Past Simple

Affirmative Form Negative Form

Formation: Subject + Past Verb + Object Formation: Subject + Did + Not + Infinitive Verb + Object
Subjects Example Subjects Example

I I lived in Paris. I I did not study law. / I didn’t study law.

You You lived in Paris. You You did not study law. / You didn’t study law.
He He lived in Paris. He He did not study law. / He didn’t study law.
She She lived in Paris. She She did not study law. / She didn’t study law.
It It lived in Paris. It It did not study law. / It didn’t study law.
We We lived in Paris. We We did not study law. / We didn’t study law.
You You lived in Paris. You You did not study law. / You didn’t study law.
They They lived in Paris. They They did not study law. / They didn’t study law.

Interrogative Form
Formation: Did + Subject + Infinitive Verb + Object + ?
Subjects Example Short Answers
I Did I pass the exam? Yes, you did. / No, you didn’t.
You Did you pass the exam? Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.
He Did he pass the exam? Yes, he did. / No, she didn’t
She Did she pass the exam? Yes, she did. / No, he didn’t
It Did it pass the exam? Yes, it did. / No, it didn’t
We Did we pass the exam? Yes, you did. / No, you didn’t.
You Did you pass the exam? Yes, we did. / No, we didn’t.
They Did they pass the exam? Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.
Past Simple Auxiliary Verb: DID

The auxiliary verb which goes with present simple tense is DID for all subjects.

To form the negative auxiliary for the past simple verb, we need to write down NOT after
DID.

DID + NOT
When we form interrogative sentences, we write DID just before the subject.
=
DIDN’T
When we use negative and interrogative sentences in past simple, we write the main verb as
an infinitive verb, as we are including DID in the sentence, it already tells us that the
sentence is a past one, so we mustn’t put the verb in its past form again.
 Past Verb Formation

The Past verb is formed by adding the suffix –ED at the end of the word. However, there are some exceptions in
spelling that you should remember. There are also a number of irregular verbs which don’t follow any rule and they
have special past and past participle forms. You must learn them one by one.
If the verb Almost very consonant
-E (Silent) Consonant + Y Vowel + Y
ends in: (Except Y)
We add: -ED -D -IED (omitting Y) -ED
Examples: Look – Looked Hate – Hated Carry – Carried Play – Played
I look gorgeous. We hate maths. You carry this bag. They play outside.
I looked gorgeous. We hated maths. You carried that bag. They played outside.

Visit – Visited Close – Closed Study – Studied Stay – Stayed

You visit her every day. I close the door. We study English. I stay at that hotel.
You visited her every day. I closed the door. We studied English. I stayed at that hotel.

Past Simple Uses

Uses
Actions completed in the past with a direct or
indirect time reference (past time expressions).
Past habitual actions [Frequently with USE(D) TO
(infinitive verb)]
Past actions happening one after the other.
Examples
I went to the cinema the day before yesterday.
She cleaned her room a couple of weeks ago.
We didn’t send Christmas cards last Christmas.
He didn’t do it in that moment.
Did you have fun last summer?
Did it stay outside yesterday morning?
I travelled a lot in my twenties.
They used to live in Rome.
We didn’t play cards very often back then.
You didn’t use to study every day during college.
Did she go to work so far?
Did he wear glasses when he was young?
I went to the park, played football and so on
He woke up, got dressed and had breakfast.

Past Simple Time Expressions

Yesterday I Saw you yesterday.
Last:
Night, Week, Month, Year… He didn’t go home last night.
Summer, autumn, winter, spring We spent all the money last summer.
January, February, March… It didn’t rain too much last March.

On + Date Did you live there on Christmas day?

Then, when, back then... Did she tell you that back then?
 Past Simple with the verb To Be
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
Formation: Formation: Formation:
Subject + Was / Were + Object Subject + Was / Were + not + Was / Were + Subject + Obje
Object
I I was happy. I I *was not happy. I *Was I happy?
You You were happy. You You * were not happy. You *Were you happy?
He He was happy. He He *was not happy. He *Was he happy?
She She was happy. She She *was not happy. She *Was she happy?
It It was happy. It It *was not happy . It *Was it happy?
We We were happy. We We *were not happy. We *Were we happy?
You You were happy. You You *were not happy. You *Were you happy?
Thy They were happy. They They *were not happy. They *Were they happy?
Subject + Verb to be + not (Short Forms)
Whole Form Verb + not Examples
I was not I wasn’t I wasn’t happy.
You were not You weren’t You weren’t happy.
He was not He wasn’t He wasn’t happy.
She was not She wasn’t She wasn’t happy.
It was not It wasn’t It wasn’t happy.
We were not We weren’t We weren’t happy.
You were not You weren’t You weren’t happy.
They were not They weren’t They weren’t happy

Use of verb to be in past simple: We use this verb when we want to explain how or what a
animal, thing or state was (In the past). It’s also used to say where a person animal or thing was. That
after the verb to be we use and adjective, place or noun clause as a complement.
I was tall.
Adjective You weren’t bald.
was she upset?

Subject + was / were We were teachers.

Noun He wasn’t a student.
Subject + was / were + not + were they good friends
was / were + Subject
I was not at the cinema
Place He was in a bank.
was it in its place?

Error Warning: Don’t confuse the past simple of the verb to be with the past continuous. If you ha
doubt, note that after the verb to be goes and adjective, a noun or a place if it is past simple. If the v
tense is past continuous the verb To Be will be follow by a gerund verb (-ING).