STUDY GUIDE: USE OF PAST SIMPLE TENSE
Name: ______________________________________
Date: _____________________________________
For this study guide, you need to know first:
Pronouns
Verbs in Past Simple tense
Use of did in affirmative, negative and interrogative forms
Key words that demonstrate past (ex. Yesterday, last year, etc.)
When we want to express that something happened in the past, we use the PAST SIMPLE tense. This means
that we write or speak in a special way with special words when we want to talk about things that happened
in the past. We use this tense in the following way, for AFFIRMATIVE sentences:
PERSON
VERB
(-ed)
COMPLEMENTS
(irregular verbs)
For example, if we want to say: Yo estudi matemticas ayer, it goes like this:
I STUDIED
MATH YESTERDAY
In order for you to learn and use how to express sentences in past tense, you have to learn some verbs first:
VERBS
PAST SIMPLE FORM
PRONUNCIATION
MEANING
Arrive
Arrived
/arrivd/
Llegar
Dance
Danced
/dnst/
Bailar
Do
Did
/did/
Hacer
Eat
Ate
/it/
Comer
Go
Went
/went/
Ir
Have
Had
/jd/
Tener
Listen
Listened
/lsent/
Escuchar
See
Saw
/s/
Ver / mirar
Study
Studied
/stdied/
Estudiar
Talk
Talked
/tkt/
Hablar
Review exercise: Read the sentences and write the verbs in past tense. Then, highlight the words that indicate
PAST.
1. My parents __________________________ (arrive) from Santiago yesterday.
2. Me and my friends ____________________________ (dance) at the disco last night.
3. I ____________________________ (do) my homework an hour ago.
4. She ______________________________ (eat) hamburgers last week.
5. I ______________________________ (go) to another school last year.
6. When I was a little girl, I ________________________ (have) many dolls.
7. He and his friends ____________________________ (listen) to a fun song last month.
8. My dad ________________________ (see) a U.F.O five years ago.
9. We _______________________ (study) a lot for the test two weeks ago.
10. I ______________________ (talk) with my best friend yesterday.
Maybe you noticed that there are some words or expressions that help us recognize that the sentence is in
past tense. Write them below and translate them into Spanish.
WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS
MEANING IN SPANISH
PRONUNCIATION
Now, youre able to create 5 sentences in Past Simple tense using the verbs and past expressions:
1. ________________________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________________________________________
For the NEGATIVE FORM to express that something did not happen, we use past simple like this:
PERSON
DIDNT
VERB
COMPLEMENTS
For example, if we want to say: Yo no estudi matemticas ayer, it goes like this:
I DIDNT
STUDY MATH YESTERDAY
Can you see the difference between the AFFIRMATIVE and NEGATIVE form?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
So, be careful because if we say that something happened we use ed or the irregular verbs, but if we want
to say that something did not happen WE DONT USE ED or IRREGULAR FORMS OF VERBS.
For example:
a. Dave went to the movies two days ago.
b. Dave didnt go to the movies two days ago.
Review exercise: Read the sentence in affirmative past simple tense form, and transform them into NEGATIVE
form.
1. My parents went to Rome two years ago.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. My friends danced at the disco last night.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. I did my homework an hour ago.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
4. She ate three hamburgers last week.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. I arrived to Copiapo last year.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6. When I was a little girl, I had many dolls.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. He and his friends listened to a fun song last month.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. My dad saw a scary movie last week.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. We studied a lot for the test two weeks ago.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
10. I talked with my best friend yesterday.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
For the INTERROGATIVE form, we speak like this:
DID
PERSON
VERB
COMPLEMENTS
For example, if we want to say: Estudiaste (t) matemticas ayer? it goes like this:
DID YOU
STUDY MATH YESTERDAY ?
It is NOT like this, because its repetitive:
DID YOU
STUDIED
MATH YESTERDAY ?
And the answers are short and simple: if it is YES, then its: YES, ____ DID / NO, ____ DIDNT
Review exercise: Read the questions and answer YES, ____ DID or NO, ___ DIDNT. Follow the example.
0. Did your mum eat some bread last week?
She
Yes, she did
1. Did you go to school yesterday? ______________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Did your parents dance in their birthdays? _____________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. Did you do your homeworks? ________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. Did your cousin have car when he was a little boy? __________________________
_______________________________________________________________
5. Did you study for the last History test? ___________________________
_______________________________________________________________
6. Did your dad arrive to Copiapo last week? _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
