Speak Spoke Spoken

Use speak for habits, general truths, and things that happen now or in the future. It appears in simple present sentences and in questions and negatives.

Use spoke for completed actions in the past. It tells you that someone talked at a specific time or during a finished event. Spoke is the simple past form.

Spoken is the past participle used with auxiliary verbs like have, has, or had. It appears in perfect tenses and in passive sentences. Think of it as an action connected to a time before now or to an experience.

Choose between speak, spoke, and spoken based on time and sentence type. Use speak for general or current actions, spoke for specific past events, and spoken for perfect or passive constructions.

The three forms serve different functions: use speak for general or current actions, spoke for specific past actions, and spoken for perfect tenses and passives. Practicing short sentences will help these patterns become natural.