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Sergey
Slept and sleeped
Hello there!
I know that the verb “to sleep” can have to forms in the past – “sleeped” and “slept”. Could native speakers explain me the difference between them. As I realize “slept” is grammatical and literary correct, spread in all English speaking parts of the world. What about “sleeped”? Is this form valid? Do the people use it in all English speaking countries? Will I look ridiculous if I say “I sleeped” among the people for who English is a mother language?
May 27, 2013 7:45 PM
Answers · 5
2
Maybe not ridiculous, but "sleeped" is a red flag that indicates you might not know English very well. Use "slept" and never look back. :)
May 27, 2013
2
I don't think you'll look ridiculous but "slept" is the much more common form.
Very people say "sleeped".
Conversely, the past tense of "to learn" can be written "learned" or "learnt" but it's far more common to see the -ed form.
May 27, 2013
Actually "sleeped" is not an actual word. "Sleep" is an irregular verb and doesn't follow regular verb patterns so just adding "-ed" at the end of the word is incorrect. Some other irregular verbs that follow this pattern are "Creep", "Keep" and "Weep". They're conjugated like this:
Sleep:
I sleep (Present)
I slept (Past)
I will sleep (Future)
Creep:
I creep (Present)
I crept (Past)
I will creep (Future)
Keep:
I keep (Present)
I kept (Past)
I will keep (Future)
May 28, 2013
That hardly means it's widely acceptable. Stick with standard English.
May 27, 2013
To Peachey - "Sleeped" I heard from a native speaker from NY city.
May 27, 2013
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Sergey
Language Skills
English, German, Russian
Learning Language
English, German, Russian
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