Past Tense

Simple Past Tense

The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. 

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a past tense?

• walk

• walks

• walked

• walking

When to use simple past tense?

• The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.

• You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase.

Forms of a simple past tense

• For regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the verb (or just -d if the root form already ends in an e):

• Example: Play→Played / Type→Typed

• For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The simple past tense of some irregular verbs looks exactly like the root form:

• Example: Put→Put / Cut→Cut / Set→Set

• For other irregular verbs, including the verb to be, the simple past forms are more erratic:

• Example: See→Saw / Build→Built / Go→Went

Check your understanding!

Answer the quizzes below.

Multiple Choice

Sam _________ on a date with Lisa last Sunday.

• go

• goes

• goed

• went

Multiple Choice

We _________ up late this morning and we _______ the bus.

• wake.....miss

• wakes....misses

• waked...missed

• woke...missed

Multiple Choice

Mariah _____________ the leadership camp last summer.

• join

• joins

• joined

• joint

Multiple Choice

The weather _____ fine earlier until the clouds _______ dark.

• is...turn

• are...turns

• was...turned

• are...turn

You've done a great job!