Past tense. Use: The past simple is used to express a finished action in the past. Examples: We...

Past tensePast tense Past tensePast tense

Use:Use: The past simple is used to express a The past simple is used to express a finished action in the past.finished action in the past.

Examples:Examples:We playWe playeded volleyball last Sunday. volleyball last Sunday.I workI workeded in London from 1984 to 1989. in London from 1984 to 1989.John John leftleft two minutes ago. two minutes ago.

The past tense is often used with time The past tense is often used with time past expressions like: past expressions like: last year, last last year, last month, five years ago, yesterday month, five years ago, yesterday morning, in 1945.morning, in 1945.

• Form.The form of the past simple is the same for all persons.– Positive:The positive of regular verbs end in ed.

Examples:dance - dancedwant - wantedwalk - walkeduse - used

Forming the Past Tense (Irregular Verbs)

• Although many verbs in English form their past tense with -ED, some do not. These are called irregular verbs, and they include some of the most basic verbs in English. This page will explain some of the most important patterns in forming the past tense. However, the only way to know how an irregular verb will change in the past tense is to learn all of the important verbs.

The three most important irregular verbs

The three most important irregular verbs are BE, HAVE, and DO.

BE is the most difficult, because its forms are different depending on the subject:

Pronoun VerbI

He Sheit

Was

You we

they Were

• Examples:

– I was a beautiful baby

– You were studying at G.L.P two years ago

• HAVE and DO are more simple:

Base form Past Tense

Have / has Had

Do / does Did

• Examples:– He had the best car in 1994 – They had a beautiful house in

Cartagena

– I did my homework yesterday – He did a great project for the

school

Other irregular verbs • Other irregular verbs fall into three

main categories:

Category Examples

Verbs which don't change cut - cuthit - hitfit - fit

Verbs which change their vowel

get - gotsit - sat

drink – drank

Verbs which change completely

catch - caughtbring - broughtteach - taught

There are many common irregular verbs:Examples:

hit - hiteat - ategrow - grewmake - madebreak - brokego - wenttake - tooksee - saw

be is - wasare - werebegin - beganfall - fell

build - builtbuy - boughtfly - flewfind - founddrink - drankfeel - feltgive - gavehurt - hurtleave - leftread - readrun - ransing - sangswim - swamteach - taughtwin - wonwrite - wrote

• Negative:The negative of the Past Simple is formed with didn’t.

Example:He walked.He didn’t walk.

I did my homework.I didn’t do my homework.

• Questions:The question in the Past Simple is formed with did. Example:

Did you go to work yesterday?

Yes, I did.No, I didn’t

When did she arrive?She arrived yesterday