foresee
Base form
foresee
/fɔːˈsiː//fɔːrˈsiː/
Past simple
foresaw
/fɔːˈsɔː//fɔːrˈsɔː/
Past participle
foreseen
/fɔːˈsiːn//fɔːrˈsiːn/
MeaningC1
to know that something is going to happen before it happens
for the foreseeable future
In use
- After a modal verb · Form 1Nobody can foresee every problem in a new job.
- Question · Form 1Did anyone foresee the storm last weekend?
- Past simple · Form 2In 1990 few people foresaw how important the internet would become.
- Past simple · Form 2Last year the manager foresaw the crisis and saved money.
- Passive · Form 3The problems were not foreseen by the planners.
- Past perfect · Form 3Nobody had foreseen how cold the winter would be.
Watch out
Foresaw, foreseen, like saw, seen: nobody could have foreseen it. Foreseed is wrong, and forsaw drops the e.
Same pattern
A — B — CAll three forms differ
Irregular VerbsLearn all three forms for good
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