What is the difference between the word chose and choose

Most English verbs are regular. They follow a predictable pattern of conjugation. But some English verbs don’t follow the same pattern. They are called irregular verbs.

Choose is an irregular verb that tends to confuse new writers and people learning English. It doesn’t follow the same rules as most verbs, but once you learn the rules it does follow, it’s easy to know whether you should use choose or chose, depending on context.

What is the Difference Between Choose and Chose?

In this article, I will compare choose vs. chose. I will use each of them in a sentence, and, at the end, I will give you a helpful trick use when you need to determine whether to use chose or choose in your own writing.

When to Use Choose

What does choose mean? Choose (pronounced chooze) is a verb that means to pick one thing over another.

Choose is the simple present tense form of this verb. With a helping or auxiliary verb like will or should, choose becomes the simple future form as well.

One might choose which sandwich to order from a restaurant, or which night to go out with friends, or which person to marry.

Here are some examples,

• Andy has proven time and time again that he will choose money over happiness.
• “Choose carefully,” the genie said, “for your life hangs in the balance!”
• “Choose a restaurant quickly, because everything around here closes at 9pm,” Rebeca said.
• In an era of abundant good TV, how do I choose what to watch? How do I find those shows? And how do I fit those choices into a busy schedule? –The Wall Street Journal

When to Use Chose

What does chose mean? Chose (pronounced choez) is the simple past tense form of the verb choose.

Use chose to describe a decision that happened in the past, like in the following examples,

• The contestant chose what was behind door number three.
• Gary could have used this time to prepare for the race, but he chose to fool around instead.
• We were given a choice between coconuts and starvation, and we chose coconuts.

When to Use Chosen

What does chosen mean? The same verb to choose becomes chosen as a past participle, and in past perfect form with an auxiliary verb.

Use past perfect tense to describe a past event that happened before a related event. Use a past participle to modify a noun, much the same way you would use an adjective. See the sentences below.

• We had already chosen to stay home by the time Marla called us back. (Past Perfect Form)
• An organization announced on Wednesday that it had chosen the winners of $10 million grants in a competition to rethink the American high school. –The New York Times
• In the Christian Bible, the Israelites were God’s chosen people. (Past Participle)

Trick to Remember the Difference

Here is a helpful trick to remember chose vs. choose.

Chose and choose are difference tenses of the same verb to choose.

• Chose is the simple past tense form.
• Choose is the simple present and future forms.

If you are speaking about a decision that was made in the past, use chose. If the decision currently being made or will be made in the future, use choose. Since choose shares a double O with the word soon, it should be easy to remember to save choose for these contexts.

Summary

Is it choose or chose? These two spellings represent different tenses of the same verb.

• Choose is the simple present and future tense forms of the verb to choose, which means to select something instead of something else.
• Chose is the simple past tense form of the same verb.

You can remember to use choose in the future tense since that word and soon both have a double O.

I hope this article helped you understand the differences between choose and chose. You can always reread it if you need a refresher.

Remember, choose is present tense and chose is past tense. If the action is in the present, choose choose. If the action is in the past, use chose.

How do you use chose in a sentence?

Chose sentence example

1. There has to be another reason you chose me.
2. The Others betrayed you and chose Talon to replace you.
3. In spite of his size, his steps were light, as if he chose every one carefully.
4. You can’t hate humans so much if you chose me as a mate.

Is it chose or chosen?

Chosen. The words chose and chosen are both past tense forms of the verb choose. Chose is a simple past tense verb, while chosen is the past participle form. Combined with an auxiliary verb (like has or has), chosen is used to form the past perfect tense.

Is it correct to say choose your choice?

The words choice and choose are often confused by writers.Choice means an option; a decision; an opportunity to choose or select something when used as a noun. Choose means to pick; to make the choice of; to select when used as a verb. Out of the two words, ‘choice’ is the most common.

How do you use chooses?

Choose means “to pick from several options,” and it is the present tense form of the verb (the present tense form chooses is used after certain third person subjects, such as she or the committee).

How do you use the word choose?

choose, elect, and select mean to decide upon one possibility from among several.

1. choose is used for making a decision after careful thought. She chose to follow the right course.
2. elect may be used for the deliberate picking of one thing over another.
3. select is used when there are many things from which to choose.

