Past Simple

Use
Things that happened in the past
and are over.
 Time Expressions
Yesterday
Last week / month / year
a long time / year / ten years…ago
In 1900 / June / the morning
In the past
When I was young
 Spelling Rules
1. Verbs that end with -e, add -d.
bake baked
live lived
2. Verbs that end with consonant + y, take
off the -y and add -ied.
study studied cry cried
 Spelling Rules
3. Verbs that end with cvc, double the last
consonant and add -ed.
stop stopp stopped
a. Do not double w, x, y
b. Do not double when the stress is on the first
syllable.
listen listened
 Irregular Verbs
Some verbs don’t follow
the spelling rules we learned.
They are called irregular verbs.
There are no rules, we need to learn
them by heart.
Verbs that end with –ought/aught
V1 V2
bring brought
buy bought
catch caught
fight fought
teach taught
think thought
Verbs that end with –ew
V1 V2
blow blew
draw drew
fly flew
grow grew
know knew
throw threw
 Verbs that end with –t
V1 V2
build built
keep kept
sleep slept
feel felt
leave left
lose lost
mean meant
send sent
spend spent
sweep swept
 The vowel changes to A
V1 V2
become became
begin began
drink drank
swim swam
ring rang
sing sang
give gave
The vowel changes to A
V1 V2
see saw
sit sat
come came
eat ate
lie lay
run ran
The vowel changes to O
V1 V2
break broke
drive drove
ride rode
speak spoke
tear tore
wake woke
wear wore
The vowel changes to O
V1 V2
write wrote
win won
get got
forget forgot
steal stole
tell told
The vowel changes to U
V1 V2

dig dug
stick stuck
spin spun
sting stung
swing swung
Long vowel changes to short vowel
V1 V2
bite bit
hide hid
shoot shot
light lit
bleed bled
feed fed
meet met
V1 and V2 are the same
V1 V2
beat beat
bet bet
cost cost
cut cut
hit hit
hurt hurt
let let
put put
shut shut
 -ell changes to -old
V1 V2
sell sold
tell told

OO changes to O
V1 V2
choose chose
shoot shot
EA is pronounced differently
V1 V2

dream dreamt

read read

hear heard
 Positive Form
Subject + V+ ed / d / ied

Negative Form
Subject + did not + V
 Yes / No Questions
Did + subject + V?

Wh- Questions
Wh + did + subject + V?
 Wh- Subject Questions
Wh + V + ed?
* Notice that there is no subject in the
questions, since we are asking about it.
* Notice that there is no helping verb “did”.
Past Simple (Be)
 The Verb To Be
When do we use it?
The most common use
of the verb “to be” is to
talk about names, ages,
feelings, nationalities,
and professions.
 Positive Form
Subject + to be + ...

I was happy
You were happy
He was happy
We were happy
She was happy
They were happy
It was happy
 Negative Form
Subject + to be + not + ...

I was not happy

You were not happy
He was not happy
We were not happy
She was not happy
They were not happy
It was not happy

weren’t wasn’t
 Yes / No Questions
Were + you / we / they + ...?
Was + I / he / she / it + ...?

Wh- Questions
Wh + were + you / we / they + ...?
Wh + was + I / he / she / it + ...?
 To Be
Did
(was/were)
We talk about
We talk about an action.
a state of being.
Subject + verb + ed
Subject + to be
(irregular verb)
Subject + to be not
Subject + did not + verb
To be + subject?
Did + subject + verb?
Wh + to be +subject?
Wh + did +subject + verb?
I learned English. I was a good student.
I didn’t learn English. I was not a good student.
Were you a good student?
Did you learn English?
Why were you a good
Why did you learn English? student?