Past Simple - Negation

Past Simple - Negation

By Nora Krause

Da du im Englischen ein Verb nicht direkt verneinen kannst – außer ein paar besondere Verben (zum Beispiel to be) – verneinst du im Simple Past mit dem Hilfsverb do.

Das wichtige dabei ist, dass das Hilfsverb (do) bei der Verneinung ins Simple Past (did) gesetzt wird.

Das Vollverb, also das Verb, das den Inhalt transportiert, bleibt dann aber in der Grundform.

Die Regel lautet:

did + not + Grundform des Verbs

Examples:​

Lucy did not clean her room.

We did not watch TV.

Ben did not buy the car.​

Du kannst did not auch als didn't schreiben:

Lucy didn't clean her room.​

Du siehst, dass clean, watch und buy nicht ins Simple Past (cleaned, watched, bought) gesetzt werden, sondern in der Grundform bleiben. Dafür wurde das do, das du benötigst, um die Sätze zu verneinen, ins Simple Past gesetzt (did).

First round of questions:

Fill the gap to negate the sentence in the Past Simple!

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Example: John _______ a sandwich. (not buy) --> didn't buy

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Fill in the Blank

I _____ to school yesterday. (not go)

Fill in the Blank

Joseph ______ the dishes last night. (not do)

Fill in the Blank

My parents ______ to London last summer. (not travel)

Fill in the Blank

My sister ______ a book. (not write)

Fill in the Blank

My best friend ______ to school last week. (not come)

Fill in the Blank

They ______ dinner last night. (not cook)

Second round of questions:

Negate the sentence!

Be careful with irregular verbs. You have to know them by heart to remember their base form!​

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Example: John bought a sandwich. --> John didn't buy a sandwich.

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Fill in the Blank

Lucy cleaned her room.

Fill in the Blank

David read a book.

Fill in the Blank

We watched TV.

Fill in the Blank

Ben bought a car.

Fill in the Blank

I went to school.

Fill in the Blank

Sarah talked to him.

Fill in the Blank

Anna gave Tom a present.

Fill in the Blank

Lucy worked hard.

Fill in the Blank

You forgot your homework.

All done!

You need more practice?

Do exercises on digi4school.

You can also find exercises here:

​https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_negation_sentences.htm , https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_negation_sentences3.htm , https://www.english-4u.de/en/tenses-exercises/past-negative.htm