SIMPLE PAST TENSE

MEANING & USE

When do we use the Simple Past tense?
• We use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action
started and finished at a specific time in the past.
•What are some common time expressions used with the
past tense?
 EXAMPLES:
I saw Maria yesterday.

Last Friday, the students took their spelling and

vocabulary tests.

They got married two years ago.

HOW DO WE FORM THE SIMPLE PAST
TENSE . . .?

English has two types of

verbs in the past tense: • taught
 Regular verbs • walked
 Irregular verbs • studied

Look at the following • gave

list of past tense verbs… • became
which verbs are regular, • cried
and which are • lived
irregular?
• did
REGULAR VERBS ARE VERBS
THAT ….
…end with –ed

Simple Form Past Tense

Walk

Study

Cry

Live
IRREGULAR VERBS ARE VERBS
THAT . . . end
…DON’T . with –ed
some irregular verbs
Have a vowel change in the past tense:

Simple Form Past Tense

become became
give gave
drive drove
forget forgot
OTHER IRREGULAR VERBS
HAVE A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHANGE:

Simple Past
teach taught
bring brought
Leave left
Hear heard
Buy bought
AND SOME IRREGULAR VERBS
DON’T CHANGE AT ALL . . .

Simple Past
hit hit
put put
set set

The children set the table every Sunday.

The children set the table last night.
FOR REGULAR VERBS, SIMPLY USE THE –ED
FORM OF THE VERB IN A POSITIVE SENTENCE.

When I was a child, I _____________ the piano. (play)

Donna ______________ Paris. (visit)

FOR IRREGULAR VERBS, USE THE CORRECT PAST TENSE FORM
IN POSITIVE SENTENCES. (WE USE THE SAME FORM WITH DIFFERENT
SUBJECTS )

Last week, I ___________ you a letter. (send)

The students __________an English exam yesterday. (have)

They _______ a great job! (do)
 FOR NEGATIVE SENTENCES,
USE

I went to work yesterday.

I didn’t go to work yesterday.
 EXCEPTION =
VERB BE!

The verb be is special.

Never use DID NOT or DIDN’T with the verb BE.
Instead, just use:
 FOR YES/NO QUESTIONS,
USE

Did you go to work yesterday?

Did you come yesterday?
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
USE

To show what somebody was

doing at a particular time in the
past, we use the Past
Continuous Tense.
FORM
Was / were + verb + -ing
• They were driving to Paris.
• We weren’t waiting for a long time.
• What were they doing?
I was playing badminton
at this time yesterday.

She was cycling

at 9:00am yesterday.

They were playing

table tennis at 6:30 last night.

was / were verb+ing

 Simon 3:00 yesterday

was playing football at 3 pm yesterday.

Simon _________

The children 8 am yesterday

were going to school

The children __________
at 8 am yesterday.
Exercise 1.
Derek

Derek …………………... at 6 am yesterday.

Mandy

Mandy................her dog
at 4 o’clock yesterday.

Sam & Jess

Sam and Jess ………………. dinner at 8 pm last night.

 We often use
the past continuous and past simple tenses
in the same sentence.

We do this when we want to talk about

a shorter activity that happened
during a longer activity in the past.
 Sam hurt himself yesterday.
But when exactly?

when jumping over

the vaulting horse

Sam hurt himself when he was jumping over the vaulting horse.

shorter action longer action

 cut herself cut herself
Nancy ___________when
was peeling
she ___________an apple.
peel an apple

were watching TV watch TV

They _______________
arrived
when I ___________.
arrive

play football were playing football

We ____________
when it suddenly _______.
rained
rain
 Sometimes we use the past continuous tense
to talk about two or more actions
which were taking place at the same time
in the past.

Example

I was playing TV games while mother was cooking.

We were studying while the baby was crying.

 It’s 3:00pm last Sunday. What were they doing?

Example Grandfather was reading the newspaper while

grandmother was knitting.
Cindy was listening to the Hi-fi whileNicky was drawing a picture.
Father was sleeping whilemother was drinking some water.
 What were they doing one hour later?

Exercise 1
(1)
Grandfather ____________TV (2)
while grandmother____________
(3) her homework while Nicky _____
Cindy _______ (4) to the Hi-fi.
(5)
Father _________ (6)
cola while mother __________some water.