Lect. dr.

Alis Zaharia
Facultatea de Limbi si Literaturi Straine

THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

I. Form:
Affirmative:

+ V-ed

She worked hard yesterday.

Regular verbs infinitive + -ed

Irregular verbs vary considerably in their simple past form:
see-saw; tell-told; find-found, etc.

Negative:

S + TO DO(past form) + NOT + V

They didnt go to the seaside last year.

Interrogative:

TO DO(past form) +

S +

Why did you leave so suddenly?

Negative Interrogative: TO DO(past form)+ NOT+

S +

Didnt she say she was tired?

II. SPELLING
a) the rules about doubling the final consonant when adding ing also apply when
adding ed.
stop-stopped; travel-travelled; submit-submitted.
b) Verbs ending in consonant + y change y to i and add ed:
cry-cried ; try-tried; carry-carried.

III. USES
The Simple Past Tense is used :
1. to express actions completed in the past at a definite time:
a past action when the time is given or asked about
When did you meet him?I met him last year/ in 1984.

 it is used when the action clearly took place at a definite time in the past even
though this time is not mentioned:
How did you get your present job?
The train was five minutes late.
2. to express an action whose time is not given but which:
occupied a period of time now terminated:
He worked in that company for ten years. (He doesnt work there anymore.)
occurred at a moment in a period of time now terminated:
My grandmother once saw Queen Victoria.

3. to express a past habit:

They always sang carols on Christmas.
He never drank beer when he was young.
4. in conditional sentences, type 2:
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? (Abraham Lincoln)

IV. TIME EXPRESSIONS

Yesterday, then, when, how long ago?, last night/week/year/Friday/September, ago, in
1999 etc.