Past tense of plead | Learn English

16 Answers
The past tense is similar to all other English past tenses in this case . You must ad -ed
plead(s) - present tense pleaded - past tense
Example: He pleaded with his wife to not get a divorce.
The answer is:
Sally
English Tutor
Experienced Native English (UK) instructor for adults7 years ago
No tricks with this one it is like many other English past tenses. Just add ed to the present tense’ I plead’, ‘you plead’ etc becomes ‘I pleaded’, ‘you pleaded’ . You can use it as in this example, "She pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery"
Art
English Tutor
Experienced English teacher for adults7 years ago
"similar to all other English past tenses" Unfortunately English is not that regular.
Many verbs do not take "-ed" "go-went", "leave - left", "eat -ate", "make - made" . . . . "Before he left the house, he made a sandwich and ate it"
3 years ago
The argument here, is whether "plead" is to be treated as a regular, or irregular verb. Americanisms have done much to degrade the English language.
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Brenda
English Tutor
Teacher of English with online experience. I have a teaching qualification plus 120 hours of TEFL ,7 years ago
7 years ago
I believe it is pleaded. Pled is sometimes used but this is not strictly correct. An example is, "He pleaded guilty of the offence." "I pleaded with the children not to wake the baby."
"The boy pleaded with the neighbour to return his ball."
The answer is:
Adam
5 years ago
I respectfully disagree in the legal context. You would use pleaded to describe what you just did in front of a judge a few moments ago...”I pleaded guilty” because at sentencing as a defendant you would be “pleading” or making your case for leniency. Anytime after that you would be referring to an event that happened in the somewhat distant past you would say....” He pled guilty to...”. I would only use pleaded if say I was a broadcast reporter reporting the news as the defendant was coming out of the courtroom to say something like “ JohnQ is leaving the courthouse where he just pleaded guilty to....”. But if I was describing the same thing hours later I would say “Earlier today John Q plead guilty to....”. Maybe just the lawyer in me, but I always refer to my client as having entered a guilty plea in the past as having “pled” guilty.
Jamie
2 years ago
There's no basis whatsover to differentiate between recent past and distant past. This is simply your personal preference.
Amber
about a year ago
The original usage is "pled." Americans have done much to change original English. Such as people saying "conversate" instead of the correct word "converse." Saying "pleaded" for "plead" is the equivalent of saying "leaded" for "led."
Nanyak
English Tutor
Near-native speaker with Sociology Backround7 years ago
7 years ago
Well, we can easily say that pleaded is the standard past tense for plead that is when' ed' is added to the ending. In another similar way , for the past tense of to plead, you may use pleaded or pled. For example =[ 1] He pleaded not guilty before his trial. [2]=He pled not guilty before his trial.
The answer is:
Charlene
English Tutor
Qualified Teacher (native speaker)7 years ago
7 years ago
As mentioned above, 'pleaded' is the standard past tense, and the past participle of plead. However, more and more people are using 'pled' as the past tense, that it is no longer 'incorrect.' Languages are living and develop over time.
The answer is:
Jamie
2 years ago
Maybe the only reason more and more people are using pled is because correct English is being learned and respected less and less.
Thomas
about a month ago
There is no such thing as "correct" English. Almost everything we say in English now would be confusing and incorrect to people just a half millennium ago, and go back a full millennium and the language is completely unintelligible. Correct is whatever a community of speakers intuitively use and understand. Language change is a completely natural aspect of all languages and dialects. The 18th century grammarian Robert Lowth who wrote the first most influential English grammar book recommends a lot of things that seem ridiculous to us now. For example the past tense of help should be holp and the past participle should be holpen. Should we say that nobody should say helped because at one point it was recommended to use the old strong verb ablaut form? I hope this has holpen clarify my point.
Manuel
English Tutor
Professional tutor with pedagogical approaches of teaching7 years ago
7 years ago
The answer is: for past simple it is: pleaded and for past participle is also pleaded, but for both the past simple and past participle pled is also correct. People my consider it as being wrong if pled is used.
The answer is:
Victor
5 years ago
Here is the answer. from several dictionaries.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/plea
Plea: an urgent, emotional, request..
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plea
A legal suit, or action..
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/plea
A plea is an appeal or request for something, made in an intense or emotional way.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/plea
A formal statement by or on behalf of a defendant or prisoner, stating guilt or innocence in response to a charge, offering an allegation of fact, or claiming that a point of law should apply.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/plea
Plea also has a legal meaning. When you get a traffic ticket or if you're accused of a crime, you have to enter a plea of "guilty" or "not guilty." A "plea bargain" is when you make a deal with the prosecutor — you may plea guilty to a charge (by entering a guilty plea) that has less of a penalty and, in return, the prosecutor drops the more serious charge.
The correct usage is Plea, Plead, and has Plead. an alternative spelling of Plead is Pled. There is no such word as Pleed... however you spell it. You should say I will plea guilty, or innocent, not I will plead (pronounced pleed) guilty or innocent. It's like saying "that's me!" instead of "That's I" ,,, usage has made it acceptable, but no real meaning exists.
Tricia
3 years ago
I find this conversation both enlightening and funny. I've always been taught that "plead or pled" is the correct answer. When a news reporter uses "pleaded" it drives me nuts! After all, we didn't "readed" a book, we "read" it, right?
Tricia
3 years ago
find this conversation both enlightening and funny. I've always been taught that "plead or pled" is the correct answer. When a news reporter uses "pleaded" it drives me nuts! After all, we didn't "readed" a book, we "read" it, right?
