Past simple

The past simple is used to talk about a past event or situation. I mean, it is

used to describe a completed action or series of actions in the past.

When talking about verbs in the past in English, I consider it is important to

explain regular and irregular verbs.

Regular verbs

They form the past by adding the suffix “d” or “ed” to the present form

or base form.

Examples:

like ….. liked

work…. Worked

study …... studied

play …….. played

stop …….. stopped

As you can see in the examples above, we add a final -d when the verb

ends by “e”.

We add “ed” when the verb doesn´t end by “e”.

If the verb ends by “y” we must consider the following:

If the “-y” is preceded by a consonant the “-y” becomes “-i” and “-ed” is

added.

But if the “-y” is preceded by a vowel, it is kept and “-ed” is added.

Some monosyllabic verbs double the last consonant when they have the

following structure: 1 consonant+ 1 vowel + 1 consonant

(verbs ending in w/x don´t follow the previous rule.)

For example: fix – fixed or row- rowed.

How to pronounce –ed

 If the base form ends in t/d, it’s pronounced /id/

 If the base form ends in unvoiced consonants like p/k/ss/sh/ch/f/x, it’s

pronounced /t/

 If the base form ends in voiced consonants like v/l/n/r/g/s/w or a

vowel, it’s pronounced /d/

Examples:

want ….. wanted /id/

finish …. finished /t/

rob …… robbed /d/

 Irregular verbs

They usually have a past form different from the present, therefore, they

have to be learnt by heart.

We can divide them into three different groups to study and learn them

easily.

Those with the same form in present and past:

read…. read, cut…..cut, shut …. Shut

those with different forms in present and past.

write …. wrote, break … broke

Those with a change in the medial vowel.

drink …… drank, sing ….sang

Structure

Affirmative Affirmative

I wrote I worked

You wrote You worked

He wrote He worked

She wrote She worked

It wrote It worked

We wrote We worked

You wrote You worked

They wrote They worked

Examples:

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.

I worked there last year.

As you can see in the examples the order of the sentences is

Subject + Verb in the past + complements.

The adverbs and expressions of time we use are related to the past:

yesterday, last week/year, a week ago, in 2019, …

Negative and questions

We form the negative using the auxiliary did + not + base form or

present form of the verb.

I did not write yesterday or I did not work last week

The contracted form of did not is didn´t

We form questions using the auxiliary did first in the sentence +

subject + base form or present form of the verb.

Did you write yesterday? Or Did you work last week?

If we use a question word in a question, it comes first.

What did you write yesterday? Or where did you work last week?
 Structure

Negative Negative

I did not write I did not work

You did not write You did not work

He did not write He did not work

She did not write She did not work

It did not write It did not work

We did not write We did not work

You did not write You did not work

They did not write They did not work

Structure

Interrogative Interrogative

Did I write? Did I work?

Did you write? Did you work?

Did he write? Did he work?

Did she write? Did she work?

Did it write? Did it work?

Did we write? Did we work?

Did you write? Did you work?

Did they write? Did they work?

SHORT ANSWERS: YES/NO

We use Yes/No + The appropiate subject + the auxiliary did/ didn´t

Did you go to the cinema last Sunday?

Yes, I did / No, I didn´t

Past simple of the verb to be

The past simple of to be has two forms was/were. Was is used with the

1st and third person singular (I, he, she, it) and were is used with the

rest (we, you, they) .

The negative is formed placing the negative particle “not” after

was/were.

I was not at home yesterday at 6.

You were not happy last Sunday.

The contracted forms are wasn´t / weren´t.

Questions are formed placing the verb to be (was/were) at the beginning

of the sentence.

Were you at home yesterday at 6? Yes, I was / No, I wasn´t

We use Yes /No + appropiate subject + was/were or wasn´t/weren´t in

short answers