drink

 To drink is to consume some sort of liquid. The word "drink" is an irregular verb:

• She drinks coffee for breakfast. (present tense)
• We drank pop at the party. (past tense)
• What do you like to drink? (infinitive)
• John can’t drink anything that has alcohol in it.
• The children haven’t drunk their milk. (This sentence is in the present prefect tense. Many people avoid using the past participle form of "drink." See the examples below.)

You can also use the word "drink" as a noun:

• I need a drink of water.
• This drink has too much sugar in it.
• There were a lot of drinks at the party.
• Tom had too many drinks. (Often, using the word "drink" alone means that the drink had alcohol in it.)
• We stopped off at the bar for a drink.

The past participle form of "drink" is "drunk." However, the word "drunk" also means "inebriated," or someone has consumed too much alcohol. For this reason, some people avoid using the past participle, "drunk," by choosing a different verb. The verb "have" is a good substitute.

• She hasn’t drunk all of her milk. (awkward)
• She hasn’t finished all of her milk. (better)
• I’ve never drunk that before. (awkward)
• I’ve never had that before. (better)

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This page was first published on September 5, 2012. It was updated on August 17, 2015.