Past Simple Tense

Educall Language Academy


We use this tense when we talk about actions we did in the past.

Affirmative:SUBJECT+DID+OBJECT

 I

You

He

She

It

We

They

watched 

went

a movie

to school

last night.

  yesterday.

Negative:SUBJECT+DID NOT DO+OBJECT

 I

You

He

She

It

We

They

did not (didn’t) watch

  did not (didn’t) go

a movie

  to school

last night.

             yesterday.

Question:DID+SUBJECT+DO+OBJECT?

Did

 I

you

he

she

it

we

they

watch

go

last night?

yesterday?

Verbs have 2 forms in Past Simple Tense: regular and irregular

some regular verbs some irregular verbs

looked

worked

watched

talked

started

posted

decided

invited

 

traveled

enjoyed

cooked

passed

opened

walked

created

did

went

saw

spoke

began

sent

chose

read

wrote

came

had

bought

took

made

said

ate

Beware of

  • verbs ending in –e : used, lived, died, closed, believed, smiled, baked etc.
  • verbs ending in –y: studied, cried, tried, envied, tidied, fried,etc. BUT stayed, played, delayed
  • also: stopped, tapped, admitted, committed, referred

Time expressions: yesterday, last night, last month, last year, last summer, five minutes ago, an hour ago, two weeks ago, on Wednesday, on Friday, on the weekend, in the winter, in August, in 1998, in the 18th century etc.

I went to Switzerland last winter.

Steve Jobs dropped out of school last month.

Greg had an accident yesterday.

Tina took a test on Tuesday.

Did you dance at the party last night?

- Yes, I did.

Did they win the game on Friday?

-No, they didn’t.