The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now.

1. REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA
INSTITUTO UNIVERSITARIO POLITÉCNICO “SANTIAGO MARIÑO”
EXTENCIÓN PORLAMAR
Maneiro, Julio del 2020 LYSMAR RAMÍREZ
Walked
Grow
Played

2. The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something
that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which
is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of
time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.
The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that
happened or existed before now.

3. • Simple past tense show action that occurred and was completed at a particular
time in the past.
• The simple past tense of regular verbs is marked by the ending -d or -ed.
• Irregular verbs have a variety of endings.
• The simple past is not accompanied by helping verbs.
• The simple past tense is often used with an adverbial phrase that specifies a
time in the past, such as yesterday, last year, (or) an hour ago.

4. • I solved the puzzle.
• He dumped the garbage.
In the first sentence, you simply add a -d to solve to get the past tense of the verb.
The second example is just as easy: Simply add -ed to dump to form the simple
past tense.
A good example sentence about regular verbs—from The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz—would be:
"The four travelers passed a sleepless night, each thinking of the gift
Oz had promised to bestow on him.“
The present tense of the verb is pass. You know it's a regular verb
because you simply add -ed to form the past tense.
Other examples of regular simple past tense verbs used in a
sentence are:

5. There are a few more rules, such as if a single syllable word ends consonant-vowel-
consonant, double the consonant and add -ed: chat becomes chatted. (But if the final
consonant is w, x, or y, don't double it.)
If the last syllable of a multi-syllable word is stressed and ends consonant-vowel-consonant,
doubled the consonant and add -ed: prefer becomes preferred. (But if the first syllable is
stressed, don't double it.)
If the word ends in y, change the y to i and add -ed: cry becomes cried.

6. Irregular verbs can be a bit tricky in the past tense, but they don't
have to be if you familiarize yourself with them.
There is no easy way to learn how to conjugate irregular
verbs in the past tense—you simply have to memorize them.
Once you know the spelling of the irregular verb in the
simple past tense, you can relax because it is the same
for the first, second, and third person as well as the
singular and plural forms.

7. Forming the Simple Past Tense
Patterns of simple past tense for regular verbs

8. The most common irregular verbs
to go
• He went to a club last night.
• Did he go to the cinema last night?
• He didn't go to bed early last night.
to give
• We gave her a doll for her birthday.
• They didn't give John their new address.
• Did Barry give you my passport?
to come
• My parents came to visit me last July.
• We didn't come because it was raining.
• Did he come to your party last week?

9. Exercises
Answers

10. Exercises - Answers

11. List of regular verbs

12. List of Iregular verbs