The Simple Past Tense
I – The form of the simple past tense
There are two types of forms for the simple past tense: REGULAR and IRREGULAR :
1 – Regular form: verb + ed
Watch → watched
Listen → listened
Play → played
Cry → cried
2 – Irregular form: has no rule (this means we change all the spelling of the verb)
Be → was/were
Do → did
Have → had
Speak → spoke
click here to see a complete list of irregular verbs.
Affirmative
I watched
You watched
He watched
She watched
It watched
We watched
You watched
They watched
Negative (Didn’t = did not)
I didn’t watch
You didn’t watch
He didn’t watch
She didn’t watch
It didn’t watch
We didn’t watch
You didn’t watch
They didn’t watch
Interrogative
Did I watch?
Did you watch?
Did he watch?
Did she watch?
Did it watch?
Did we watch?
Did you watch?
Did they watch?
Affirmative
I Spoke
You Spoke
He Spoke
She Spoke
It Spoke
We Spoke
You Spoke
They Spoke
Negative (Didn’t = did not)
I didn’t speak
You didn’t speak
He didn’t speak
She didn’t speak
It didn’t speak
We didn’t speak
You didn’t speak
They didn’t speak
Interrogative
Did I speak?
Did you speak?
Did he speak?
Did she speak?
Did it speak?
Did we speak?
Did you speak?
Did they speak?
Verbs ending with – e
- calculate – calculated
- combine – combined
- hope – hoped
- hate – hated
Verbs ending with vowel + y
- enjoy – enjoyed
- delay – delayed
- stay – stayed
- destroy – destroyed
Verbs ending with consonant+y
- study – studied
- copy – copied
- cry – cried
- try – tried
Other forms
- work – worked
- push – pushed
- greet – greeted
- ask – asked
Other spelling rules
a– verbs ending with -l, the consonant is always doubled after a single vowel.
Examples:
travel – travelled
cancel – cancelled
quarrel – quarrelled
b – Verbs having one syllable and ending with a vowel + consonant, we double the consonant:
Examples
stop – stopped
hop – hopped
beg – begged
c – verbs with more syllables if the stress falls on the last syllable then we double the last consonant:
Examples
ad’mit – admitted
con’fer – conferred
kid’nap – kidnapped
But If the stress is not on the last syllable, we do not double the consonant:
Example:
‘enter – entered
II – The use of the simple past tense
We use the Simple past tense :
- to talk about a completed action in the past.
I watched a movie yesterday.
I did some jogging last weekend.
- to talk about a series of completed actions in the past.
He came home, switched on TV and sat down.
- With time expressions like.
-yesterday
-last day, week, month, year…..
-in 2008
-…..ago
-when…..(used to talk about past action)
-The previous lesson, hour, day, week…..
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Click on the right answer for each sentence (Negative form of the Simple Past)
Hello sir ,
I am an English teacher in a languages center , and i want to know if you could help me with providing some sources to teach communication to my students . I am kind of stressed with what exactly should i teach since there is no textbook . YOu will be much appreciated if you answer my questions and i will not forget you in my Duaas . Nice work and keep the hard work up brother .
Salam
Good morning, Mohammed. Look for a very handy textbook called Interchange 4th Edition by Jack C. Richards.