The spelling traps in -s, -ing and -ed
“Regular” does not mean “no rules.” It means the ending is predictable once you know a handful of spelling adjustments. Stop becomes stopped, not stoped; study becomes studies, not studys. These small, consistent rules are exactly the kind of thing that is easy to half-know and easy to drill properly.
Third person -s: when it becomes -es
Most verbs just add -s (work → works). Verbs ending in a hissing sound (-s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z) add -es instead, because -s alone would be unpronounceable: watch → watches, fix → fixes, wash → washes. Verbs ending in consonant + y swap the y for -ies: study → studies, carry → carries. A vowel before y stays put: play → plays.
The -ing form: dropping e, doubling consonants
A silent -e at the end is dropped before -ing: make → making, write → writing (but -ee, -oe, -ye keep it: see → seeing). A short stressed syllable ending in a single consonant after a single vowel doubles that consonant: stop → stopping, run → running. Open → opening stays single, though, because the stress falls elsewhere.
Regular past tense: the same doubling rule, plus -ied
Regular past tense follows the same logic as -ing for silent e (like → liked) and doubling (stop → stopped, plan → planned). Consonant + y again flips to -ied: study → studied, try → tried, while vowel + y just adds -ed: play → played, stay → stayed.
British vs American spelling shows up here too
Some doubling differs by variety: British English doubles a final -l even when unstressed (travel → travelled, travelling), while American English usually does not (traveled, traveling). If you are learning one variety, stay consistent: Verboteca’s American and British packs use each region’s own spelling throughout.
Why this is worth drilling as its own skill
These are spelling rules, not vocabulary. Getting one wrong means misspelling a word you already know, rather than forgetting it. That is a different kind of memory than translation, and it responds well to short, frequent review of exactly the verbs that trip you: Verboteca’s regular-verb set is chosen to include these spelling traps rather than only the easy cases.