PAST TENSES

The past tense in English is used:

● to talk about the past
● to talk about hypotheses – things that are imagined rather
than true.
● for politeness.
Past simple (FORMS)

With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

call >> called; like >> liked; want >> wanted; work >> worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English.

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Pronunciation
Past simple

We use the past tense to talk about:

● something that happened once in the past:
I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.
Simple past
● something that happened again and again in the past:
When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.
Simple past
● something that was true for some time in the past:
I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.
 But look at these questions:

Who discovered penicillin?

Simple past
Who wrote Don Quixote?

Questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past tense:
When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?
Simple past

We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past tense:
They didn’t go to Spain this year.
We didn’t get home until very late last night.
I didn’t see you yesterday.
Regular verbs (exercise)
Regular verbs (exercise)
Regular verbs (negative sentences)
Regular verbs (interrogative sentences)
Irregular verbs

Some verbs are irregular.

Their past forms do not end in -ed.
Irregular verbs

So how do I know which verbs are regular and which

are irregular?
You have to learn them!
Irregular verbs

The negatives are all formed with did + not + the infinitive without to. The
question forms are very similar: did + subject pronoun + the infinitive
without to.

What did you do all day in the airport?

Did you have enough food?

We didn't think you would get home in time for your birthday.
Irregular verbs - Verb TO BE

The past form is was for I, he, she and it, but were for you, we and they.

It was horrible not being able to phone you two!

There wasn't any food. I was so hungry!

We were stuck in the airport.

Some irregular verbs
Some irregular verbs

■ I was in Japan last year

■ She had a headache yesterday.
■ We did our homework last night.
Some irregular verbs

TO GO

■ He went to a club last night.

■ Did he go to the cinema last night?
■ He didn't go to bed early last night.
Some irregular verbs

TO GIVE
■ We gave her a doll for her birthday.
■ They didn't give John their new address.
■ Did Barry give you my passport?
Some irregular verbs

TO COME

■ My parents came to visit me last July.

■ We didn't come because it was raining.
■ Did he come to your party last week?
How do I learn these verbs?

There are lots of things you can try:

● Make cards to test yourself – put the infinitive on one side and the past on the
other.
● Write sentences with different verbs in them. Include some negatives.
● Make up stories and record yourself. The story could just be about what you
did last weekend.
● Do practice activities online.
Conversation

1. Tell me about your last vacation. Where did you go? What did you do?
2. What did you do for you last birthday?
3. What was the last really difficult thing you had to do?
4. What did you eat for you last meal?
5. Who did you meet last week? What did you do together?
6. Tell me about what you did for the last 24 hours.
7. When was the last time you were really excited about something?
Conversation
Past continuous
The past continuous (also called past progressive) is a verb tense which is
used to show that an ongoing past action was happening at a specific
moment of interruption, or that two ongoing actions were happening at the
same time.

Este tiempo verbal equivale en español a la forma verbal: yo estaba comiendo, tú

estabas comiendo, él estaba comiendo, etc. No obstante, en algunos casos también se
puede traducir por: yo comía, tú comías, él comía, etc.
USES:
The most common use is to talk about something that was happening around a
particular time in the past.

What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I was watching television. (I started
watching television before 8 o’clock and I continued watching it after 8 o’clock).

In 1994 he was working in a small town in Poland.

At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport.

USES:
To describe the background in a story written in the past tense,

e.g.

"The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of
the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the
elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't
notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the
shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
USES:

Temporary habits or habits that happen more often than we expect in the
past. We often use 'always', 'constantly' or 'forever' here. This is the same as
the way we use the present continuous for habits, but the habit started and
finished in the past. This thing doesn't happen now.

He was always leaving the tap running.

She was constantly singing.

USES:

To emphasise that something lasted for a while. This use is often optional
and we usually use it with time expressions like 'all day' or 'all evening' or
'for hours'.

I was working in the garden all day.

He was reading all evening.

USES:

To describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or

action,

e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
Past Continuous Forms

The past continuous is formed using was/were + present participle.

Questions are indicated by inverting the subject and was/were. Negatives
are made with not.

Statement: You were studying when she called.

Question: Were you studying when she called?

Negative: You were not studying when she called.

Positive form
 AUXILIARY VERB
SUBJECT EXAMPLES
(PAST FORM) (-ING)

I was sleeping on the sofa.

I was
(yo) Estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

You were sleeping on the sofa.

You were
(tú) Estabas durmiendo en el sofá.

He was sleeping on the sofa.

He
(él) Estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

sleeping
She was sleeping on the sofa.
She was
(ella) Estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

It was sleeping on the sofa.

It
(ello) Estaba durmiendo en el sofá.
 We were sleeping on the sofa.
We
( nosotros/as) Estábamos durmiendo en el sofá.

You were sleeping on the sofa.

You were
(vosotros/as) Estábais durmiendo en el sofá.

They were sleeping on the sofa.

They
(ellos/as) Estaban durmiendo en el sofá.
Negative form
 AUXILIARY VERB
SUBJECT EXAMPLES
(PAST FORM) (-ING)

was not I wasn't sleeping on the sofa.

I
wasn't (yo) No estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

were not You weren't sleeping on the sofa.

You
weren't (tú) No estabas durmiendo en el sofá.

He wasn't sleeping on the sofa.

He
(él) No estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

sleeping
was not She wasn't sleeping on the sofa.
She
wasn't (ella) No estaba durmiendo en el sofá.

It wasn't sleeping on the sofa.

It
(ello) No estaba durmiendo en el sofá.
 We weren't sleeping on the sofa.
We
( nosotros/as) No estábamos durmiendo en el sofá.

were not You weren't sleeping on the sofa.

You
weren't (vosotros/as) No estabais durmiendo en el sofá.

They weren't sleeping on the sofa.

They
(ellos/as) No estaban durmiendo en el sofá.
Interrogative
form
 VERB
AUXILIARY SUBJECT EXAMPLES
(-ING)

Was I sleeping on the sofa?

Was I
(yo) ¿Estaba durmiendo en el sofá?

Were you sleeping on the sofa?

Were you
(tú) ¿Estabas durmiendo en el sofá?

Was he sleeping on the sofa?

he
(él) ¿Estaba durmiendo en el sofá?

sleeping?
Was she sleeping on the sofa?
Was she
(ella) ¿Estaba durmiendo en el sofá?

Was it sleeping on the sofa?

it
(ello) ¿Estaba durmiendo en el sofá?
 Were we sleeping on the sofa?
we
( nosotros/as) ¿Estábamos durmiendo en el sofá?

Were you sleeping on the sofa?

Were you
(vosotros/as) ¿Estabais durmiendo en el sofá?

Were they sleeping on the sofa?

they
(ellos/as) ¿Estaban durmiendo en el sofá?
Remember