us while we get these technical issues sorted.
2. Bear in mind: To remember or consider.
   • Bear in mind that the roads will be busy during the holiday.
   • I always bear in mind his advice when making decisions.
3. Bear out: To confirm or support.
   • The evidence bears out her claims.
   • His story was borne out by witnesses.

Common Mistakes with “Bear”

• Incorrect: She can’t bare the pain.
• Correct: She can’t bear the pain.

• Incorrect: The tree will bare fruit.
• Correct: The tree will bear fruit.

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.

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