What is the Past Tense of Fall

“Fall” is yet another surprisingly useful verb that some learners don’t realize is so handy until they actually start studying it. As with many verbs, it can describe both literal and figurative circumstances, but it is most often used to describe downward motion, typically without any kind of control.

Alternatively, it can refer to anything that moves from a higher point to a lower point, or when people or animals lose balance and collapse to the ground.

The past tense of “fall” is ‘fell’ and the past participle is ‘fallen.’

What is the past tense of “fall”?

Fall (verb):

(1) To move downward, often freely and with no control, from a higher point to a lower point

(2) To lose balance and collapse

• Infinitive                      to fall
• Simple Past                 fell
• Past Participle             fallen

Conjugation Table of “fall”

Pronoun	Infinitive	Simple Past	Present Perfect	Present Continuous
I	fall	fell	have fallen	am falling
You (sing.)	fall	fell	have fallen	are falling
He/She/It	falls	fell	has fallen	is falling
We	fall	fell	have fallen	are falling
You (pl.)	fall	fell	have fallen	are falling
They	fall	fell	have fallen	are falling

Example Sentences of “fall”

(1) To move downward, often freely and with no control, from a higher point to a lower point

• I overstocked the shelf and things started falling off the end
• He looked quite secure on the climbing wall, but then suddenly fell back to the ground
• Google’s stock price fell sharply this morning after a new financial report was published

(2) To lose balance and collapse

• He tripped over a stone in the path and fell quickly to the ground
• Many people worry about their elderly relatives falling in their homes
• I fell from a ladder when I was younger, and now I have a fear of climbing them

Focus: Past Tense of Fall

The verb “fall” has different spellings when being used in different past forms. For this reason, learners need clarity on how to use “fall” in different situations. We have prepared some examples below that make use of the following past-tense forms.

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

Simple Past of “fall”

• He fell from the roof and broke his leg in two places
• I fell off my bike and grazed my knees quite badly
• After a difficult period of inflation, prices finally fell across the country

Present Perfect of “fall”

• We have fallen to a new low this year, so we will have to work harder to recover
• After years in power, he has finally fallen due to his own hubris
• I’m afraid I have fallen into deep debt and can’t afford to pay for a vacation this year

Past Continuous of “fall”

• As I was falling from the tree, I felt that my life flashed before my eyes
• He was falling from ladders regularly, which is what prompted us to send him for safety training

Past Perfect of “fall”

• I woke up suddenly and realized that I had fallen off my horse
• The price had fallen so much, there was really nothing company executives could do anymore

Understanding the Verb “Fall”

“Fall” has Old English origins, derived from “feallan,” meaning “to fall, decay, or die.” It signifies a downward motion or a decline in status or condition.

Phrasal Verbs with “Fall”

“Fall” forms the foundation for various phrasal verbs:

• Fall apart: To break into pieces or to emotionally breakdown.
  • The old book just fell apart in my hands.
  • After hearing the news, he completely fell apart.
• Fall for: To become infatuated or to be deceived.
  • She fell for him the moment they met.
  • I can’t believe I fell for that scam.
• Fall behind: To fail to keep up with.
  • He fell behind on his payments and faced penalties.
  • I’ve fallen behind in my studies and need to catch up.

Common Mistakes

Here are some typical mistakes with “fall”:

• Incorrect: I fall down the stairs yesterday.
• Correct: I fell down the stairs yesterday.

• Incorrect: The apples has fallen from the tree.
• Correct: The apples have fallen from the tree.

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 and our past tense resources by clicking on the links in the table below and in the resource list below that.

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