SIMPLE PAST TENSE The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity that happened in the past. In other words, it started in the past and ended in the past.

STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE S + did + V He did drink milk. > He drank milk.(we used v2 form of the verb) They did play football. > They played football.

IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR AND IRREGULAR FORMS IN SIMPLE PAST TENSE.

● John baked a cake. ● They painted the fence. ● She sang a song. ● He drank a coffee.

REGULAR FORM

IRREGULAR FORM

The Past Tense of regular verbs is formed by adding ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’ to the base form of the verb, while those of irregular verbs are formed in various ways (such as, see>saw, go>went, be>was/were,

know>knew, think>thought, understand>understood.). With regular and some irregular verbs, the Past Tense form also serves as a Past Participle.

1. If the verb ends with ‘-e ‘, we add ‘ –d ‘. Examples: Present

Past

move

moved

dance

danced

use

used

2. If the verb ends with consonant + vowel + consonant, we double the final consonant and add ‘ –ed ‘. Examples: Present

Past

plan

planned

stop

stopped

prefer

preferred

3. If the verb ends with W, X or when the final syllable is not emphasized, We do not double the final consonant and add ‘–ed’. Examples:

Present

Past

show

showed

fix

fixed

allow

allowed

4. If the verb ends with two vowels + a consonant, we do not double the final consonant and add ‘–ed’. Examples: Present

Past

rain

rained

need

needed

wait

waited

5. If a two-syllable verb ends with consonant + vowel + consonant, we do not double the final consonant when the stress is on the first syllable and add ‘–ed’. Examples: Present

Past

suffer

suffered

offer

offered

happen

happened

6. If the verb ends with a consonant + vowel + ‘-l’ , we normally double the final ‘ –l ‘ and add ‘-ed’. However, in the United States (US) they do not double the ‘-l’ when the accent is on the first syllable. Examples: Present

Past (UK)

Past (US)

travel

travelled ( UK )

traveled ( US )

marvel

marvelled ( UK )

marveled ( US )

7. If the verb ends with two consonants, we do not double the final consonant add ‘-ed’. Examples: Present

Past

help

helped

add

added

warn

warned

8)If the verb ends with a consonant + ‘-y’ , we throw the final ‘ –y‘ and add ‘-ied’ at the end of the verb. Examples: Present

Past

apply

applied

reply

replied

carry

carried

9. If the verb ends with a vowel + ‘-y’ , we throw the final ‘ –y‘ and add ‘-ed’ at the end of the verb, not ‘ied’. Examples: Present

Past

enjoy

enjoyed

annoy

annoyed

play

played

IRREGULAR VERBS: As you can guess from the name of irregular verbs, it does not depend on any rules. Examples: Present

Past

become

became

begin

began

do

did

come

came

take

took

eat

ate

find

found

give

gave

Any auxiliary verbs aren’t used in positive sentences and the second form of the verb is used. ‘ Did or did not’ is used as an auxiliary verb in negative and question sentences and the verb remains simple.

Common tense markers: Ago / Yesterday / Last week, night, year, summer / Two days, four years ago/ In the past / The day / before yesterday / in 2000 / in September, etc.

● Did you watch the news last night? ● Didn’t they go to the party yesterday? ● She didn’t read the book. ● He drew beautiful pictures last week. ● I learnt Spanish last summer. ● Did you give the present to your friend? Yes, I did.

● We didn’t buy a new car. ● There were some problems. ● You were angry. ● The child was so hungry. We also use a question word (Who, What, Why etc.) in past tense. Question Words (who, what, why, etc.) + did + subject pronoun ( he, she, it, I, you, we, they) + V1 ( First Form of Verb ) 0r Question Words (who, what, why, etc.) + V2 ( Second Form of Verb )+ object pronouns ( me, you, him, her,it, us, them) Examples: ● Where did you stay last night? ● When did she go to school? ● Why did she cry?

● Who gave you this gift ? ● What made you angry?

USES OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE 1. Simple Past Tense expresses completed actions in the past. Examples: ● They walked on the beach yesterday. ● I met him when she was in London. ● He went to Paris two days ago. ● We saw him Last Sunday. ● I heard a terrible explosion last night. ● When she arrived home, your son was reading a book. ● Lisa watched a romantic movie yesterday. ● Did you visit your grandfather?

● Didn’t she study very hard for the exam? ● We didn’t enjoy the trip. ● Michael wrote her a letter last week. ● They didn’t forget to turn off the light. ● Paul answered the question correctly. 2. Simple Past Tense expresses a series of completed actions in the past . Examples: ● I visited my grandmother, stayed for 1 or 2 hour, chatted with her and went to my home. ● My brother woke up, washed my face, got dressed and left home. ● He arrived at the airport at 9:30 am, took her from the airport and came home at 14:00 pm. 3. Past Tense expresses a single period with time expressions such as for 1 hour, for five years,” all day, a whole weekend, etc.

Examples: ● I didn’t see him for 2 days. ● He had a girlfriend for 3 years. ● The students didn’t answer their teacher’s question for 10 minutes. ● She chose to stay with her mother all day. ● My father talked on the phone for 5 minutes.

4. Simple Past Tense expresses the habit in the past if it is used with adverbs of frequency like always, often, usually, etc. ( to express the habits in the past, we can use ‘used to’ at the same time.) Examples: ● I always did my homework on time when I was a student.

● My Father often read me tales before I went to bed. ● When I was young, I walked 10 miles to my workplace everyday. ● He usually played football in this garden when he was a child. ● They sometimes drank milk after they got up.

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