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Introduction
In English, there are different verb tenses to talk about the past, although the most used
is the Past Simple. The past simple is one of the most important verb tenses in the
English language and, unlike Spanish, in which verbs in the past have very different
conjugations, in English there are verbs that preserve their form in both present and
past, and the most irregular ones come to have only up to three forms.

So, in theory, for a native speaker of Spanish, regular and irregular verbs in English
should represent a less complex task.
In addition to being one of the main verb tenses of English, the past simple is very easy
to use, understand and learn. The first thing you should remember is that the objective
of this tense is to talk about an action or situation that occurred and concluded in the
past, where its duration has no relevance.

There are many ways to talk about the past in English, but the simple past is the most
common way. The simple past in English is equivalent to the imperfect past tense and
indefinite past tense of Spanish.
Development
Uses of Past Simple
The simple past is used for sentences in which the idea, act or state has already been
completed. It could have ended five minutes ago or five centuries ago, the completion
time does not matter, the only important thing is that we talk about something that no
longer happens or exists in the present.

As we have said before, the simple past or simple past of English is a verb tense that
expresses situations or actions that occurred in the past, and although they can be from
the recent past or from the distant past, their duration is not important; it should only be
understood that these have already ended.

There are some cases that have expressions of context, which will help you explain
when the facts occurred. These can go to the beginning or the end and will make the
idea clearer.
The important thing about the simple past is that the facts have already been
completed. If an action began in the past but still continues, the verbal form you should
use is the present perfect continuous.

The simple past is used to:

 Talk about completed actions that do not have an active connection with the
present.
"We went to France for our holidays".
 Express moods, emotions or past characteristics.
"I was a happy teenager."
 In narratives, stories or when talking about historical events.
"Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa".
 We will also use the Past Simple when we want to mention a series of actions
that were carried out in the past.
“They walked on the beach and swam”.
  Another of the uses of Past Simple is to communicate repeated or everyday
actions.
“He talked to his mom for hours every night”.

It is worth mentioning that "used to" and "would" are usually used to talk about repeated
actions. Thus, we have to know that "used to" is used for all verbs and "would" only for
verbs that are not "state verbs", that is, verbs that refer to a state instead of an action.
For example, "to have" is not an action verb, so "would" is used.

The "simple past" is always used to refer to when something happened, so it is

associated with certain temporal expressions that indicate:
 Frequency: often, sometimes, always
a) I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
b) I often brought my lunch to school.

 A certain time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.
a) We saw a good film last week.
b) Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
c) She finished her work at seven o'clock.
d) I went to the theatre last night.

 An indeterminate time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in
caves a long time ago.
a) She played the piano when she was a child.

Types of verbs for their simple past

Forming sentences using a simple past tense in English is a process that is intuitive
when compared to Spanish. For this, we indicate the subject of the action, followed by
the verb in the past tense, and add the complement. In this case, it must be taken into
account whether the verb that indicates the action is regular or irregular.
If the verb is regular, the past tense is formed by adding the ending -d -ed at the end of
the word depending on whether it ends in a vowel or a consonant, respectively. As an
additional rule, if the word is ended in and this consonant is changed to the -ied ending.

If the verb is irregular, the appropriate conjugation must be used in each case, since it
varies for each word.

There are some rules for the formation of regular verbs in English that are based on
what are the last letters of the verb in the infinitive. The two endings for the formation of
the past simple are -d or -ed and depend on the following:

1. The -d is for verbs whose last letter is e. For example:

Close - Closed: She closed the store yesterday.
Believe - Believed: Last time, you believed that I had lied to you.

2. The -ed is for verbs in any other ending. For example:

Jump - Jumped: All the people jumped when they heard that song at the concert.
Start - Started: I started to do exercise when I was 10 years old.

3. When there is one and at the end, after a vowel, you just have to add -ed. For
example:
Play - Played: She played like a pro in the final match.
Pray - Prayed: My grandmother prayed for me when I was in hospital.

4. When there is no vowel before the y, it is changed to i+ ed. For example:

Study - Studied: I studied all night for the last test.
Try - Tried: They tried to repair the car all the morning.

5. In other cases, the last consonant of the word must be repeated to add the
formula -ed. For example:
Stop - Stopped: You stopped just in time, before the train crossed.
Plan - Planned: The musicians planned their last concert almost a year ago.

