Meet or Met: What's the Difference? (2023)

Understanding how and when to use the past tense for an irregular verb like "meet" can be tricky, especially if you're not sure how the word works. To understand how to use it correctly, you need to know the correct meaning. For example, what is the difference between "know" and "know"?

The difference between "meeting" and "meeting" is that "meeting" is an irregular verb that means to meet formally to discuss something. "Meet" is simply the past tense or past participle form of the verb. The form the verb takes depends on when the meeting took place and whether it is an ongoing event.

Read on to learn more about how "know" and "know" differ, how we use them in a sentence, and the factors that determine which version of the verb is correct in a given situation. We break it down into easy-to-digest sections to help answer your questions.

knew or knew the grammar

The verb "to know" generally functions as a transitive verb, as does "to know." A transitive verb requires an object, and we follow it by using another word (or more words) in the sentence, such as: "Imeet my teacher in her office to talk about my grade" (fuente). Here the object of the past tense verb "met" is "professor".

The verb "met" is in the past tense, as the event happened at an unspecified time in the past, but you'll notice that its past tense is irregular.

Regular verbs usually add an -ed ending to reflect past versus present tense. But irregular verbs like "meet" don't add -ed. Instead of adding anything to it, we actually took a letter out of it, making it shorter.

For another example of a verb with an irregular past tense, see "Past of Run: understanding regular and irregular tenses."

Present, future and past forms

You will almost always useverb"meet" in the future and present. For example, you use "meeting" when you mean an event that will happen immediately or in the future.

Two example sentences are "Meet me in the store" and "wewe meet later this week." In both cases, use the word "meet" because it is happening in the present or will happen in the future.

However, you can also use "meet" in the infinitive after a verb in the past tense to refer to an event that happened in the past, as in "Whenthe thereofmeet?”

Generally, when referring to the past, you use the past tense or the past participle "fulfilled". To take the example above, the answer to the question “Whenthe thereofmeet” could be something like “Wemeet in Paris three years ago. This is a past event that has already happened, so the verb changes to reflect it.

"Meet" is also the participle form of "meet" and a participle follows aauxiliary word(fuente). So for example when you say “WeThey have met“Or shehave knownde”, du bruger and participle.

However, the rules that determine how and why the verb changes are not completely cut and dried. To compensate for this, we will go into more detail to help you understand the correct usage of the verb "meet" and the many other forms it can take.

pronunciation of Meet vs. met

American English pronounces "meet" with a long "e" sound as /mēt/ (rhymes with feet) or /mit/ using IPA (fuente). American English speakers pronounce "met" with a short "e" sound as /ˈmet/ (rhymes with light) or /mɛt/ using IPA.

How do you use Meet or Met?

There are several cases where it is appropriate to choose both terms. In some cases the distinction may be clear, but for others there is no absolute answer. Understanding how they work will help make your decision easier.

meet (verb):

Osmust complyat school on Friday so I can show you around!

Met (verb in past tense):

Osmeetthe neighbors yesterday.

Met (verb in past tense):

The familyhadofmeet your new neighbor.

Meeting (verb in present participle):

Osthey meetwith the director today.

Meeting (noun/verb):

Osthe therenotimeline-inmeet today because we have a company coming to town.

As you can see, there are several forms of the verb "to meet" and it can even function as a noun. But for the purposes of this article, we will focus on the tenses of the word and how they differ depending on the context of the sentence.

Simple present, simple past and progressive tense

Part of using any verb correctly is knowing what the subject of the sentence does and when it does it. English has 12 main forms, but here we will focus on the present simple, past simple and progressive.

Present simply "Kend"

Normally, you would use the simple present tense to describe something that is happening now or something that is repeating itself. You'll also use it for incomplete actions and temporary states. In other words, this verb form would work better to describe what people do in their daily lives.

Example:

• Osmeet for lunch every Tuesday.

As we see in the example, it is happening now, it will happen soon, or it will continue to happen every Tuesday, which is why we use the word "meeting".

Simple Past Tense "Met"

When talking about an event that has already happened, the simple past tense of the verb "to meet" is, in this case, "to meet." So, as an example, you could say something like, “Wemeet for lunch on Wednesday, and wewe meet again today."

This shows that an action took place in the past and has been completed. If, on the other hand, an action took place in the past and we want to communicate that it continued for some time, we would consider it in the past tense as progressive tense (fuente).

Present participle "Meeting" and the progressive tense

"Meeting" is the present participle form of "meeting", although it can sometimes function as a noun. When the verb is used, the progressive or continuous tense describes ongoing actions.

