What Is The Past Tense of Sink

Sink is a very versatile verb in English, and can be used to mean a number of different things. Broadly speaking, the word “sink” refers to the downward movement of something from a higher position to a lower one, and is very often associated with objects moving through water.

The simple past tense of “sink” is “sank” and the past participle is “sunk.”

What is the past tense of “sink”?

Sink (verb):

(1) To become submerged; to move down below the surface of something, especially a liquid such as water; cause an object to move in this way

(2) To drop down or descend

• Infinitive                       to sink
• Simple Past                sank
• Past Participle             sunk

Conjugation Table of “sink”

Pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	sink	sank	have sunk	am sinking
You (sing.)	sink	sank	have sunk	are sinking
He/She/It	sinks	sank	has sunk	is sinking
We	sink	sank	have sunk	are sinking
You (pl.)	sink	sank	have sunk	are sinking
They	sink	sank	have sunk	are sinking

Example Sentences of “sink”

(1) To become submerged; to move down below the surface of something, especially a liquid such as water; cause an object to move in this way

• The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic
• A torpedo from HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in 1982
• Dense and heavy objects will sink if you place them in water, whereas lighter objects tend to float

(2) To drop down or descend

• The stock market sank to a new low today after economic chaos gripped the nation
• I love watching the sun sink below the horizon at the end of the day
• He watched with joy as his golf ball sank into the hole

Focus: Past Tense of Sink

To offer more insight into the use of “sink” in all its past-tense forms, we’ve prepared the following sets of example sentences. The following tenses will be used to demonstrate the range of how we can use “sink” to talk about past events:

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

Simple Past of “sink”

• A freak wave sank the fishing boat off the coast of Kent, but luckily the crew escaped unharmed
• My heart sank when I received news about my not getting into Oxford University
• The value of my favorite painting sank when it was discovered that it was a fake

Present Perfect of “sink”

• We have sunk about half of the enemy ships, but the rest are retreating
• They have sunk millions of dollars into this project already, we can’t ask them for more

Past Continuous of “sink”

• I saw with my own eyes that the ocean liner was sinking
• The market price was sinking all day, but then rallied in the later afternoon
• The lion was sinking its teeth into the gazelles leg when suddenly the latter kicked the lion square in the face

Past Perfect of “sink”

• The German super battleship Bismarck was eventually sunk in the North Sea in May, 1941.
• Our hopes were sunk when we heard that our parent company had gone bankrupt.

Understanding the Verb “Sink”

“Sink” is derived from the Old English “sincan,” meaning to go down or submerge. It can imply literal submersion or a decline in quantity or strength.

Phrasal Verbs with “Sink”

1. Sink in: To be fully understood or realized.
   • It took a while for the news to sink in.
   • I read the letter several times before its meaning sank in.
2. Sink back: To move back into a relaxed or resting position.
   • She sank back into the comfortable chair.
   • After hearing the news, he sank back in disbelief.
3. Sink down: To descend or lower oneself.
   • He sank down into the soft bed.
   • She felt so tired she could just sink down and sleep.

Common Mistakes with “Sink”

• Incorrect: The boat has sank.
• Correct: The boat has sunk.

• Incorrect: She sinked into despair.
• Correct: She sank into despair.

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

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

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