Past simple tense in English
Online language lessons with native teachers
Skype teachers
Free trial lesson
Flexible appointments
Past simple tense in English
This chapter will discuss the past simple tense in English. This tense is used for describing a completed action that took place in the past.
Lesson Outline
Hide- 1.How to form the past simple tense
- 1.1.Affirmatives
- 1.1.1.Examples:
- 1.2.Negatives
- 1.2.1.Examples:
- 1.3.Interrogatives
- 1.3.1.Examples:
- 2.Usage of the past simple tense
- 3.Conjugation of the simple past
- 3.1.Regular verbs in past simple
- 3.2.Irregular verbs in past simple
- 4.Exercises
- 4.1.Practice the English past simple (regular verbs)
- 4.2.Practice the English past simple (irregular verbs)
- 4.3.Fill in the correct form of the English past simple
- 4.4.Conjugate the English verbs in the past simple tense
How to form the past simple tense
How the past simple tense is formed, depends on whether the sentence is:
- Affirmative: expresses the truth of a certain assertion.
- Negative: expresses the falsity of a certain assertion.
- Interrogative: expresses a question.
Have a question?
Take online language lessons with a professional teacher
- Native & verified teachers
- Free trial lesson
- Learning materials included
1. Affirmatives
Structure: subject + conjugated verb + rest of the sentence
Examples:
- He visited his grandmother.
- We played soccer last week.
- They saw the movie yesterday.
2. Negatives
Structure: subject + negative auxiliary (did not) + infinitive verb + rest of the sentence.
The table below shows how the negative auxiliary is formed for every subject.
| Subject | Negative auxiliary |
|---|---|
| I | did not |
| You (singular) | did not |
| He / she / it | did not |
| We | did not |
| You (plural) | did not |
| They | did not |
Examples:
- He did not visit his grandmother.
- We did not play soccer last week.
- They did not see the movie yesterday.
3. Interrogatives
Structure: Did + subject + infinitive verb + rest of the sentence + question mark
Examples:
- Did he visit his grandmother?
- Did we play soccer last week?
- Did they see the movie yesterday?
Usage of the past simple tense
| Use | Example |
|---|---|
| Temporary frequency |
|
| Definite point in time |
|
| Indefinite point in time |
|
You can recognize the use of the past simple tense when the sentence contains words as:
- Often
- Sometimes
- Always
- Last week
- Yesterday
- Last month
- The other day
- Ages ago
- A long time ago
- in 2000 / 2001 / 2002
Conjugation of the simple past
The English verbs can be split up into regular and irregular verbs. These are both conjugated differently.
Regular verbs in past simple
The simple past of the English regular verbs are formed by adding '-ed' to the infinitive of the verb.
Rule: infinitive verb + ed
| Subject | to watch | to walk |
|---|---|---|
| I | watched | walked |
| You (singular) | watched | walked |
| He / she / it | watched | walked |
| We | watched | walked |
| You (plural) | watched | walked |
| They | watched | walked |
Irregular verbs in past simple
The table below shows the conjugation of the past simple of irregular verbs 'to swim', 'to feel', 'to have' and 'to be'.
| Subject | to swim | to feel | to have | to be |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | swam | felt | had | was |
| You | swam | felt | had | were |
| He / she / it | swam | felt | had | was |
| We | swam | felt | had | were |
| You | swam | felt | had | were |
| They | swam | felt | had | were |
Train your skills by doing the exercises below.
Exercises
Practice the English past simple (regular verbs)
Practice the English past simple (irregular verbs)
Fill in the correct form of the English past simple
Conjugate the English verbs in the past simple tense
Practise with a private teacher on Skype!
