read

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈriːd/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/rid/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(rēd; v.past, adj. red)

Inflections of 'read' (v): (⇒ conjugate)
reads
v 3rd person singular
reading
v pres p
read
v past
read
v past p
WordReference Collins English Usage © 2025
read
reading to yourself
When you read /riːd/ a piece of writing, you look at it and understand what it says.
Why don't you read your letter?
The past tense and -ed participle of read is read /red/.
I read through the whole paper.
Have you read that article I gave you?
reading to someone else
If you read something such as a book to someone, you say the words so that the other person can hear them. When you use read like this, it has two objects. If the indirect object is a pronoun, it usually goes in front of the direct object.
I'm going to read him some of my poems.
I read her the two pages dealing with plants.
If the indirect object is not a pronoun, it usually goes after the direct object. When this happens, you put to in front of the indirect object.
Read books to your baby – this helps to develop language and listening skills.
You also put the indirect object after the direct object when the direct object is a pronoun.
You will have to read it to him.
You can also omit the direct object.
I'll go up and read to Sam for five minutes.
'read' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

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