Went is the plain past tense and stands on its own: "She went to the market yesterday." Gone is the past participle and needs a helper verb — have, has, had or a form of be — in front of it: "She has gone to the market." Strip out the helper and gone becomes wrong.
One verb, two past forms
Go has two backward-looking forms and they are not interchangeable. Went is the simple past. Gone is the past participle, which is a form that never works alone.
- We went to the coast on Saturday.
- We have gone to the coast every summer since 2018.
- By the time I arrived, they had gone.
The one-second test
Look at the word immediately before it. Is there a have, has, had, having, is, was or been? Then use gone. Nothing there? Use went.
Watch out for contractions, which hide the helper: he's gone, they'd gone, I've gone all contain one. If you can expand the apostrophe into has, had or have, gone is right.
What each one means
Went reports a finished event at a definite time: I went to the gym before work. It pairs naturally with time markers — yesterday, last night, in 2019, an hour ago.
Have gone connects the past to now: He's gone out means he isn't here at the moment. Had gone puts one past event before another: The train had gone by the time we reached the platform.
The errors that show up in writing
- I should have went. → I should have gone. After any form of have, including should have, could have and would have, the participle is required.
- He's went home. → He's gone home.
- I gone to the shop. → I went to the shop.
"Should have went" is the most common of these in edited prose, because have gets swallowed in speech as should've and the ear stops registering it.
Be straight about dialect
Forms like he's went and I've went are ordinary in several regional varieties of English, including parts of Scotland, Ireland and the United States. They are not sloppiness, and in dialogue or informal speech they carry their own logic. But they are not accepted in standard written English, so keep the helper-plus-gone pattern in anything formal.
Gone beyond the verb
Gone also works as a straight adjective meaning absent or finished: The cake is gone. Those days are long gone. Went can never do this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it "should have went" or "should have gone"?
Should have gone. Any form of have — including should have, would have and could have — must be followed by the participle, and that's gone.
Can I say "I've went there before"?
Not in standard writing. Use "I've gone there before" or, more naturally for a past visit you returned from, "I've been there before".
Which is right: "he gone" or "he went"?
"He went" if there's no helper verb: "He went out at six." "He gone" only works with one added: "He has gone out."