Is it choose to or choose too?

To is a preposition with several meanings, including “toward” and “until.” Too is an adverb that can mean “excessively” or “also.” Just to be clear: two is pronounced the same as to and too, but it can’t be used instead of either of them because it’s a number.

What are the three forms of choose?

Conjugation of verb ‘Choose’

V1 Base Form (Infinitive):	To Choose
V2 Past Simple:	Chose
V3 Past Participle:	Chosen
V4 3rd Person Singular:	Chooses
V5 Present Participle/Gerund:	Choosing

Should have choose or chose?

(Don’t confuse the noun “choice” with the verb “choose.”) The simple past form of “choose” is “chose” (which rhymes with “nose”).A helping verb (such as ” has,” “have,” or “had”) usually comes before the past participle form “chosen.” The present participle form of “choose” is “choosing” (which rhymes with “losing”).

Is chose a word?

Yes, choses is in the scrabble dictionary.

What is the second form of choose?

Verb Forms of Choose

(Base) 1st	(Past) 2nd	(Past Participle) 3rd
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Get list of more Verb Forms.

What is the difference between choice and option?

Options are the things and choices are our decision. Options are fixed and choices aren’t. In other words, option is a noun for a thing and choice is a noun for your decision. They can both be used as verbs “to choose” and “to opt”, but to say “I opt” is quiet rare.

Is chose masculine or feminine?

The French word chose is a feminine noun: une chose (a thing).

What type of word is chose?

simple past tense of choose.

What is the plural of choose?

Answer. The plural form of choose is chooses.

What are the three twos?

The three words too, to, and two sound exactly alike but have three distinct usages! They are classic examples of what we refer to as homophones—words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings and spellings.

What is homophones give 10 examples?

Homonyms is a broad term for words that sound or are spelled the same but have different meanings. Let’s take a closer look at homophones.
Examples of Homophones.

ad, add	ate, eight
aunt, ant	be, bee
blew, blue	buy, by, bye
cell, sell	hear, here
hour, our	its, it’s

How do you explain a word?

to

1. (used for expressing motion or direction toward a point, person, place, or thing approached and reached, as opposed to from): They came to the house.
2. (used for expressing direction or motion or direction toward something) in the direction of; toward: from north to south.

Did not choose or chose?

Choose is the simple present and future tense forms of the verb to choose, which means to select something instead of something else. Chose is the simple past tense form of the same verb.

Is choose transitive or intransitive?

1[intransitive, transitive] to decide which thing or person you want out of the ones that are available You choose—I can’t decide. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from. choose between A and/or B She had to choose between quitting her job or hiring a nanny.

What is 2nd and 3rd form of choose?

Base form ( First Form ) : Choose. Past Simple ( Second Form ) : Chose. Past Participle ( Third Form ) : Chosen.

What is the difference between choose and chose?

Words like chose and choose are commonly confused words, but this makes sense as we learn how many different forms of the word choose exist. The verbs chose and choose both describe the act of selecting a preferred option or making a decision, and they’re each related of the same idea: choice. As you may know, the noun choice describes the task of selecting between two or more options. It’s when we put the task of choice into action that we begin confusing words like choose and chose–– but how? 

Same word, different tense form

The key to understanding the difference between choose and chose is realizing how they’re each a conjugation of the same infinitive: “to choose.” Similar examples include:

• Had vs. have
• Left vs. leave
• Slept vs. sleep
• Ate vs. eat 

In general, chose is the past tense form of the verb choose, while choose is used for present or future tense forms. It’s also worth noting how the word choose is an irregular verb, which means that its past tense form doesn’t end with the typical -ed. Instead, the past participle of choose is chosen. 

Here a few examples of other irregular verbs and their infinitive vs. past participle forms: 

• Beat (beat)
• Draw (drew)
• Fly (flew)
• Pay (paid)
• Write (wrote)

What does chose mean?

The word chose is the simple past tense form of the verb choose. Chose is a transitive verb and it defines the act of making a decision after consideration in the past-tense. 

For example,

We chose to read The Odyssey in high school. 
Last week he chose to pick up his toys.

While it is used less regularly, chose is also used as a noun to describe a personal item and pronounced as “shoz” instead of “ch-owes.” 

What is the synonym for chose?