My personal experience after teaching English for 20 years and in my work as a journalist is this: I use pled in legal or formal settings because the connotation of pled is more formal and less emotional and I use pleaded to show that the person was pleading or begging for something. Personally I would say he pled guilty, as would many lawyers, but then I would say he pleaded with the judge for a lenient sentence. In cases like this you have to remember the several hundred years that North America was isolated from England which led to things like gotten remaining and still being the past participle of get and other such variations. Connotation is one of the reasons English has so many synonyms for words which to the non-native speaker are the same and translate to one word in L1. Hope this has been a help to you. Here is one good explanation:
Pleaded is the standard past tense and past participle of the verb plea. Pled has always been considered incorrect by people who make such judgments, but it is so common that we have to accept it as an alternative form. And pled is not just an Americanism, as some have claimed. It appears just as often (about one pled for every twenty pleadeds) in current British and Canadian news publications. Australians are the exception; they still seem to shun pled almost completely.
The answer is:
Adam
5 years ago
I totally agree. It irks me to know end that every newspaper I read refers to a defendant as having “pleaded” guilty. No he didn’t “pleaded.” He plead guilty. Can’t help it. Just drives me to distraction every time I see it. Probably because I’m a criminal defense trial lawyer.
Victor
5 years ago
The verb is from Plea, as in he uttered a plea for mercy. Or 'hear my plea,' which implies that the present tense is not plead, that is past. I plea with you to consider that others pled for sanity in this. It's a simple construction, Plea, pled and has pled. It's not rocket science.
Tricia
3 years ago
find this conversation both enlightening and funny. I've always been taught that "plead or pled" is the correct answer. When a news reporter uses "pleaded" it drives me nuts! After all, we didn't "readed" a book, we "read" it, right?
Jamie
2 years ago
Which sounds better to you? He pled with her, or he pleaded with her? I know. I know. Bleed becomes bled, and lead becomes led, but pleaded is correct.
Brian
2 years ago
There is a good reason for using these as two separate terms and it's more than the sound for deciding the correct term, and also that the reason for dismissiing 'pled as a term is that it is almost a homonym for bled and can create confusion in the mind of the listener.
Pled is a definite term for a legal action. Once you have pled guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendre you have taken a definite action that has a formal meaning. When the court case is resolved then you can say you pleaded Not Guilty but changed you plea to Guilty in order to receive lenience in sentencing. In some cases you could say you had pleaded Not Guilty in full confidence of your innocence but you were presented with a case you could not win so that was why you pled Guilty.
Present/past indefinite tense is used to mean the actions which are not definite ( when its not clear whether action is in progess or didn't have a defined outcome. Pled is a past perfect tense meaning the action happened in past with a definite moment of an outcome. In this case Pled is the perfect past tense, and pleaded is the Imperfect past tense that has an indefinite outcome.
Lynne
English Tutor
Native English Speaker for 40 Years Eager to Assist you in Learning7 years ago
7 years ago
The best course is to treat plead as a weak verb, so that the correct past tense, as well as past participle, is pleaded." He goes on to say that pled and plead are alternative past- tense forms with "some standing" in American English (and that "pled" is a common variant in legal usage).
I pled guilty to murder. ( Legal usage)
I pleaded with him to reconsider using his money to buy 3000 pairs of Jordan shoes. ( Non legal usage)
The answer is:
stephen
English Tutor
Experienced English tutor with science background7 years ago
7 years ago
The past tense of plead is pleaded. However there are individuals who will likely use pled, in which case this is also correct. The more acceptable is however pleaded. They pleaded for leniency from the judge in the matter.
The answer is:
Bernard
English Tutor
Experienced Medical and Language Tutor7 years ago
7 years ago
the most acceptable past tense of plead is Pleaded. Sometimes some people tend to use Pled which may be acceptable when speaking American English, but a more widely used and grammatically correct stand will be to use the PLEADED as the past tense of Plead
The answer is:
Vitor
English Tutor
Certified Language Teacher by TESL Canada (Teaching as a Second Language)7 years ago
7 years ago
No tricks with this one it is like many other English past tenses. Just add ed to the present tense’ I plead’, ‘you plead’ etc becomes ‘I pleaded’, ‘you pleaded’ . You can use it as in this example, "She pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery"
The answer is:
Alejandro
English Tutor
Native English Speaker with Financial Services background7 years ago
7 years ago
Pleaded is the correct answer. Pled is usually considered incorrect, even though with time has gained more prominence in the English language. Example: A few days ago he pleaded guilty to all charges.
The answer is:
English Tutor
Tutor4 years ago
4 years ago
Dear Maxie,
How do you do?
It's nice to meet you here.
Here we are,
What is the past tense of to plead?
The most acceptable past form of to PLEAD is 🌟PLEADED.
BUT
🌠PLED has also become acceptable.
The most acceptable past tense of to plead is pleaded, but, through common usage (especially in the🔯 US).
✷PLED has also become acceptable in both the ✴UK and 🔯US conventions.
If you're looking for the version that will aggravate the least, opt for ✴PLEADED.
Have a wonderful Sunday !
The answer is:
Albert
English Tutor
Certified English Tutor With A Lot Of Experience.3 years ago
3 years ago
Pleaded
The answer is:
Mehran
English Tutor
Certified IELTS Teacher and Mentor with 9 years of Teaching experience Ready To Tutor2 years ago
Plead is a verb that means “to appeal or entreat earnestly.”
Plead:
making a serious and emotional appeal
arguing a case, usually in front of a court
making a plea in court regarding their guilt or innocence