Drink, Drank, Drunk: One Verb, Three Vowels
Drank is the past tense of drink. The pattern of changing vowels comes from an old class of verbs that once numbered in the hundreds.
Drank is the past tense of *drink*. The three forms drink, drank, drunk belong to an ancient pattern called ablaut, where a verb signals tense by changing its vowel rather than adding an ending. Sing, sang, sung and ring, rang, rung follow the same class. Old English had hundreds of such verbs; most have since become regular, which is why we say *helped*, not *holp*. The frequent error is using *drunk* as the past tense: he drunk it should be he drank it.
- Past tense of drink. *She drank the tea.*
- Drunk — the past participle. *He has drunk it.*
- Drunk — intoxicated. *He was drunk.*
- Drunken — the attributive form. *Drunken behaviour.*
- Ablaut — the vowel-change pattern. *An ablaut verb.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | drink | I drink tea. |
| Past | drank | I drank tea. |
| Participle | drunk | I have drunk tea. |
| Adjective | drunk | He is drunk. |
| Adjective | drunken | A drunken night. |
- He drank the whole glass.Past tense.
- She has drunk three cups.Participle.
- He drunk it is non-standard.Common error.
Verbs with the same pattern
- Drink, drank, drunk
- Sing, sang, sung
- Ring, rang, rung
- Swim, swam, swum
- Begin, began, begun
Old English *drincan*, past *dranc*, past participle *druncen*, from a Germanic strong verb class that changed vowels to mark tense.
Is drunk ever correct as a past tense?
Not in standard English. Use drank for the simple past and drunk after have or has.
What is the difference between drunk and drunken?
Drunk follows the verb: he is drunk. Drunken usually comes before a noun: a drunken argument.