Since chose is the past-tense conjugation of choose, the synonyms for chose are also past-tense: accepted, appointed, decided on, elected, favored, opted for, picked, prefered, selected.

What does choose mean?

The word choose defines the act of making a decision that has not yet occurred or is in the process of occurring. The word choose stems from the Old English cēosan, which is of Proto-Germanic origin and translates to choose, select, decide, accept, and approve. 

Unlike its past tense form, the word choose is conjugated into several verb forms that can occur in the past, present, or future tense. The infinitive form of choose is “to choose,” and is conjugated into chose, chosen, choose, and choosing. 

There are other circumstances where we use the word choose outside of its formal dictionary format. We use the word choose for adjectives like “choosy,” which describes someone as being very picky or too selective. For example,

When it comes to boyfriends, my sister is not choosy enough. 
Don’t invite Chris over for dinner, he’s too choosy to like our food anyways.

We also use the word choose in phrases like, “cannot choose but,” which describes the experience of feeling compelled or obligated. For example,

When the roller coaster drops, I cannot choose but to scream.

Synonyms of choose:

Accept, adopt, appoint, cast, decide, designate, elect, fancy, favor, cherry-pick, Cull, handpick, name, opt for, pick, prefer, select, single out, tag, take. 

Antonyms of choose:

Abstain, decline, discard, refuse, reject, throw away, throw out, turn down.

Chose vs. choose verb forms: the root of all confusion

The word choose isn’t as simple as we’d like to believe. This is especially true for students who are learning English as a Second Language (ESL) since our irregular verb doesn’t always follow the standard “they will,” “they do,” “they did” format. It’s worth noting how the most common auxiliary verbs used with chosen and choosing are “have” and “be,” but neither auxiliary verb is used with chose or choose.

The infinitive verb, to choose, is used as choose, chose, chosen, and choosing–– which are all used for overlapping conjugations. So, before we dive into sentence examples, here is a quick run-down of how choose is used across the verb tense spectrum: 

Chose

Simple past tense: We chose.

Choose

Infinitive: To choose.
Present tense: We choose.
Future tense: We will choose.
Imperative mood (forms command or request): Let’s choose.

Chosen

Present perfect tense (occurred in indefinite past and/or continued into the present):  We have chosen. 
Past perfect tense (completed action from the past): We had chosen.
Future perfect tense (to take place in the future):  We will have chosen.
Perfect participle (completed action): Having chosen.

Choosing

Past continuous (occurred sometime in the past): We were choosing.
Present perfect continuous (past event continuing into the present): We have been choosing.
Past perfect continuous (started in the past until a certain past point): We had been choosing.
Present continuous: We are choosing.
Future continuous (happening now and into the future): We will be choosing.
Future perfect continuous: We will have been choosing.
Present participle (continuous state): Choosing.

How to use chose vs. choose with the correct tense form

Now that we have a clear idea for how choose is used for each verb tense, we can see the differences in how to use choose and chose in a sentence. 

How do you use chose in a sentence?

Chose is the preterite or simple past tense of the verb choose: 

I chose to watch Lord of the Rings. 
Frodo chose to destroy the ring.

How do you use choose in a sentence?

Since to choose is the infinitive form of choose, we use the word choose to describe the act of selecting a number of possibilities in the simple present tense, simple future tense, or imperative mood.

Simple present tense

We choose Star Trek because it’s better than Star Wars. 
I cannot choose Star Trek over Star Wars. 

Simple future tense

We will choose The Next Generation over Enterprise.
I will choose Picard over Riker every time. 

Imperative mood

Let’s choose between Voyager and Deep Space Nine.
Don’t choose Klingon as your second language on dating apps. 

How to use chose vs. choose as transitive and intransitive verbs

Other variables create confusion between choose vs chose, such as how they’re written in a sentence as either transitive or intransitive verbs. The difference between either form depends on whether a direct object follows the verb or not. 

How to use chose and choose as transitive verbs

To use a transitive verb correctly, the verb is received by the sentence object. For the object to receive the action, a transitive verb occurs after the noun-in-action and before the object receiving the action. For example, 

Molly chose red paint over blue paint. 

In this example, Molly is the noun that is committing the action, chose. The red paint is the sentence’s direct object receiving the action, while the blue paint is the sentence’s indirect object. In either case, both objects receive the verb. 