Structure of the simple past

Now that we know when we should use the Past Simple, it's time to learn how to
conjugate it.
 Affirmative sentences
When writing affirmative sentences in English using the Past Simple, we must follow the
structure: Subject + verb in infinitive ending in -ed + complements.
Examples:
I enjoyed the tour.
I needed to buy that chocolate cake.

It should be noted that if the verb ends in -e, we will only add the -d. Likewise, if the verb
ends in consonant + "y", we will replace it with "i" and add -ed.
Examples:
I lived in London for 6 years.
She studied hard for the exam.

Likewise, for monosyllable verbs or those that are accentuated in the last syllable and
that end in vowel + consonant, we will double this consonant before the ending - ed.
Examples:
We stopped at the coffee shop for breakfast.
I preferred to stay home.

 Negative sentences
On the other hand, to form negative sentences in English with Past Simple, we will use
the structure: Subject + did + not + verb in infinitive without "to" + complements.
Examples:
The birds didn't sing this morning.
She didn't pay with credit card.
  Interrogative sentences
 To ask questions in English through the Past Simple, we will have to develop the
following structure: Did + subject + verb in the infinitive without "to" +
complements + ?
Examples:
Did you buy a red car?
Did María arrive at school on time?

In addition, if the question includes an interrogative particle, the structure will change to:
Interrogative particle + did + subject + verb in infinitive without "to" + complements + ?
Examples:
Where did you go?
Why did he break the window last night?

Notes on affirmative, negative and interrogative constructions

 Affirmative answer
The affirmative form of the "simple past" is simple.
1) I was in Japan last year.
2) She had a headache yesterday.
3) We did our homework last night.

 Negative and interrogative

For the negative and interrogative forms of the "simple past" of the verb "do" as an
ordinary verb, it is used as an auxiliary "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative form of the verb "have" in "simple past" is usually constructed using the
auxiliary "do", although sometimes only not or the contraction "n't" is added.
The interrogative form of the verb "have" in "simple past" usually uses the auxiliary "do".

Examples
1) They weren't in Rio last summer.
2) We didn't have any money.
 3) We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
4) We didn't do our exercises this morning.
5) Were they in Iceland last January?
6) Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
7) Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: to construct the negative and interrogative forms of all verbs in "simple past", the
auxiliary 'did' is always used.

Pronunciation of regular verbs in English

To help you learn regular English verbs better, we will explain their pronunciation in
detail. Below you will find 3 groups with their respective examples.

I. Group 1. All verbs whose written ending is -ed are pronounced /id/. For example:
the verbs that end in the present tense ent or te.

Verb in basic form Verb in past simple Pronunciation

Start Started /Star-tid/
Visit Visited /Vih-sih-tid/
Rent Rented /Rehn-tid/
Repeat Repeated /Ree-pee-tid/
Create Created /Cree-ey-tid/
Hate Hated /Hey-tid/

 Verbs ending in -d or -de are also pronounced with /id/. For example:
Verb in basic form Verb in past simple Pronunciation

Crowd Crowded /Krow-did/

Fold Folded /Fold-did/
Provide Provided /Pro-viy-did/
 II. Group 2. In this case it is not a written ending, but the "deaf" sound that occurs
when pronouncing the last part of the word, that is, when there is no vibration of
the vocal cords as is the case with the following letters: p, k, ch, sh, f, s, h. Then,
when the -ed ending is added, the sound of a t is obtained, as when it is
pronounced cat. Let's look at some examples:

Verb in basic form Verb in past simple Pronunciation

Stop Stopped /Stopt/
Like Liked /Laikt/
Park Parked /Parkt/

III. Group 3. Like the previous group, its pronunciation does not depend on its
written form but on its pronunciation, and in this case there is a vibration of the
vocal cords when vocalizing the verb, such as those ending in b, g, i, z, m, l,
among others, and that together with the ending -ed sound a /d/. For example:

Verb in basic form Verb in past simple Pronunciation

Hug Hugged /Hugd/
Cry Cried /Crayd/
Roar Roared /Rord/

Surely you noticed that between the second and third group are the regular verbs of a
single syllable.

Structure of the simple past with irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are called that because, unlike regular verbs that only modify their
ending, they completely change their root in two or in all their forms (present, past and
participle).
There are about 200 irregular verbs, and although they seem like many, there are not so
many if you compare them with the almost 9,000 regular verbs in English.
Let's now look at the structure and some examples of the use of irregular English verbs
in the simple past.

