1. Introduction
Past tense describe an completed action that has happend in the past, many past tense verbs are formed by adding “ed” to the verb : paly = played, speak speaked …
2. How to Form a Past Simple
2.1. Regular Verbs
To form a past simple with regular verbs you will add “ed” to the verb like :
- I closed the door.
- She cooked a dinner
- My father died last year.
- She lived in Paris in 1988.
- It rained yesterday.
- Jack watched TV all night.
2.2. Regular Verbs ending in an “…e”
Regular verbs ending in a silent “e” (live, close,wipe etc..) take /-d/ in the simple past and past participle:
- I lived in New York since 2000.
- He closed the window.
- they wiped the floor.
2.3. Regular Verbs ending in an “…y”
Regular verbs ending in a consonant + y take /-ied/ in the simple past and past participle (the y becomes an i followed by /-ed/)
- marry=married
- pply / applied; bully / bullied; bury / buried;
- carry / carried; copy / copied; cry / cried;
- dry / dried; ferry / ferried; fry / fried;
- hurry / hurried; marry married;
- parry / parried; pry / pried; query / queried;
- rely / relied; tarry / tarried; tidy / tidied;
- try / tried; vary / varied; worry / worried
3. Special cases of the -ed forms:
Follow these rules when there is a consonant after a vowel (stop, ban, open, offer…)
- If there is a consonant after a stressed vowel at the end of the word, double the consonant
stop – stopped
ban – banned
swap – swapped - If the vowel is not stressed, we do not double it:
open – opened (Here the stress is on’o’, not the ‘e’.)
offer – offered ( Here the stress is on ‘o’, not the ‘e’.)
4. Simple past, irregular verb
Some verbs are irregular in the simple past:
to go
- He went to a club last night.
- Did he go to the cinema last night?
- He didn’t go to bed early last night.
to give
- We gave her a doll for her birthday.
- They didn’t give Jean their new address.
- Did Barry give you my passport?
to come
- My parents came to visit me last month.
- We didn’t come because it was raining.
- Did he come to your party last month?
Table of the most common irregular verbs :
| infinitive |
|---|
| be |
| I am |
| he is |
| we are |
| beat |
| become |
| begin |
| bet* |
| blow |
| break |
| bring |
| build |
| burst |
| buy |
| catch |
| choose |
| come |
| cost |
| cut |
| deal |
| do |
| draw |
| drink |
| drive |
| eat |
| fall |
| feed |
| feel |
| fight |
| find |
| fly |
| forget |
| freeze |
| get |
| give |
| go |
| grow |
| hang |
| have |
| hear |
| hide |
| hit |
| hold |
| hurt |
| keep |
| know |
| lay |
| lead |
| leave |
| lend |
| let |
| lie** |
| light* |
| lose |
| make |
| mean |
| meet |
| pay |
| put |
| read |
| ride |
| ring |
| rise |
| run |
| say |
| see |
| sell |
| send |
| set |
| shake |
| steal |
| shine |
| shoot |
| show* |
| shut |
| sing |
| sink |
| sit |
| sleep |
| slide |
| speak |
| spend |
| spring |
| stand |
| stick |
| swear |
| sweep |
| swim |
| swing |
| take |
| teach |
| tear |
| tell |
| think |
| throw |
| understand |
| wake* |
| wear |
| weave |
| win |
| write |
| simple past |
|---|
| was/were |
| I was |
| he was |
| we were |
| beat |
| became |
| began |
| bet |
| blew |
| broke |
| brought |
| built |
| burst |
| bought |
| caught |
| chose |
| came |
| cost |
| cut |
| dealt |
| did |
| drew |
| drank |
| drove |
| ate |
| fell |
| fed |
| felt |
| fought |
| found |
| flew |
| forgot |
| froze |
| got |
| gave |
| went |
| grew |
| hung |
| had |
| heard |
| hid |
| hit |
| held |
| hurt |
| kept |
| knew |
| laid |
| led |
| left |
| lent |
| let |
| lay |
| lit |
| lost |
| made |
| meant |
| met |
| paid |
| put |
| read |
| rode |
| rang |
| rose |
| ran |
| said |
| saw |
| sold |
| sent |
| set |
| shook |
| stole |
| shone |
| shot |
| showed |
| shut |
| sang |
| sank |
| sat |
| slept |
| slid |
| spoke |
| spent |
| sprang |
| stood |
| stuck |
| swore |
| swept |
| swam |
| swung |
| took |
| taught |
| tore |
| told |
| thought |
| threw |
| understood |
| woke |
| wore |
| wove |
| won |
| wrote |
| past participle |
|---|
| been |
| I have been |
| he has been |
| we have been |
| beaten |
| become |
| begun |
| bet |
| blown |
| broken |
| brought |
| built |
| burst |
| bought |
| caught |
| chosen |
| come |
| cost |
| cut |
| dealt |
| done |
| drawn |
| drunk |
| driven |
| eaten |
| fallen |
| fed |
| felt |
| fought |
| found |
| flown |
| forgotten |
| frozen |
got, gotten  |
| given |
| gone |
| grown |
| hung |
| had |
| heard |
| hidden |
| hit |
| held |
| hurt |
| kept |
| known |
| laid |
| led |
| left |
| lent |
| let |
| lain |
| lit |
| lost |
| made |
| meant |
| met |
| paid |
| put |
| read |
| ridden |
| rung |
| risen |
| run |
| said |
| seen |
| sold |
| sent |
| set |
| shaken |
| stolen |
| shone |
| shot |
| shown |
| shut |
| sung |
| sunk |
| sat |
| slept |
| slid |
| spoken |
| spent |
| sprung |
| stood |
| stuck |
| sworn |
| swept |
| swum |
| swung |
| taken |
| taught |
| torn |
| told |
| thought |
| thrown |
| understood |
| woken |
| worn |
| woven |
| won |
| written |
5. Notes on affirmative, negative, & interrogative forms
5.1. Affirmative:
The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.
- I was in paris last year
- She had a headache yesterday.
- We did our homework last night.
5.1. Interrogative:
Past simple in question, for all verbs (regular & irregular) in simple past we use auxiliary “to do” but we need the participle tense so we will use did + infinitive form of the verb :
Example:
- Did she talk to him this morning?
- Did you ride your bicycles yesterday?
- Did they work on the farm last year ?
5.1. Negative:
Past simple in the negation we also use participle tense of the verb “to do” = did, For the negative and interrogative simple past form of “to do” as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary “did” :
did + not (didn’t) + infinitive form of the verb
- I didn’t have any money.
- He didn’t have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
47120cookie-checkPast tense 1 – Simple past tense
