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past tense で play が played になるのに、
put が put なままなのは何故ですか？
　

Hello.

”Play” is what we call a regular verb; to create its simple past tense form, we add ”-ed.” ”Put” is an irregular verb and does not follow this pattern; as you pointed out, the form for the simple past is in this case the same as the simple present, ”put.” Other irregular verbs may or may not keep their present-tense form: the past tense of the irregular verb, ”seek” is ”sought.”

Even people for whom English is a first and only language will make mistakes with irregular verbs when they’re first learning: It’s common and natural for children to say, ”I putted my jacket into the closet,” until they are corrected.

If you’re asking why that is-- why we have irregular verbs in English-- well, it’s historical; the English language has developed over centuries and has drawn from many different languages (and continues to do so); as a result we can enjoy a language that is rich in influences from other languages and cultures... but we also have to accept the fact that English has many irregularities as part of its charm.

Does this prove to you that I’ll be a good tutor? :)

E-mail me if you’d like to take a class. Thanks for your inquiry.

―Dave Gabriel Bene 　

Hi Dave,

”Res. 1” is apparently asking why the specific verb ”put” is irregular. I am afraid you are not answering the question. Perhaps (s)he would not want to pay you $25/hr. However, I am not quite sure whether the ability to answer that question is an essential requirement for teaching English. Maybe you could find other students who do not care. Good luck.
　

Actually Dave has answered the question. You’ve gotta be one of the historic people who actually created the English language to know why there are irregular verbs. It is a common trend in many other languages originating from Latin, including French, which has a ridiculous amount of iregularities.
Alot of times irregular verbs/words exist to facilitate pronunciation, other times they just happen to be there to confuse us. 　

> Res. 4

Well, there are ”irregular” verbs anyway, so you might say that’s the end of the story. However, there are some rules and/or possible classifications even in the apparent chaos. I would guess ”Res. 1” was expecting a more detailed answer than just saying it’s irregular. I repeat, I don’t quite think that essential in learning English. However, some people (perhaps including ”Res. 1”) might want their tutor to have that kind of knowledge.
　

I wrote Res.1,

Actually I knew there are regular and irregular verbs but I wanted to know why. I thought if Dave worth $25/hour, he knows why. Some might say we don’t have to know about such kind of stuff but I have to because I’m going to major in linguistics. As I’m half Chinese half Korean born in Japan, I speak those 3 languages as native languages and I can explain all grammer matters in those languages like the one I asked to Dave. Now I’m learing English as the 4th language but it’s kind of hard because English is totally different from my languages. My English is not good enough for majoring in linguistics in English. So, I’m looking for some tutor who knows English properly.

　

Res. 1 さんは言語学を専攻したいと思っているため、英文法の学術的な面にも詳しい方をお探しのようですね。


> Res. 6 (=Res. 1)

So it looks like my guess was right.
Your concern is certainly understandable, since you plan to major in linguistics. However, for most other people such an ”academic” knowledge could be less important. For the people with different needs, Dave’s lesson might well worth $25/hr, even if he could not answer your question. (I have no idea what would be the average charge etc. for private English lessons, by the way.) I think you had better made your objective clear, in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Why don’t you look for your tutor in a University? I guess a graduate student or even a Ph.D. in linguistics or related fields would fit your need.
　

なかなか、言語学を専攻しているような人に会えないし、それにプライベートレッスンをしてもらったとしたらきっとお金ももっとかかると思うんですよね。僕は貧しい学生なので。

チューターとかでももし英語のことを言語的に詳しく知っている人がいたらと思ってだめもとで試してみたんです。

どうせ言語学を学ぶなら別の言語（英語）でやれば新しい言語も学べて一石二鳥だと思っていたのですが、ネイティブでない言語はなかなか難しいですね。もっとがんばらなくては。 　

It depends on what you’re looking for in a tutor. Most tutors teach you basic grammar and pronunciation and you can’t really expect them to have a substantial knowledge of the linguistics of English. That should be considered an advanced field of the English language that you learn at an university, and I’m not sure if Dave will provide that. But then again, I don’t want to put words in his mouth so I’ll just leave it at that. Although I’m impressed to think that people want to gain such an indepth knowledge of English; I consider myself a language person but I couldn’t care less about why there are irregularities; it would simply be brain racking to ponder over that.
But good for you, Res 1,6 dude. 4 languages- that’s crazy. You must have words coming out of your mind in, like, 4 different forms.
I’m working on my third and I’m already confused. 　

I think it’s the difference between tutors and teachers. Teachers should be more professional and have more inside knowledge of the languages.

At least in Vancouver, English tutors are mostly university students or people who don’t have jobs as they are making money to survive. They are mostly not professional. You can’t expect so much. 　

> Res. 8 = Res. 1

いや、だから大学の言語学科みたいなところに行って貼り紙とかしてみたら？　大学院生とかだと結構アルバイト探してるかもしれないし、Res. 1 さんみたいに言語学に興味のある人って少ないような気がするから、リーズナブルな値段で教えてくれるかも知れないよ。保証はできないけど、他にあてがないなら試してみたら。