4.9/5 from 2 reviews
- Private Skype lessons
- Learn any topic
- Flexible appointments
I speak: Bosnian, Croatian, English, Italian, Portuguese, International, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish I teach: Bosnian, Croatian, English, Italian, Portuguese, International, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish
Me as a Teacher I am a Serbian native speaker and a language teacher. I have been teaching online for 5 years. I live in Belgrade. I've been... teaching online for 5 years (officially). I love teaching because it's a dynamic and an interesting job. You can teach your students and you can learn from them as well. The happiness and joy of the student + their progresses with their target language = my biggest prize (so my students are the ones who motivate me to work better)and I try to combine: a bit of reading, a bit of writing, a bit of conversation, a bit of grammar and a bit of listening by using different resources. About Me My favorite topics are: 1. Travelling , 2. Foreign languages, 3. TV programs, 4. Films and TV series, 5. Culture, 6. sport, 7. IT, 8. Science My hobbies are: learning foreign languages, horse- riding, reading, travelling, ... I am open-minded, flexible and very positive. If you come up with something interesting to talk about, please, don't hesitate to suggest me and I'll gladly discuss with you about that. I visited: Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia. My Lessons & Teaching Style Firstly, I test the level of the target language... I have two parts: 1) Conversational part (here I check their vocabulary and their fluency + I find out their language goals and their needs) 2) Writing part (with that I focus much more on grammar and spelling) For each part, I take notes (I have my notebook for that). Secondly, I personalize my lessons to their goals and needs. I can cover a lot of topics: business, travelling, culture, etc. My Teaching Material Text Documents Audio Recordings Images and Visuals Video News Articles and Magazines Quizzes Example Test Templates Graphs and Charts Homework Assignments PowerPoint Presentations Read more
Availability: Monday (7-23h), Tuesday (7-23h), Wednesday (7-23h), Thursday (7-23h), Friday (7-23h), Saturday (7-23h), Sunday (7-23h).
Timezone: Europe/Belgrade (GMT+2)
See in your timezone.
12.00€ / h
Response time: less than 2 hours
I speak: English, German I teach: English
Hello, my name is Corinne and I am a qualified ESL English teacher from England. I have been teaching in classrooms and online for over 2 years... and I have many satisfied students. My lessons generally consist of a mixture of conversation and set exercises to help to improve both vocabulary and grammar. I encourage a lot of talking from my students and I give instant written correction so that they are able to recognize any grammatical errors they are making. I take note of repeated mistakes and set exercises for following lessons to address these mistakes accordingly. You will quickly notice an increase in your confidence in speaking English from our lessons, your vocabulary will increase and your grammar and sentence structure will improve. Together, we will reach your goals. Read more
Availability: Monday (9-12h), Monday (16-19h), Tuesday (9-12h), Tuesday (17-19h), Thursday (9-12h), Thursday (17-19h), Friday (9-12h), Friday (16-19h).
Timezone: Europe/Berlin (GMT+2)
See in your timezone.
Great choice! Students book in average more than 10 lessons!
Very experienced teacher!
Very experienced teacher!
18.00€ / h
Response time: less than a few hours
I speak: English, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, International, Spanish I teach: English, Italian, Dutch, Spanish
Hi! I've been teaching Dutch, Spanish and Italian for many years, in The Netherlands, for private institutes, for the integration of foreigners... into society, and online from Italy, where I currently live. Today I can also help you with English! I will help you, in a simple but effective way, to learn your favorite language(s). By focusing on conversation, I will help you in becoming confident with the language so that you will learn it faster. Learning a foreign language is not a matter of doing much effort, but rather of being consistent, enjoying the lessons and allowing your intuition to work with you. You will book immediate results while having fun! I offer you general language courses Italian (A1-C2), Dutch (A1-C1) as well as courses "Basisinburgering" "Inburgeringsexamen A1 and A2", Spanish (A1-C1), and English (A1-A2). So if you want to learn a language or improve the one you already speak, whether it is for work, to move abroad or just because you love languages, contact me for a free trial and let me know how I can help you. I'm looking forward to meeting you! Read more
Availability: Monday (10-12h), Monday (18-20h), Tuesday (15-15h), Tuesday (18-20h), Wednesday (13-20h), Thursday (11-12h), Thursday (17-20h), Friday (10-12h), Friday (14-20h), Saturday (11-13h), Saturday (15-17h).
Timezone: Europe/Amsterdam (GMT+2)
See in your timezone.
Very experienced teacher!
15.00€ / h
Response time: less than a few hours