kneel
Base form
kneel
/niːl/
Past simple
kneltknelt / kneeled
/nelt//nelt/ /niːld/
Past participle
kneltknelt / kneeled
/nelt//nelt/ /niːld/
MeaningB2
to go down on your knees
to kneel in prayer
In use
- Imperative · Form 1Kneel down so the children behind you can see.
- Negative · Form 1Don’t kneel on the cold floor in your new jeans.
- Past simple · Form 2Yesterday Grandma knelt in the garden to plant tulips.
- Past simple · Form 2At the end of the film last night, he knelt and asked her to marry him.
- Present perfect · Form 3I’ve never knelt on such a cold stone floor before.
- Past perfect · Form 3The players had knelt before kick-off.
Watch out
Knelt /nelt/ keeps the silent k, like knee; kneeled is also used, especially in American English. Nelt and kneelt are wrong.
Same pattern
A — B — BForms two and three are the same
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