What am I bid?

February 12th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

For the kinds of bidding involving money or other quantities, the past tense and past participle of “bid” are also “bid”:

“We bid $500 for the package, but we were outbid at the last moment.”

If you feel like using “bidded,” don’t.

For saying goodbye or doing someone’s bidding, the past tense of “bid” is “bade” (which rhymes with “mad,” not “made”), and the past participle is “bidden” (not the same as “Biden,” the new veep).

“Last night we bade farewell to the outgoing president.”

“The judge expects you to do as you were bidden.”

If those last two seem strange, think of the word “forbidden.” That adjective is also the past participle of the verb “forbid.” And “forbade” (sometimes without the “e”) is the past tense.

That should make them less forbidding.

And with that, I bid you adieu.

Entry Filed under: verb tenses, word choices