Talking about the past
The Simple Past is used to describe finished actions in the past. We use it when we talk about something that started and ended in the past.
Examples:
Regular verbs form the Simple Past by adding -ed to the base form of the verb.
| Base Form | Simple Past | Example |
|---|---|---|
| walk | walked | I walked to school. |
| play | played | We played tennis yesterday. |
| watch | watched | She watched a film. |
| help | helped | He helped me with my homework. |
| Rule | Example | Simple Past |
|---|---|---|
| Verb ending in consonant + vowel + consonant → double the consonant | stop | stopped |
| Verb ending in -e → add only -d | love | loved |
| Verb ending in consonant + -y → change y to i + ed | study | studied |
Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed rule. They have their own unique forms and must be memorized.
| Base Form | Simple Past | Example |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | I went to the cinema. |
| have | had | She had a great day. |
| be | was / were | I was happy. They were late. |
| see | saw | We saw a beautiful sunset. |
| come | came | He came to my party. |
| do | did | They did their homework. |
| say | said | She said "Hello". |
| get | got | I got a new bike. |
| take | took | He took his umbrella. |
| make | made | My mum made a cake. |
To make a negative sentence in Simple Past, use did not (didn't) + the base form of the verb (NOT the past form!).
| Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|
| I went to school. | I didn't go to school. |
| She played tennis. | She didn't play tennis. |
| They had fun. | They didn't have fun. |
To ask questions in Simple Past, put Did at the beginning.
| Question | Affirmative Answer | Negative Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Did you go to school? | Yes, I did. | No, I didn't. |
| Did she play football? | Yes, she did. | No, she didn't. |
| Did they watch a film? | Yes, they did. | No, they didn't. |