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Simple Past

The document discusses the use of the past simple tense in English. It is used to talk about finished actions, states or habits that occurred in the past. The past simple has different conjugations depending on whether the verb is "to be" or another verb. For "to be", the forms are "was" and "were", while for other verbs, "did" is used as the helping verb. Examples are provided to illustrate how to form the positive, negative and question forms of the past simple tense.

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Diego Ochoa
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37 views6 pages

Simple Past

The document discusses the use of the past simple tense in English. It is used to talk about finished actions, states or habits that occurred in the past. The past simple has different conjugations depending on whether the verb is "to be" or another verb. For "to be", the forms are "was" and "were", while for other verbs, "did" is used as the helping verb. Examples are provided to illustrate how to form the positive, negative and question forms of the past simple tense.

Uploaded by

Diego Ochoa
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Past Simple

We use it whenever we want to talk about the past and we don't have any special
situation that means we should use the past perfect, present perfect or past
continuous.

Finished actions, states or habits in the past.

1. We use it with finished actions, states or habits in the past when we have a
finished time word (yesterday, last week, at 2 o'clock, in 2003).

 I went to the cinema yesterday.


 We spent a lot of time in Japan in 2007.

2. We use it with finished actions, states or habits in the past when we know from
general knowledge that the time period has finished. This includes when the
person we are talking about is dead.

 Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa.


 The Vikings invaded Britain.

3. We use it with finished actions, states or habits in the past that we have
introduced with the present perfect or another tense. This is sometimes called
'details of news'.

 I've hurt my leg. I fell off a ladder when I was painting my bedroom.
 I've been on holiday. I went to Spain and Portugal.

4. For stories or lists of events, we often use the past simple for the actions in the
story and the past continuous for the background.

 He went to a café. People were chatting and music was playing. He sat
down and ordered a coffee.
HOW CAN WE USE IT?
It's similar to the present simple because it has different rules for the verb 'be',
which becomes 'was' or 'were':

The Past Simple with 'be'

Here's how to make the positive:

Positive with 'be'

To make the negative with 'be', just add 'not':

Negative with 'be' Negative Short Form

I was not sleepy I wasn't sleepy

you were not on the bus you weren't on the bus

he was not at school he wasn't at school

she was not beautiful she wasn't beautiful

it was not cold it wasn't cold

we were not at work we weren't at work

they were not tired they weren't tired


To make a question, just like the present simple, we change the position of 'was /
were' and the subject.

Here are the past simple 'yes / no' questions with 'be':

'Yes / No' Questions with 'Be'

And the 'wh' questions with 'be' (the question word just goes at the beginning,
everything else is the same):

'Wh' Questions with 'Be'


The Past Simple (Simple Past) with Other Verbs
We make the past simple just like the present simple except we use 'did' instead of
'do / does'. It's really easy because 'did' doesn't change, even with 'he / she / it'.

The positive:

We usually make the positive by adding '-ed' to the infinitive. For example, 'play'
becomes 'played'. However, there are some irregular verbs, for example 'go'
becomes 'went' and 'run' becomes 'ran'.

Positive with Other Verbs

In the negative there aren't any irregular verbs. All verbs use 'did not (didn't) +
infinitive':

Negative Negative Short Form

I did not walk I didn't walk

you did not play you didn't play

he did not cook he didn't cook

she did not listen she didn't listen

it did not rain it didn't rain

we did not eat we didn't eat


they did not drink they didn't drink

Questions are also very easy. Just put 'did' before the subject, and the infinitive
after it.

'Yes / No' Questions

To make a 'wh' question, of course, put the question word at the beginning of the
sentence:

'Wh' Questions

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