Chose is the past tense of the verb “choose,” meaning to pick or select one option from several possibilities. When you chose something, you made a decision about what you wanted.

If your teacher let you pick your project topic yesterday, you chose the one that interested you most. If you selected chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla last week, you chose chocolate. The word describes a decision that already happened, something in the past.

Notice the difference from “choose” (present) and “chosen” (past participle). You choose today, you chose yesterday, and you have chosen many times before. For example: “I always choose carefully, I chose this book last month, and I have chosen well.”

Sometimes people confuse “chose” with “choose” in writing because they sound similar. Remember that chose rhymes with “hose” and describes something you already decided. Chose captures that completed action.