SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Simple Past Tense is used to explain the action or situation in the past and that action or
situation is ended in the past also. Simple past is used for things that happened at a certain
time in the past and ended during a period of time in the past. In the other words, simple past
tense is used to talked about the completed action or situation in a time before now. The time
action duration is not important. Most verbs in simple past are formed with -ed at the end of
the words (regular verb), but some verbs are in the form of irregular verbs. Examples of
regular verbs are work→worked, start→started, listen→listened, etc. Examples of irregular
verbs are fly→flew, come→came, break→broke, etc.

We always use the simple past when something happened at a particular time in the past and
simple past come up with several time expressions, such as:
-Frequency: often, sometimes, always
Examples: I sometimes slept on the floor.
I often watched documenter movies.
-A definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
Examples: We saw a very cute cat yesterday.
Ridwan arrived in Tokyo last week.
He had a bad experience when he was a child.
I finished my brunch at eleven o’clock.
-An indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
Examples: My family went to Lombok a long time ago.
Mammoth lived in Alaska ages ago.

Simple past tense of to be, to have, to do

Verb
Subject Be Have Do
I was had did
You were had did
They were had did
We were had did
He/She/It was had did
Formula of Simple Past Tense:
Affirmative:
S + VERB 2 + O
Example: I watched Doraemon 2 in the cinema last Thursday.

Negative:
S + DID + NOT + VERB 1 + O or
S + TO BE (WAS/WERE) + NOT + O
Examples: She did not come to the office yesterday.
Akbar was not in the class two days ago.
Two days ago, they were not in the meeting.

Interrogative:
DID + S + VERB 1? Or
WAS/WERE + S + O?
Examples: Did you come to my office a week ago?
Was the Dorameon 2 so interesting?
Were they in Lombok two weeks ago?

Exercises: Fill in the blanks below to complete the sentences.

1. I (am) was in Lombok last year. It (is) was an awesome experience.
2. Fika (has) had a headache last night. That’s why she did not come out for dinner.
3. Mira (go) went to Labuan Bajo a year ago.
4. They (watch) watched Game of Thrones series in HBO.
5. You (are, not) were not in the class yesterday.
6. She (want, not) did not want to meet you because you were so busy with your work.
7. Agung (is, not) was not in the meeting last Monday.
8. (you, do, have) Did you have a favourite toy when you were young?
9. (Jeni, is, play) Was Jeni play with Kana yesterday afternoon?
10. (they, are, visit) Were they visit grandma two weeks ago?
11. Sue (drink) drank a cup of coffee before class this morning.
12. We (eat) ate a delicious dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night.
13. When it (begin) began to rain yesterday afternoon, I (shut) shut all of the windows in
the apartment.
14. I (read) read an interesting article in the newspaper yesterday.
15. I (meet) met Jenifer’s parents when they visited her. She introduced me to them.
16. The children (draw) drew pictures of themselves in art class yesterday.
17. A: (you, do, go) Did you go to class yesterday?
B: No, I (am, not) did not. I (stay) stayed home because I (feel, do, not) didn’t feel
good.
18. A: (Mary, do, study) Did Mary study last night?
B: No, she (does not) didn’t. She (watch) watched TV last night.
19. A: (Are) Were they in Jogja two days ago?
B: Yes, they (are) were. They (enjoy) enjoyed the holiday very much.
20. A: (Is) Was she study well?
B: Yes, she (is) was. She (study) studied 4 hours a day.