The document discusses the simple past tense in English. It explains how to form the past tense of regular verbs by adding "-ed" and the spelling rules for irregular past tense forms that must be memorized. Examples are provided for forming affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences. Finally, the uses of the simple past tense are outlined, including talking about specific past times and habitual past actions.

1. T h e S im p le P a s t
Te ns e
I went swimming yesterday.

2. P A S T S IM P L E T E N S E :
R E G U L A R VE R B S
Affirmative:
The past tense of regular verbs is formed by adding –ED to the base
form of the verb: I worked with my computer last week

3. P A S T S IM P L E T E N S E :
R E G U L A R VE R B S
ED Spelling rules:
• We normally add ED to the verb: work-worked
• If the verb ends in E, we only add D: live-lived
• If the verb endes in consonant-vowel-consonant,
we double the last consonant: stop-stopped
• If the verb ends in consonant-Y, we omit Y and
add IED: study-studied

4. S im p le P a s t T e n s e :
Ir r e g u la r v e r b s
Affirmative:
Affirmative
Irregular past verb forms must be learned because they don’t follow
any rule:
Go went
Come came
Buy bought
Drink drank
Eat ate
I went to Paris last July
Find found
See saw

5. P A S T S IM P L E T E N S E : R E G U L A R
a n d IR R E G U L A R V E R B S
Negative:
Use did not or didn’t + a base form verb to make the past simple
tense negative.
I didn’t play basketball yesterday.

6. P A S T S IM P L E T E N S E : R E G U L A R a n d
IR R E G U L A R V E R B S
Interrogative:
Use did + subject + a base form verb to
make the past simple interrogative.
Did you watch a film on TV last night?
Short answers:
Yes, I did – No I didn’t
Yes, she did – No, she didn’t

7. T h e S im p le P a s t T e n s e : U S E S
1.To talk about actions that happened at a specific time in the past. You
state when it happened using a time adverb (yesterday, last month):
Last year I learned French.
2. It can be used to describe events that happened over a period of time
in the past but not now:
I lived in England for three years.
3. It is also used to talk about habitual or repeated actions that took place
in the past:
When I was a child we always played hockey at school.

8. T h e S im p le P a s t T e n s e
Time expressions:
Yesterday, last month, last year, last time, … ago, in ...
My friends travelled to Africa two years ago