Affirmative Subject + verb in the past tense +

complement
He found a diamond on the beach
I ran the 1994 marathon
They won the match without difficulty
We saw the accident in slow motion
Negative Subject + did not + verb in basic form +
complement
We didn't drink wine or beer
He didn't write the whole novel alone
I didn't see the red light
She didn't eat the cake because it tasted bad
Interrogative Did + subject + verb in basic form +
complement
Did she teach chemistry or physics?
Did I forget our anniversary?
Did they find the treasure?
Did he come for dinner yesterday?

Unlike regular verbs, you don't have to include -d or -ed, but their writing changes
noticeably. In this case there is no choice but to learn the different ways, but with
reading and practice the task is easier.

It is estimated that there are between 180 and 200 irregular verbs in common use in
English. For now, here is a list of 30 for daily use.
The list of irregular verbs is divided into three columns. The first is the infinitive (the
base form of the verb), the second is the simple past and the third is the participle.

Infinitive Past simple Participle

To be Was/Were Been

Become Became Become

Begin Began Begun

Break Broke Broken

Buy Bought Bought

Come Came Come

Do Did Done

Dream Dreamt Dreamt

Drink Drank Drunk

Drive Drove Driven

Eat Ate Eaten

Forget Forgot Forgotten

Get Got Got/Gotten

Give Gave Given

Go Went Gone

Have Had Had

Hear Heard Heard

Know Knew Known

Lear Learnt Learnt

Make Made Made

Pay Paid Paid

Run Ran Run

Say Said Said

Sell Sold Sold

Sing Sang Sung

Sleep Slept Slept

Speak Spoke Spoken

Take Took Taken

 Win Won Won

Write Wrote Written

To form the simple past of irregular verbs you must use the grammatical form that is in
the second column. The questions and negatives follow the same structure as the
regular verbs.
"You bought a new car yesterday."
"Did you buy a new car yesterday?"
"You didn't buy a new car yesterday."

Be, have and do past simple.

The simple past of the verb "to be" usually generates many doubts. It is a verb that is
used constantly and is irregular. The form of the simple past is "was" for the subjects "I",
"he", "she", "it", and "were" for "you", "we", "they". Nor does it work like most verbs to
create negative and interrogative sentences, since it does not use the "did" or the
"didn't". In this article we analyze it in depth.

Another irregular verb that can confuse us is the "to do". Its form in the past tense is
"did", the same one that we use as an auxiliary with the other verbs. When we make the
interrogatives and negatives of the verb "to do", it behaves like a normal verb.
"You did the homework."
"You didn't do the homework."
"Did you do the homework?"
Finally, when conjugating verbs in English, the "to have" also causes insecurities
because it is used very often. His simple past is "had" and also follows the general rules
for interrogative sentences.
Conclusion
The simple past is one, but the most important of verb tenses, we learn this as one of
the first English lessons when we start our English learning. Without him we couldn't
even create simple fundamental sentences of speech in the past. The simple past is
fundamental because it is used to talk about actions or situations completed in the past.
It helps to convey chronology and clarity in the narration of past events. In addition, it is
the basis for the formation of more complex verb tenses in English.

The simple past is important in working life for several reasons. First, when writing
resumes and cover letters, it is crucial to use the simple past to describe previous work
experiences and achievements achieved in previous roles. In addition, during job
interviews, the proper use of the simple past when describing past experiences can help
convey skills and competencies effectively. In work environments, the simple past is
also used when writing reports, emails and formal communications to describe past
actions, results and decisions made. In short, mastery of the simple past is essential to
communicate in a clear and professional way in the workplace.
References
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usa. Aprendizaje de idiomas con el Blog de Preply. https://preply.com/es/blog/el-
pasado-simple-como-se-construye-y-cuando-se-usa/
Curso de inglés. (s. f.). Past Simple: Lección de inglés. Curso de
Inglés. https://www.curso-ingles.com/aprender/cursos/nivel-intermedio/verb-
tenses-past/past-simple
Mood. (2023, 18 mayo). Past Simple: usos, estructura y reglas. Crown
English. https://crownenglish.com/past-simple-usos-estructura-y-reglas/
Past simple | El pasado simple en inglés | British Council.
(s. f.). https://www.britishcouncil.co/blog/aprende-ingles/past-simple
Past simple | Estructura y ejemplos en inglés | ABA English. (s. f.). ABA English
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past-simple/
Past Simple: el pasado simple en inglés | British Council.
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simple-past/