The Past Simple Tense
- englishiseasierwithamal.com
- Apr 25, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 5
The Past Simple Tense
- When do we use the Past Simple Tense?
1. We use it to talk about an action that happened and finished in the past.
Ex. – He died.
2. We need adverbs of time to specify the past tense in our sentences.
Ex. Yesterday, ago, last night, last week, last Monday, in 2001 …etc.
- How do we form the negative with the past Simple Tense?
1. We need the helping verb (DO).
2. We use (DO) in the Past Simple Tense (DID).
3. The main verb is now in the (Base Form)
4. “Base form” means the main verb doesn’t have “s”, “ed” or “ing”
Ex. - She did (helping verb in the past simple) not see (main verb in the base form) him last night.
- Alex did (helping verb in the past simple)not work (main verb in the base form) last Wednesday.
- They did (helping verb in the past simple) not understand (main verb in the base form) the problem yesterday.
- We can use the contraction (short) form with the negative:
Ex. - He did not (didn’t) know how to read when he was young.
- We did not (didn’t) see each other last summer.
- How do we form the question with the Past Simple Tense?
1. We need the helping verb (DO).
2. We use (DO) in the Past Simple Tense (DID).
3. The main verb is now in the (Base Form)
4. “Base form” means the main verb doesn’t have “s”, “ed” or “ing”
Ex. - Why did (helping verb in the past simple) you do (main verb in the base form) that?
- Did (helping verb in the past simple) he finish(main verb in the base form) school last year?
- How did (helping verb in the past simple) she organize (main verb in the base form) the house last weekend?
- Regular and irregular verbs:
English verbs are divided into two groups in the past, “regular verbs” and “irregular verbs”.
+ Regular verbs end with “ed” in the past.
Ex. – Walk – walked
Visit – visited
Include – included
+ Irregular verbs change completely in the past.
Ex. – go – went
do – did
drive – drove
eat – ate
put – put
cut – cut
drink – drank
bring - brought
Using Verb to (Be) in the Past Simple Tense
Verb to be
I was
You were
He, she, it was
You were
We were
They were
We can't form the negative form with verb to be using the helping verb (did).
Ex.
I was here yesterday.
I didn’t be here yesterday. XXXXX
I was not here yesterday.
Verb to be doesn’t need a helping verb to form the negative or the question.
Yes/No Questions:
Did you be here yesterday? XXX
Were you here yesterday?
Yes, I was.
Wh- Questions:
Where did you be last night? XXX
Where were you last night?
I was at home.
To practice using the (Past Simple Tense) click this link:
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