Like the past participle form, the present participle often also takes an auxiliary or auxiliary verb: “Wethey meetmorning." Thus, the helping or helping verb "is" the main verb "to find." Similarly, for the past tense, you would say, "We meet every Tuesday." In this case, the helping verb is the past tense verb "was."

Example:

• Osthey meetand then

In this example, we see that the meeting will take place in the future starting at 12.00. and continue to an unspecified point.

After the meeting is over, the form of the verb changes:

• Osmeet at noon yesterday.

The present simple and present continuous are the most common forms of the verb "to meet".

But we also have the future progressive:

• Oswill meettomorrow.

In this case, we have two auxiliary verbs, including the modal auxiliary "will", which indicates a prediction for the future.

Did we meet or did we meet?

When talking about the initial meeting with someone, you might say something like, “Did wemeet once before?" But there are no circumstances where you can say, "Have we met?"

Instead, you would phrase the question like this: "Have we met? If you remember the event, you might say: "Wemeet on the train."

The sentence "We met" is incorrect because the verb "did" is already in the past tense, which requires us to subsequently use the infinitive or natural form of the verb "meet" for the sentence to be correct.

It sounds confusing, but basically you can't use two past tense verbs in the same sentence when asking the question. On rare occasions, you may see two past tense verbs in a single clause in one of the perfect tenses.

As you can see, the situation and the context of the sentence are also important, even when taking time into account. This makes "know" one of the hardest words to use correctly in a sentence.

the perfect tenses

Unlike the simple and continuous tenses, the verb "to know" becomes a little more complicated when it is changed to the perfect tenses.

In a nutshell, use the perfect tense when referring to an action that is completed or perfected at the time of speaking or at a specific time (fuente).

To form perfect tenses, we usually combine the auxiliary verb "have", "has" or "had" with the perfect tense.

We use the participle "fulfilled" in the present perfect, past perfect and future perfect, except when they are also in the progressive tense, in which case we use the present.

Present perfectly:

• OsThey have metseveral times this month.

The present perfect is perhaps the most complicated. In use refers to an action that took place at an unspecified time in the past or that continues from the past to the present.

Past Perfect:

• Oshadofmeet many years ago.

In this sense, the action of the meeting happened in the past, while the person talks about it in the present. This emphasis on the present while referring to the past is characteristic of the perfect tense.

Future Perfect:

• Ofwould have knownfor tomorrow.

The future perfect tense implies an action that will be completed at a specific time in the future.

conditional situations

Conditional situations can also complicate the use of "know" versus "know". By conditional we mean a situation where the outcome of the potential meeting is not certain. These events can occur in the past, present or future.

When you say, for example, that something could have happened, you say: "We wanted thatmeet ayer."

The auxiliary verb "have" indicates the need for the past participle, so we use "fulfilled". Auxiliary modal "would" indicates possibility, so combined we use "would have fulfilled" to indicate an action that could have taken place in the past.

Conversely, the use of the auxiliary modal "will" implies a higher degree of certainty that something will happen in the future:

• Oswe meetfor breakfast today.

"Would" indicates a plan or intention about something that may or may not happen:

• Oswould have knowntomorrow, but our flight was cancelled.

Again, notice that using the auxiliary verb "have" requires us to use the past participle "fulfilled." In this case, the cancellation of their flight put an end to their plans to meet the next day.

Use of the noun forms "Meet"

It's also important to remember that "meeting" can sometimes be a noun. Some of the more common uses are terms like "track meet", "swim meet", "meet and greet" or "meet". In each of these cases, the term "find" refers not so much to an action as to a thing.

As a noun, we can describe a "meeting" or "gathering" using aadjectiveto denote a particular type of assembly. In this case, "meet" is a verb that functions as a noun (gerund), and the adjective modifies the noun. This article was written for strategyforparents.com.

For example:

• I look forward to our next onepersonal meet.

By adding the adjective "personal" we clarify what type of meeting is taking place.

final thoughts

Complex irregular verbs like "to know" can be the most difficult to use, so hopefully we've helped clear up some of the issues surrounding the use of the past tense and the participle "knew".

We also identify the role of auxiliary verbs with past and present. Finally, we cover the role of "meeting" and "meeting" as nouns.

The key to remember is that the verb "meet" is irregular, so it doesn't just accept -ed. You'll want to pay attention to auxiliary verbs, adjectives, and objects, but once you know the particular situation, your decision to "know" or "know" becomes much easier.