The past simple tense is used to describe actions or events that happened at a specific time in the past. It’s a fundamental tense in English and is relatively straightforward in terms of formation and use. In this lesson, we learn how to form and use the past simple tense.

Form and Use of the Past Simple Tense

It is important to know how the past simple tense is formed and when it is used in daily communication basis.

How to form the past simple tense

The past simple is usually formed by adding d, ed, or ied to the base form of the verb, however, in English there are many irregular verbs that take on a completely different form in the past tense. Let’s look at the general structure of this tense with example sentences and the regular and irregular verbs below:

Positive: S + V-ED/V2 + Obj

Negative: S + DID NOT (didn’t) + V bare + Obj

Questions: (Question Word: What/Where …) Did + S + V bare + obj?

I wanted to be a pilot.
They needed a new house.
He didn’t go to school last week.
Tina did not want to be singer.
Did you meet him at school today? Yes, I did.
Did she go to Paris with you? No, she didn’t.

She went to ABC High School in 1986.
We slept for 5 hours during the flight.
Mr. and Mrs Smith did not go to Japan.
They didn’t arrive at the airport at 8 pm.
Where did you meet him today?
I met him at school today.

You can also learn: The Present Continuous Tense

Regular and Irregular Verbs

Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding the suffix “-ed” (e.g., “walked, liked”).

answer – answered
ask – asked
work – worked
live – lived

Irregular verbs are verbs that form their simple past and past participles in some way other than by adding the suffix “-ed” (e.g., “sat, got, met”).

go – went
buy – bought
do – did
sleep – slept
think – thought

List of Irregular verbs

It is really important that we should memorise as many irregular verbs as possible, because you have to use the right verbs in the sentences of the past simple tense. We provide free list of irregular verbs you can download. Get your list of irregular verbs now.

How to Use the past simple tense

The past simple tense is used to talk about actions completed at the definite time in the past. Usually, the time phrases, like yesterday, three weeks ago, last year, when I was young, are used in the sentences.

She bought this car last week.
I didn’t go to work yesterday, I was sick.
My parents travelled to Paris on holiday last year.
I got up early and went to school when I was young.

We use the past simple tense talk about the habitual actions or state in the past. When the habits are talked about, we want to say that we ‘used to’ do them in the past.

I did a lot of exercises every day. But I’m too busy these days so I don’t work out much.
I lived in a small house in town.
As children, we played all kinds of games on the street.

You can also learn: The Simple Present Tense

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Hi, my name’s Ben Tran and I’m an English teacher. I currently hold a M.A in TESOL – Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages – granted by University of Western Sydney, Australia.
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