Past simple

THE SIMPLE PAST

WHEN TO USE THE SIMPLE PAST ?

To talk about actions that happened at a definite time in the past :

* Martin broke his leg last week.

* It was sunny yesterday.

* We played a handball match on Saturday.

yesterday the day before yesterday in 1986 in March at 8 o'clock

last Monday last weekend last summer three days ago five years ago ...

Time markers

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES

regular verb

-ED

subject

irregular verb in the preterite form

OR...

REGULAR VERBS : spelling rules

Verbs ending in vowel+Y take -ED : play playED

Verbs ending in -E take -D : like likeD

Most regular verbs take -ED : work workED

Short verbs ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the consonant and take -ED : stop stopPED

Verbs ending in consonant+Y drop the Y and take -IED : study studIED

NEGATIVE SENTENCES

DIDN'T

subject

infinitive verb

He didn't like his birthday present.

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

DID

infinitive verb

subject

Did you go skiing last February?

BE in the simple past

1 BE is an auxiliary verb, so there is no need to use DID

2 BE is the only irregular verb with two past forms : WAS and WERE I was tired; you were late; she was English; we were on holiday; they were happy

3 In negative sentences, NOT comes after WAS and WERE He wasn't in a good mood. You weren't here

4 In interrogative sentences, WAS and WERE come before the subject Was he in class? Were they at the cinema?

Understood? Now you can talk about the past !