2. DEFINITION
Grammatical Rules
Form
To form the simple past with regular verbs, we use the infinitive and add
the ending "-ed". The form is the same for all people (I, you, he, she, it,
we, they).Examples:
want → wanted
learn → learned
stay → stayed
walk → walked
show → showed
1. For verbs that end in
an "e", we just add "-d".
Examples:
change → changed
believe → believed
Exceptions:
the past simple, 1 also known as the simple past, is the verbal tense
that is used in the English language to narrate facts that happened at a
specific moment in the past. corresponds in its meaning to the past
simple perfect in spanish.
The past simple usually has temporary expressions that allude to the
past, such as, yesterday, last night / week / month / year / Tuesday,
then, when?, how long ago...?, ago, in 1997, etc.
2. If the verb ends in a
short vowel and a
consonant
(except "y" or "w"), we
double the final consonant.
Examples:
stop → stopped
commit → committed
3. With verbs ending in a
consonant and an "y",
change the "y" to an "i".
Examples:
study → studied
try → tried
3. We say the ending "-ed" differently depending on
the letter that goes to the end of the infinitive. In
general the "e" is mute.
Pronunciation
2. With infinitives ending in
"b", "g", "l", "m", "n", "v", "z"
(sound consonants, except
"d") or a vowel, we pronounce
only the D".
Examples:
yelled [jeld]
cleaned [klind]
1.With infinitives ending in "p", "f",
"k" or "s" (deaf consonants, except
"t") we pronounce the ending "-ed"
as a "t".
Examples:
looked [lukt]
kissed [kisst]
3. With infinitives ending in "d" or "t",
we pronounce the "e" as an "i“
Examples:
ended [endid]
waited [weitid]
Estructure
Example
The keys were in the drawer.
She was a doctor
I wanted to dance.
Sujeto + verbo principal…
Example
She wasn’t a doctor.
The keys weren’t in the drawer
Sujeto + “to be” + “not”…
4. Interrogative Sentences
“To be” + sujeto…?
Was she a doctor?
Were the keys in the drawer?
The simple past is used to speak of a
concrete action that began and ended in
the past. In this case it is equivalent to the
Spanish indefinite past tense. Generally,
we use it with adverbs of time like "last
year", "yesterday", "last night" ...
Tom stayed at home last night.
Kate worked last Saturday.
I didn’t go to the party yesterday.
In English they are called regular verbs
to those who form the past by adding
the suffix 'ed' or 'd' to the root of the
verb. This past marker helps to
recognize this type of verbs in a written
text.
Regular verbs
Asked Invited
Played Wanted
Unlike regular verbes irrgular verbs do
not have a past marker that helps to
recognize them. Fortunately, the group
of irregular verbs is composed of a
limited number of verbs (about 350),
while there are thousands of regular
verbs.
Verbs irregular
forgot cut
beat broke