The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterit, is used to talk about a completed

action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past tense in English. The
time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action duration is not
important.

1. EXAMPLES

John Cabot sailed to America in 1498

My father died last year

He lived in Fiji in 1976

We crossed the Channel yesterday

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is
associated with certain past time expressions

 Frequency: often, sometimes, always

o I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.

o I often brought my lunch to school.

 a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago

o We saw a good film last week.

o Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
o She finished her work at seven o'clock
o I went to the theatre last night

 an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People
lived in caves a long time ago.

o She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is
placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language,
but the meaning may be diferent.

2. PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR VERBS

2.1. Afirmative

Subject + verb + ed
I skipped.

2.2. Afirmative

Subject + did not + infinitive without to

They didn't skip.

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 2.3. Interrogative

Did + subject + infinitive without to

Did she arrive?

2.4. Interrogative negative

Did not + subject + infinitive without to

Didn't you play?

To Stay
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I stayed I didn't stay Did I stay?
You stayed You didn't stay Did you stay?
He stayed He didn't stay Did he stay?
We stayed We didn't stay Did we stay?
They stayed They didn't stay Did they stay?

3. SIMPLE PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. They change their form in the past. Here
are the most common ones:

Infinitive Past Infinitive Past

be was/were let let
begin began lie lay
break broke lose lost
bring brought make made
buy bought mean meant
build built meet met
choose chose pay paid
come came put put
cost cost run ran
cut cut say said
do did sell sold
draw drew send sent
drive drove set set
eat ate sit sat
feel felt speak spoke
find found spend spent
get got stand stood
give gave take took
go went teach taught
have had tell told

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hear heard think thought
hold held understand understood
keep kept wear wore
know knew win won
leave left write wrote
lead led

3.1. Afirmative

Subject + verb (past form)

She swam

3.2. Afirmative

Subject + did not + infinitive without to

She didn't swim

3.3. Interrogative

Did + subject + infinitive without to

Did she swim?

3.4. Interrogative negative

Did not + subject + infinitive without to

Didn't she swim?

To think
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I thought I didn't think Did I think?
You thought You didn't think Did you think?
He/She/It
He didn't think Did he/she/it think?
thought
We thought We didn't think Did we think?
They thought They didn't think Did they think?

3.5. Simple Past Tense of

TO BE TO HAVE TO DO
I was had did
You were had did
He/She/It was had did
We were had did

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 You were had did

4. USAGE ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS

4.1. Affirmative

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple. The verb goes in its past form (regular
and irregular)

 I was in Japan last year

 She had a headache yesterday.
 We did our homework last night.

4.2. Negative and Interrogative

For the negative and interrogative simple past form, use the auxilia-ry "did" and the
patterns for the present

 They didn't do our homework last night.

 Did they do their homework last night?

The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "did":

 She didn’t have a dog in 2007

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "did":

 Did she have a dog in 2007?

Examples
 They weren't in Rio last summer.
 We didn't have any money.
 We didn't have time to visit the Eiffiel Tower.
 We didn't do our exercises this morning.
 Were they in Iceland last January?
 Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
 Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always
use the auxiliary 'did''

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  He is a good pupil: he always works seriously.
From the present, the verb and time expressions need to change when
necessary.

Past tense: He was a good pupil, he worked seriously

 What’s he doing now? He is working.

Past tenses: What was he doing? He was working.

What did he do? He worked

 He doesn’t work at all this week.

Past tense: He didn’t work at all last week

This result is good: you worked well today

He had never worked before he left school.

I worked while you were sleeping.

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You would work more efficiently if you were more
attentive.

I would have certainly worked more if I had been

encouraged.

He went on working until he was too tired to continue.

I used to work twelve hours a day before the war.

I worked a lot today. I’m going to watch television

now.

Did he work last weekend?

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You could have worked better if you had wanted to

He has worked two months for the same firm and he

intends to go on working there