Past Simple

Use of the Past Simple

The Past Simple is used to write and talk about completed actions that happened in a time before the present. It is the basic form of the past tense in English. Study the following information how to form the simple past and how to form the negation and questions.

Regular Verbs

How to form: Infinitive + ed = 2nd form

Examples:

walk + ed = walked

laugh + ed = laughed

want + ed = wanted

Note:

cry - cried - y » i

carry - carried - y » i

love - loved - no e

hope - hoped - no e

stop - stopped - if you speak a short vowel » doubling

drop -dropped - if you speak a short vowel » doubling

Key words: yesterday, last week (month, Monday, October,...), in 1984, ago

Irregular Verbs

1st form	2nd form
am, is	was
are	were
get	got
go	went
see	saw
do	did
take	took
have	had

Irregular verbs lists: FRENCH / GERMAN / ITALIAN / SPANISH

Negation of the Past Simple

How to form: didn't (= did not) + 1st form

He didn't go to her last party. They didn't like his story.

BUT: was not (wasn't), were not (weren't), could not (couldn't)

Questions in the Past Simple

How to form: did + 1st form

Did he go to her last party? Did they like his story?

Where did they live? How did she feel?

Question word - did - person - verb

BUT: Was he angry? Were they late? Could they swim?

Exercises:

Exercise 1

Exercise 1 Answers

Exercise 2

Exercise 2 Answers

Exercise 3

Exercise 3 Answers

Exercise 4

Exercise 4 Answers