In the past

Past simple: Positive To be

Subject Was/Were Complement

I, He, She, It Was Very tired after a long day at

work.

We, They, You Were At the beach when I called you.

 Past simple: Negative To be

Subject Was/Were + Not Complement

I, He, She, It Wasn’t Very nice to his mother when

he yelled at her.

We, They, You Weren’t Available when I called you.

Past simple: Interrogative To be

Question tag Was/Were Subject Complement

What, When, Where, Was He, She, It, I At the mall?

Who, How, How
long

What, When, Where, Were We, They, You When I needed them.
Who, How, How
long
Past simple: Interrogative To be

Question tag To be Subject Complement

What, When, Where, Was He, She, It, I At the mall?

Who, How, How long,
What time

What, When, Where, Were We, They, You When I needed them.
Who, How, How long,
What time
Past Simple: Positive Regular verbs
● Regular verbs in past simple do not change with
the subject
Subject Verb + ED Complement

I, He, She, It, We, They, You played Voleyball before the pandemic.

I, He, She, It, We, They, You Studied Very hard for the exam and you
failed anyways.
Past Simple: Negative Regular verbs

Subject DID+NOT Verb (NO ED) Complement

I, He, She, It, We, Didn’t played Voleyball before the

They, You pandemic.

I, He, She, It, We, Didn’t studyied Very hard for the exam
They, You and so failed anyways.
 Past Simple: Negative Regular verbs
● Past simple for regular verbs does not change
with the subjects.
Question tag Did Subject Verb Complement

What, When, Where, did you stay At your grandmother’s

Who, How, How long house?

What, When, Where, did You Get back From your trip?
Who, How, How long
 Past simple: irregular verbs
● Go – Went Run - Ran
● To be – Was/were Sing - Sang
● Come – Came Speak - Spoke
● Make – Made Think – Thought (ZOT)
● Do – Did Tell – Told
● Buy – Bought (BOT)
● Get – Got
● Hear - Heard
● For negative, you change the verb back to its original form:
○ I didn’t go to the beach last weekend. (not I went to the beach last weekend)
Past time expressions