went
A1Neutral. Used across all registers from informal to formal.
Definition
Meaning
Past tense of the verb 'go', meaning to move or travel from one place to another.
Can extend metaphorically to indicate the passage of time, a change in state or condition, or the progression of an event or process.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
'Went' is a suppletive form, meaning its past tense is not derived from the base 'go' but from the unrelated verb 'wend'. It is almost exclusively used as the simple past of 'go'. The past participle is 'gone'.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant differences in the core usage. The verb 'wend' (meaning to go in a specified direction, often slowly or indirectly) is more common in British English, but its past tense 'wended' is distinct from 'went'.
Connotations
Identical.
Frequency
Identical. Extremely high frequency in both dialects.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
S went (to/from/towards/etc. PLACE)S went (ADVERB of manner/direction)S went ADJECTIVE (became)Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “went the extra mile”
- “went belly up”
- “went down a treat”
- “went for broke”
- “went out the window”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Used neutrally for movement and metaphorical processes (e.g., 'The meeting went well').
Academic
Used for describing processes or sequences of events (e.g., 'The experiment went as predicted').
Everyday
Ubiquitous for all forms of past movement and change.
Technical
Neutral usage, not domain-specific.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- He went to the shop for milk.
- Yesterday, the train went via Birmingham.
- The plan went awry.
American English
- She went to the store for groceries.
- The team went to the finals last year.
- His hair went gray early.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- I went to the park yesterday.
- She went home early.
- They went by bus.
- We went to see a film last weekend.
- The price went up again.
- He went very quiet when I asked him.
- The company went bankrupt after the scandal.
- Negotiations went on late into the night.
- She went on to become a successful architect.
- The bill went through parliament with surprising speed.
- His argument went largely unchallenged.
- The evening went off without a hitch.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think: "We ENTer the past with 'went'." The letters 'ent' are common in past tense verbs (like sent, lent).
Conceptual Metaphor
TIME IS MOTION (e.g., 'The day went quickly'), CHANGE IS MOVEMENT (e.g., 'The milk went sour'), STATES ARE LOCATIONS (e.g., 'He went crazy').
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Confusing 'went' (past action) with 'gone' (resultant state/participle). Russian uses один verb form.
- Overusing 'was going' (past continuous) for completed past actions where simple 'went' is correct.
Common Mistakes
- *I have went to the store (incorrect; correct: 'I have gone').
- *He goed home (incorrect child-like form).
- Confusing 'She went to find it' with 'She has gone to find it' (present relevance).
Practice
Quiz
Which sentence uses 'went' correctly?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. While its primary meaning is physical movement, it is widely used metaphorically to indicate change (e.g., 'went bad'), the passage of time (e.g., 'the day went quickly'), and the progress of events (e.g., 'the meeting went well').
'Went' is the simple past tense. It is used for completed actions in the past. 'Gone' is the past participle and must be used with an auxiliary verb (have/has/had) to form perfect tenses (e.g., 'I have gone'), or as an adjective (e.g., 'He is gone').
Historically, yes. 'Went' was originally the past tense of 'wend'. However, in modern English, 'went' is almost exclusively the past tense of 'go'. The past tense of 'wend' (meaning to go in a leisurely or indirect way) is now 'wended' (e.g., 'She wended her way through the crowd').
'Go' is an irregular (suppletive) verb. Its past tense 'went' comes from a different, now largely obsolete verb, 'wend'. This is a historical linguistic phenomenon where one verb's forms are replaced by those of another, often more common, verb.