Simple Past

Did. was. had

ed

5A

had

Simple PAST

Let's go!

simple past

24

FEBruary

We use the simple past tense for complete actions in the past.

The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action duration is not important.

It's October now, so february is in the past.

PAST SIMPLE

USES

The simple past is used for a series of actions in the past.

The action began and ended at a finished time

for repeated or habitual actions in the past.

• I received the good news and immediately called my husband.
• He studied for an hour in the morning, worked all afternoon and didn’t return home until 10 at night.

• Kate worked last Saturday.
• I didn’t go to the party yesterday.
• Did they walk to school this morning?

• We always traveled to Cancun for vacation when we were young.
• He walked 5 km. every day to work.

PAST SIMPLE

USES

It is used to talk about generalities or facts of the past.

We use it for narratives or actions from long periods of time in the past.

• The Aztec lived in Mexico.
• I played the guitar when I was a child.

• I worked for many years in a museum.
• She didn’t eat meat for years.

past simple

time

Grammatical rules:

In the simple past there are regular verbs and irregular verbs. To form the simple past with regular verbs, we use the infinitive and add the ending “-ed”. The form is the same for all people (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). Examples:

• Want = wanted
• Talk = talked
• walk = walked

past simple

edd ied double consonant + ed

Grammatical rules:

For verbs that end in an “e”, we just add “-d”. Change = changed Believe = believed If the verb ends in a short vowel and a consonant (except "y" or "w"), we double the final consonant and add "-ed". Stop = stopped Commit = committed

past simple

edd ied double consonant + ed

Grammatical rules:

With verbs that end in a consonant and an "y", the "y" is changed to an "i".and add "-ed" Study = studied Try = tried Cry = cried

AFFirMATIVE

They learned english

Subject + main verb (past tense).She was a doctor. I wanted to dance. We believed him.

NEGATIVE

Verb To be: Subject + “to be” + “not”…She wasn't a doctor. The keys weren't in the drawer. Other verbs: Subject + auxiliary verb (to do) + “not” + main verb (in infinitive)… I didn't want to dance. We didn't believe him.

Forms & structures

Affirmative, negative, interrogative

INTERROGATIVE

" To Be " + subject ..... +?Was she a doctor? Were the keys in the drawer?

exercises past simple

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. Last night we ________________ (walk) to the cinema.
2. Sam ______________ (stop) the car to take a picture.
3. They ______________________ (be) happy to be home.
4. Sally ___________ (be) disappointed she ____________ (miss) the party.
5. When I was young, we always ________________ (go) to Florida for the summer.
6. Dan _____________________________ (not/work) last week.
7. ______________ you _______________ (wash) the dishes?
8. I ______________________ (dream) I could fly last night.

check how to pronounce the "-ed" ending in regular verbs

irregular verbs

Note: There are many irregular verbs in English. Below are the three most common irregular verbs and those that act as auxiliary verbs.

• Be = Was (I, he, she, it) Were (you, we, they)
• Do = did
• Have = had

irregular verbs

Another irregular verbs: Fly = flew Drive = drove Drink = drank Eat = ate Fall = fell Come = came Break = broke Build = built