simple explanation of the past simple

1. The past simple
Grammar by: lligeon

2. Contents
 What is the past simple?
 The rule
 The form
 Negative sentences
 Questions

3. What is the past simple?
The past simple is a tense that is used when we want to talk about something:
 …that happened in the past AND
 …that is over now.
Example: When I was young, I worked in a clothing store.
In the sentence, there is usually an indication of past time  yesterday, two years ago, in
1969, last month, etc.)
What is the indication of past time in the example?
The answer = When I was young 

4. The rule
Again: we use the past simple to talk about things or events that happened in the past and
that are over now.
So if you would put the past simple in a timeline, it would look like this:

5. The form
So how do we make the past simple?
That’s easy!
Just add ed to the main verb.
Example: present simple past simple
1. I work there. I worked there
2. They scream loudly. They screamed loudly.
3. She tricks him. She tricked him.
4. We break the door. We broke the door.
Example #4 does not follow the rule, because it is an irregular verb. You should learn these by
heart. HERE’s a list of the most common irregular verbs.

6. Negative sentences
How do we form negative sentences with the past simple?
Firstly, we need help from the verb do. To be more exact, we need help of the past form of the verb do, namely did.
Secondly, we need to change the past tense form of the main verb, back to it’s main form.
Example: worked  work, broke  break
Lastly, we need add the word not between did and the main verb.
Example: I worked there last year.  I did not work there last year.
We reached our destination.  We did not reach our destination.
Susan met Paul in 2008.  Susan did not meet Paul in 2008.

7. Questions
How do we form questions with the past simple?
It’s quite similar to making negative sentences.
Again we need help from the past form of the verb do, namely did.
And again we need to change the past tense form of the main verb, back to it’s main form.
Example: worked  work, broke  break
Lastly, we need to keep to this order:
Did + subject (he, she, doctor Jensen, my brother) + main verb
Example: I worked there two years ago.  Did I work there two years ago?
They traveled around the world.  Did they travel around the world?