As a transitive verb, choose is used to describe a decision made after deliberation, a choice made out of preference, or making a selection out of several options in the present or future tense. For example,

We need you to choose a film for movie night. 
Can you choose him over my brother? 
I might choose to stay at home. 

How to use chose and chose as intransitive verbs

Unlike transitive verbs, intransitive verbs do not need an object to act on. In fact, if you place an object after an intransitive verb in a sentence, the sentence is grammatically incorrect. Let’s take a look at an example using two intransitive verbs:

Amy chose to jump river.  

For this example, chose and jump both act as intransitive verbs. There is no direct object receiving the verb chose, but since the word “river” is used as a direct object after “jump,” the sentence doesn’t make sense. The only words used after intransitive verbs are adverbs or prepositional phrases. Let’s take a look at the example with a prepositional phrase:

Amy chose to jump into the river. 
Amy chose to jump the river. 

Depending on which preposition used, their use can change entire meanings a sentence. By adding “into the” before “river,” we understand that Amy decided to plunge herself into a river. But if we only use “the,” we understand that Amy decided to hurl herself over the river.

When used as an intransitive verb, choose still carries the same definition, but is used without a direct object in the sentence. For example,

Why must I choose?
What options are there to choose from? 
You can bring whoever you choose for the wedding. 

How to remember the difference between choose vs. chose?

When it comes to chose vs choose, the issue isn’t that people don’t understand the difference between past or present tense. It’s simply that we’re more likely to battle autocorrect when two words are spelled very similarly. When pronounced aloud, it’s easy to tell chose and choose apart and which context they’re appropriately used for: 

Chose is pronounced as “ch-owes.” 
Choose is pronounced as “ch-ooze.”  

Each word is pronounced through one syllable, but the extra letter o emphasizes the “z” ending in the word choose. So, based one these two distinctions of orthoepy, we can attempt to associate the spelling of chose with the correct tense-usage: 

Pronounce chose = sounds with an ‘owe’ = you “owe” what you’ve used in the past

Pronounce choose = sounds with an ‘ooze’ = objects “ooze” now or later.

FAQ: Related to Chose vs. choose

What are adverbs and prepositional phrases?

As we can see from our examples from the intransitive verb section, prepositional phrases and adverbs are important for learning how to use transitive and intransitive verbs correctly. But if you don’t recognize what these terms mean, don’t worry–– you use them more often than you think. 

There are countless types of adverbs we use in the English language, and we use them to describe other adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs. We can categorize types of adverbs based on how they describe the actions within the sentence, such as: How? Where? When? How much? How often?

Examples of adverbs: quickly, away, later, entirely, almost, often, never. 

A prepositional phrase connects nouns to other adjectives or verbs in the same sentence, and they are often necessary for whole phrases to make sense. 

Examples of prepositional phrases: after, at, before, by, for, in, of, on, to, past. 

Test Yourself!

To choose or to chose? Do you you think you know the difference? Test your choose vs. chose knowledge with the following multiple-choice questions. 

1. The present tense of the verb choose is not synonymous with which term?
   a. Select
   b. Single out
   c. Espouse
   d. Reject
2. The past tense of choose is chose, but which verb form is also used to describe the infinitive “choose” in the past tense? 
   a. Chosen
   b. Choosing
   c. Choose
   d. Chosen and choosing
3. Meena hasn’t ________ which month she plans to emigrate from the United States. 
   a. Chose
   b. Choose
   c. Chosen
   d. None of the above
4. Hundreds of Americans ________ to immigrate to Canada.
   a. Chose
   b. Choose
   c. Choosing
   d. Chose and choose
5. Determine the correct verb forms shown in the following statement: “We’re choosing the best course of action, but we must choose before midnight.”
   a. Future tense, imperative 
   b. Present perfect continuous, future perfect tense
   c. Present continuous, present perfect tense
   d. Present continuous, future tense

Answers

1. D
2. D
3. C
4. D
5. D

Sources

1. “Chose.” Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
2. “Chose.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., 2019.
3. “Choose.” Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
4. “Choose.” Online Etymology Dictionary, 2019. 
5. “Choose.” Lexico, Oxford University Press, 2019.
6. “Choose.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., 2019.
7. “Grammar: Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.” Walden University, 2019. 
8. “Irregular verb.” Dictionary.com, 2019. 
9. “Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.” The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. 

