Past Simple
Definition of the simple past tense
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.
Examples
- John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
- My father died last year.
- He lived in Fiji in 1976.
- We crossed the Channel yesterday.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain
past time expressions
frequency: often, sometimes, always an indefinite point in time: the other day,
- I sometimes walked home at lunchtime. ages ago, a long time ago
- I often brought my lunch to school.
- People lived in caves a long time
a definite point in time: last week, when I was a ago.
child, yesterday, six weeks ago - She played the piano when she was
- We saw a good film last week.
a child.
- Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
- She finished her work atseven o'clock
- I went to the theatre last night
Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of
time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.
Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may
be different.
Forming the simple past tense
Patterns of simple past tense for regular verbs
Affirmative Negative
Subject + verb + ed Subject + did not + infinitive without to
I skipped. They didn't go.
Interrogative Interrogative negative
Did + subject + infinitive without to Did not + subject + infinitive without to
Did she arrive? Didn't you play?
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Past Simple
Simple past tense of to be, to have, to do To Walk
Subject Verb Affirmative Negative Interrogative
Be Have Do I walked I didn't walk Did I walk?
I was had did You walked You didn't walk Did you walk?
You were had did He walked He didn't walk Did he walk?
He/She/It was had did We walked We didn't walk Did we walk?
We were had did They walked They didn't walk Did they walk?
You were had did
They were had did
Notes on affirmative, negative, & interrogative forms
Affirmative
The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.
- I was in Japan last year
- She had a headache yesterday.
- We did our homework last night.
Negative and interrogative Examples
For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to - They weren't in Rio last summer.
do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did", e.g. We - We didn't have any money.
didn't do our homework last night. - We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed - We didn't do our exercises this morning.
using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by simply adding - Were they in Iceland last January?
not or the contraction "n't". - Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
- Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?
The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past
Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in
normally uses the auxiliary "did".
the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.
Simple past, irregular verbs
Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.
to go to give
- He went to a club last night. - We gave her a doll for her birthday.
- Did he go to the cinema last night? - They didn't give John their new address.
- He didn't go to bed early last night. - Did Barry give you my passport?
to come
- My parents came to visit me last July.
- We didn't come because it was raining.
- Did he come to your party last week?
