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Simple Past Regular and Irregular Verbs 1

The document discusses the use of the simple past tense in English. It provides examples of using the simple past to describe finished past events, past habitual actions, and events that were true for some time in the past. It also covers the formation of the simple past tense for regular and irregular verbs.

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22 views

Simple Past Regular and Irregular Verbs 1

The document discusses the use of the simple past tense in English. It provides examples of using the simple past to describe finished past events, past habitual actions, and events that were true for some time in the past. It also covers the formation of the simple past tense for regular and irregular verbs.

Uploaded by

Gala Linarez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras el Valle de Sula

English III Lic. Denis Urbina


The use of the simple past
The simple past is used principally to describe events in the past, but it also has
some other uses. Here are the main uses of the simple past.

Finished events in the past

 William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.


 Christoph Columbus discovered America in 1492.
 He kissed her and left.

Past habitual actions

 I visited them every day for a year.


 I drove to work every day when I worked with that company.

Events that were true for some time in the past

 He lived in Paris for 20 years.


 They talked on the phone for ten minutes.

The forms of the Simple Past ( Regular and Irregular Verb)

The Affirmative form of the Simple Past:

P+V+C
P= Personal Pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)

V= Verb ( Past) ( Played, cooked, ran, read, bought, etc.)

C= Complement ( Any word that give meaning to the sentence)

I, you, he, she, it, we, they played. soccer


wrote a book
did. my homework
Examples:

 I played tennis with my friends yesterday.


 I finished lunch and I did my homework.
The negative form of the simple past:
P + did + not + V ( Present ) + C . Did = Auxiliary Verb

I, you, he, she, it, we, they did not/didn't play


write
do

 I didn't like the food served in the wedding party last Saturday.
 I didn't eat it.

Remember:
didn't is the short form of did not. You can say either:

 I did not play basketball, or


 I didn't play basketball.

The interrogative form of the Simple Past:


Did + P + V ( Present ) + C + ? Did = Auxiliary Verb

Did I, you, he, she, it, we, play? soccer ?


they
write a book ?

do? my homework ?

Examples:

 Did you play basketball yesterday? Yes, I did. Yes, I played basketball yesterday.

No, I didn´t. I didn´t play basketball yesterday.

 Did you watch television? Yes, I did. Yes, I watched television.

No, I didn´t. I didn´t watch television

 Did you do the homework? Yes, I did. Yes, I did the homework

No, I didn´t. I didn´t do the homework.


Simple past of regular verbs
The simple past is used to describe an action that occurred and was completed in the past. The simple past
is formed by adding –ed to the base form of the verb (the infinitive without to).

Base form + ed = simple past

walk walked

push pushed

greet greeted

watch watched

In English, the simple past of regular verbs is extremely easy. It is the same for all persons. Here are
example sentences of the simple past with the verb WORK.

singular plural

1st per I worked yesterday. We worked yesterday.

2nd per You worked yesterday. You worked yesterday.

3rd per He, She, It worked yesterday. They worked yesterday.

There are several irregularities regarding orthography (spelling) for the simple past ending of regular verbs.
Similarly, there are different ways to pronounce this ending.

For regular verbs ending in the vowel -e, add –d.

Base form simple past

hate hated

seize seized

hope hoped

assume assumed

tie tied

free freed

For the very few English verbs that end in a vowel other than -e, add –ed.

Base form Simple past

ski skied

echo echoed
Exceptions: The verbs DO and GO are irregular: See below.

For regular verbs that end in a vowel + y, add –ed.

Base form Simple past

play played

decay decayed

survey surveyed

enjoy enjoyed

Exceptions: The verbs SAY and BUY are irregular: See below.

For regular verbs that end in a consonant + y, change the –y to –i and add –ed.

Base form Simple past

cry cried

dirty dirtied

magnify magnified

Exception: The verb FLY is irregular: See below.

For regular verbs ending in a consonant + vowel + consonant, double the final consonant before adding -ed.

Base form simple Past

Dam dammed

beg begged

plan planned

strip stripped

Stop stopped

In American English, when the regular verb has more than one syllable and the syllable stress is on the final
syllable, the final consonant is doubled. And add ED

Here are examples with regular verbs in the simple present and the simple past.

Simple Present Simple Past

I walk to school. I walked to school.

She works downtown. She worked downtown.

They help on Tuesday. They helped on Tuesday.

He asks a lot of questions. He asked a lot of questions.

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