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Choose and chose sound and look similar and have related meanings, so they are quite often mixed up in writing. However, there are specific rules about when to use choose and chose. Confusing them will make your writing look clumsy and change the context of your sentence.

Choose vs. Chose: What is the Difference?

• Choose (pronounced chooze/chews – rhymes with snooze/booze/news) is an irregular verb, meaning to pick something from a selection of options or to decide on a course of action. Synonyms for choose are opt (for), decide (on), pick or select.
• Chose (pronounced choez/choes –rhymes with goes/toes/knows) is the past tense of choose. Thus, chose means to have picked something from a selection of options or to have decided on a course of action.Synonyms for chose are opted (for), decided (on), picked or selected.

If choose was a regular verb, we would expect the past tense to be ‘choosed’. But it’s an irregular verb, and we use chose instead. The word ‘choosed’ does not exist in English. Neither does chosed.

Consider these two similar sentences that show the important context created by choose and chose:

• I chose to wear white on my wedding day, while my wife wore yellow.
• I choose to wear white on my wedding day, though my wife will wear yellow.

The first example suggests that the wedding was in the past. The second example suggests that the wedding is in the present or near future. Only a single ‘O’ is added to make the sentences different, but the context completely changes.

When to Use Choose + Original Examples

Use choose when describing the action of picking something in the present tense:

• I often choose a red tie for work on Fridays.
• We can’t choose our parents.
• If you choose me for the job, you won’t regret it.

Remember that choose is a verb, so it must agree with its subject:

• Since he is on a diet, Estevan chooses between chocolate and popcorn each time he goes to the movies.
• Mia chooses a black dress from her wardrobe to go with her new shoes.

If choose takes an auxiliary verb, like go or will, it can form the future tense:

• They should choose a quarterback in the NFL Draft.
• Will you choose red or white wine with your dinner?
• Dan is going to choose a new mentor for his graduate program.
• Henry won’t choose a date without consulting me, will he?

When to Use Chose + Original Examples

Use chose when describing the action of picking something in the simple past tense:

• I chose to go to the movies last Saturday.
• We chose to go to Florida on vacation, and it rained the whole time.
• Napoleon chose to invade Russia, which proved to be a big mistake.

Please be aware that while chose is the past tense of choose, it is not the past participle: Chosen is the past participle of choose, used to form the past perfect tense with an auxiliary verb:

• The teacher had chosen the winners before the exam results were known.
• It emerged they had chosen three new players, instead of two players like commonly thought.
• America has chosen its next President; she will be sworn into office in January.

*Chosen can also be used to modify a noun, such as the chosen one or God’s chosen people.

Tips to Remember the Difference

How to remember the difference between choose and chose? Some grammarians will advise that you should think about the fact choose is happening in the present, suggesting you should look at the double ‘O’ and associate it with double ‘O’ words like soon, i.e. if you choose now it will happen soon. You could also focus on the fact that chose and past are shorter words than choose and present.

Another good tip is to replace the sentence with those regular verbs that are synonyms of choose and chose. For example:

• I chose chicken for dinner last night.

We know chose is right because last night is telling us it is in the past, but we can double check with these past tense synonyms of chose, all of which are regular verbs ending in ‘ed’.

• I picked chicken for dinner last.
• I selected chicken for dinner last night.

Similarly, we can double check the use of choose with its present tense synonyms.

• We choose James for the team now, as he has clearly become the one we want on the team.
• We pick James for the team now, as he has clearly become the one we want on the team.
• We select James for the team now, as he has clearly become the one we want on the team.

Summary

While it can be tricky to remember the difference between choose and chose, there is a clear difference in the usage of the words. Chose is always the (simple) past tense, whereas choose is always the present tense or the future tense when combined with an auxiliary verb. Using choose and chose correctly is important for the context of your sentence, i.e. when the action of choosing took place.

Some more original examples of choose and chose in English:

• I can’t choose between candy and ice cream; they’re both delicious.
• We chose both candy and ice cream when we went to the movies last week.
• Choose your friends wisely.
• Given the choice of soccer or basketball, we always choose the latter.
• In the past, we chose baseball over soccer and basketball, but not now.
• We would have chosen ice hockey, but there was no ice rink in our town.