How to Use the Irregular Verb 'Ride'

The verb "ride" means to sit on and control the movement of a means of transportation such as a bike, car, or a horse, as well as to be a passenger being conveyed in or on such a means of transportation. The verb is used in English to express how a person or thing is using that transportation, such as, "I rode in a car" or "He rides a horse."

Ride is an irregular verb because it does not take a regular conjugation pattern. For example, the verb "want" is a regular verb in English, where the present tense is simply the verb, itself, often preceded by a pronoun, such as "I want," or an infinitive, such as "to want." For a regular verb in the past tense, you would simply add "ed," as in "I wanted."

By contrast, "ride" is an irregular verb because its conjugations do not follow the pattern of a regular-conjugation verb such as "want." The verb takes the same conjugations as the irregular verb "drive," for example, which conjugates with a pattern of "drive-drove-driven," depending on the tense. The verb "ride," then, is the same as a regular verb in English, taking the form "ride" in the present tense. But in the past tense, the root changes, with the "i" changing to "o," to form the verb "rode." The past participle is completely different, but more on that below.

Conjugating the Verb "Ride"

It can be helpful for English learners to view the basic conjugations of a verb. The table provides conjugations for "ride" in the present, past, and past participle tenses.

Present	I	ride
	you	ride
	he/she/it	rides
	we	ride
	you	ride
	they	ride
Past	I	rode
	you	rode
	he/she/it	rode
	we	rode
	you	rode
	they	rode
Past Participle	I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they	(have) ridden

Note that the base form is ride, the simple past tense is rode, and the past participle is ridden.

Example Sentences of the Verb Ride

Here are sentences of the verb "ride" in nearly all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms. The tense is indicated in bold, followed by a brief explanation of when to use the particular tense, together with three example sentences.

Present Simple

This is the basic present tense. Use it to indicate something that occurs in the present.

• He rides his motorcycle to work.
• They ride to work together.
• I like to ride my horse.

Present Simple Passive

Though using passive voice is not considered the best practice for writing, there are conjugations for this voice, including for the verb "ride." Use this form of the passive voice to express something that is happening to or being done by someone.

• That horse is ridden by Tom.
• The mower is ridden by Joe.
• The bus is ridden by the passengers.

Present Continuous

The present continuous is used to express an ongoing action.

• We're riding our bikes to the park this afternoon.
• They are riding the horses to the track.
• Sally is riding her scooter.

Present Continuous Passive

This tense is similar to the present continuous but in passive form.

• The horses are being ridden by tourists at the moment.
• The scooter is being ridden by Sally.
• The horses are being ridden to the park by them.

Present Perfect

The present perfect connotes an action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present.

• Have you ever ridden a horse?
• They haven't ridden their scooters for years.
• She has ridden her bike to work for six months.

Present Perfect Passive

This tense is similar to the present perfect but in the passive voice.

• Has that horse by ridden yet?
• The scooters haven't been ridden by them for years.
• The bike hasn't been ridden for months.

Present Perfect Continuous

This tense is used to refer to an unspecified time between "before now" and "now."

• We have been riding bikes since 9 a.m.
• She has been riding the open road since last night.
• He has been riding his scooter for the past three hours.

Past Simple

The past simple is, as the name implies, the simple past. It expresses an action that occurred and was completed, in the past.

• He rode his bike to work last week.
• She rode her scooter to work.
• The passenger rode in the car.

Past Simple Passive

This tense is the same as the simple past but in the passive voice.

• That motorcycle was ridden by Elvis.
• The scooter was ridden by her.
• The horse was ridden by the equestrian competitor.

Past Continuous

The past continuous shows that an ongoing action was happening at a specific moment in the past.

• He was riding his bike when his cell phone rang.
• She was riding her scooter to work when the police officer gave her a ticket.
• The equestrian competitor was riding her horse when she was stopped by a fan.

Past Continuous Passive

As in the other tenses, the past continuous passive is the same as the past continuous but in the passive voice.

• The horse was being ridden by Jack when it fell.
• The scooter was being ridden by her when a policeman stopped her.
• The bike was being ridden by him when his cell phone rang.

Past Perfect

The past perfect refers to something that occurred in the past before another action in the past.

• They had already ridden the horse before they bought it.
• She had already ridden the scooter before she got into an accident.
• He had already ridden the bike when he got a flat.

Past Perfect Passive

This tense is the same as the past perfect but in the passive voice.

• The horse had been ridden before it was sold.
• The bike had been ridden before its tire went flat.
• The scooter had already been ridden when it was in an accident.

Past Perfect Continuous

This tense expresses something that started in the past and continued until another event happened, also in the past.

• They had been riding for two hours when the accident happened.
• She had been riding for an hour before she received a ticket.
• The competitor had been riding for two months before her first fan approached her.

Future

The future tense expresses something that will happen in the future.

• She will ride her bike to work.
• He will ride with the other passengers.
• The competitor will ride the horse at the nationals.

Future Passive

The future passive expresses a future action but in the passive voice.

• That horse will be ridden by the queen.
• The scooter will be ridden by her.
• The bike will be ridden by the commuter.

Future Continuous

This tense expresses an action that will start and continue in the future.

• This time next week we will be riding our motorcycles down the highway on holiday.
• By next year, we will all be riding scooters to work.
• By the time I get to Phoenix, I'll be riding a train.

Future Perfect

The future perfect expresses an action that starts and finishes at some point in the future.

• She will have ridden all the horses in the stable by the end of the month.
• The commuters will have ridden the scooters to work 100 times by the end of the year.
• By the time I get to Phoenix, I will have ridden for 66 hours.

Future Possibility

The future possibility expresses something that might happen in the future.

• She might ride Lucky.
• The gambler might break even.
• The commuter might save time if he takes a different route.

Real Conditional

The real conditional expresses uncertainty about whether an action will occur.

• If she rides her motorcycle, she will change her clothes.
• If he commutes by bike, he will save money.
• If the jockey rides the horse Affirmed, he will win the race.

Present Modal

Modal verbs are auxiliary (helping) verbs that express ability, possibility, permission, or obligation. The present modal expresses these things in the present.

• She should ride that horse.
• I may ride that scooter.
• She might get a ticket if she rides too fast.

Past Modal

The past modal is similar to the present modal but in the past tense.

• She can't have ridden her bike!
• I might have ridden that scooter, but I'm not sure.
• She might have ridden to fast before receiving a moving violation.

Quiz: Conjugate with Ride

Use the verb "to ride" to conjugate the following sentences. The quiz answers are listed below. In some cases, more than one answer may be correct.

1. That horse _____ by Tom.
2. _____ you ever _____ a horse?
3. He _____ his bike when his cell phone rang.
4. She _____ her motorcycle to work next week.
5. If she _____ her motorcycle, she will change her clothes.
6. He _____ his bike to work last week.
7. That motorcycle _____ by Elvis!
8. He _____ his motorcycle to work.
9. We _____ bikes since nine this morning.
10. If she _____ her motorcycle, she will change her clothes.

Answers

1. is ridden
2. Have ridden
3. was riding
4. is going to ride
5. rides
6. rode
7. was ridden
8. rides
9. have been riding
10. rides