Simple past - 1
Simple past is also called past simple.
The simple past is used in the following situations:
- The simple past expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times.
- It can also be used for actions taking place one after another
or in the middle of another action.
For regular verbs, in the simple past you just add “ed” behind the verb.
For irregular verbs, use the past form.
See these examples:
- choose - chose
- go - went
- see - saw
- have - had
- do - did
- be - was
See a list of irregular verbs in this link (the second column): irregular verbs
Simple past - 2
Use of Simple Past
- action in the past taking place once, never or several times
Example: He visited his parents every weekend.
- actions in the past taking place one after the other
Example: He came in, took off his coat and sat down.
- action in the past taking place in the middle of another action
Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.
- if sentences type II (If I talked, …)
Example: If I had a lot of money, I would share it with you.
| Exceptions in spelling |
example |
| After a final 'e' only ad 'd' instead of 'ed' |
Love - loved |
| Final consonant after a short, stressed vowel, a vowel is doubled |
Admit - admitted |
| Final 'l' after a consonant is doubled. |
Travel - travelled |
| Final 'y' afer a consonant becomes 'i'. |
Hurry - hurried |
Simple past - 3
Signal words of Simple Past
- yesterday
- ..... ago (Two minutes ago)
- In ..... (In 1990 ...).
- The other day
- Last .... (Last Friday)
- If .... (If I studied, I would pass)
If in combination with would + infinitive (whole verb).
| Examples |
| Yesterday it rained. |
| She visited her friend in 2012. |
| We saw the film last week. |
| The football match started an hour ago. |
| If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house. |
Simple past - 4
Past simple questions
To create a question in past simple we normally put DID at the beginning of the question, then add a subject (the person or thing that does the action) followed by the base form of the verb and only then add the rest of the sentence.
We don’t use DID in questions that have the verb To Be or Modal Verbs (can, must, might, should etc.).
Examples
| affirmative |
negative |
question |
| He answered a question. |
He did not answer a question. |
Did he answer a question? |
| He went to school. |
He did not go to school. |
Did he go to school? |
| I bought bread. |
I did not buy bread. |
Did I buy bread? |
| They travelled to London. |
They did not travel to London. |
Did they travel to London? |
| You said. |
You did not say. |
Did you say? |
| They taught. |
They did not teach. |
Did they teach? |
| We gave. |
We did not give. |
Did we give? |
| The hotel was very nice. |
The hotel was not very nice. |
Was the hotel nice? |
