The simple past tense

The Simple Past Tense

• Meaning & Use

• Form (structure)

• Exercise

Meaning & Use

• Use: To express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.

• Some common time expressions used with the past tense:

Examples:

I saw Maria

the students took their spelling and vocabulary tests.

They got married

two years ago.

Last Friday,

yesterday

How do we form the simple
past tense . . .?

English has

two types

of

verbs in the past tense:

 walked

 studied

 gave

 became

 cried

 lived

 did

Look at the following
list of past tense
verbs…
which verbs are regular,
and which are
irregular?

 Regular verbs

 Irregular verbs

 Taught

Regular

verbs are verbs that ….

Simple Form

Past Tense

Walk

Study

Cry

Live

…end with –

ed

Irregular

verbs are verbs that . . . .

…DON’T end with –

ed

some irregular verbs
Have a vowel change in the past tense:

Simple Form

Past Tense

become

became

give

gave

drive

drove

forget

forgot

other irregular verbs
Have a different kind of change:

Simple

Past

teach

taught

bring

brought

Leave

left

Hear

heard

Buy

bought

And some irregular verbs
don’t change at all . . .

Simple

Past

hit

hit

put

put

set

set

The children set the table every Sunday.
The children set the table last night.

For

regular

verbs, simply use the

–

ed form of the

verb in a positive sentence.

When I was a child, I ___________ the piano. (play)

Donna ______________ Paris. (visit)

For

irregular

verbs, use the correct past tense

form in positive sentences. (We use the same form with
different subjects .)

Last week, I ___________ you a letter. (send)

The students __________an English exam. (have)

They _______ a great job! (do)

For negative sentences, USE

I went to work yesterday.
I

didn

’

t go to work

yesterday.

Exception =
VERB BE!

The verb be is special.
Never use DID NOT or DIDN’T with the
verb BE. Instead, just use:

For Yes/No questions

Did you go to work
yesterday?
Did you come yesterday?