Simple past

The simple past, also called the simple past, is one of the verb tenses in English. It is
equivalent to the simple past in Portuguese.

When to use?
The simple past is used to indicate past actions that have already been completed, that
is, to talk about facts that have already happened; that started and ended in the past.
Temporal expressions used with the simple past
To reinforce the use of Simple Past, many temporal expressions are used in sentences.
The most common examples are: yesterday, the day before yesterday, last night, last
year, last month, last week, ago...

Examples of sentences in the simple past with the expressions above:

• We didn't go to school yesterday.
• His birthday was the day before yesterday.
• She studied Math last night.
• I traveled1/ traveled2 to Brazil last year.
• They visited their uncle last month.
• I called you three days ago.
• We learned how to dance samba last week.

Formation of Simple Past

The basic formation of the Simple Past is done with the use of the auxiliary did in the
negative and interrogative forms, and with the addition of –ed, –ied or –d to the end of
the main verb in the infinitive, without the to, in the affirmative form.
In the tables below we have examples of conjugation of the simple past.

Example: verb to dance

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I danced I did not dance Did I dance?

You danced You did not dance Did you dance?

He danced He did not dance Did he dance?

 Affirmative Negative Interrogative

She danced She did not dance Did she dance?

It danced It did not dance Did it dance?

We danced We did not dance Did we dance?

You danced You did not dance Did you dance?

They danced They did not dance Did they dance?

Example: verb to fly

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I flew I did not fly Did I fly?

You flew You did not fly Did you fly?

He flew He did not fly Did he fly?

She flew She did not fly Did she fly?

It flew It did not fly Did it fly?

We flew We did not fly Did we fly?

You flew You did not fly Did you fly?

They flew They did not fly Did they fly?

Affirmative form
Regular verbs
To use regular verbs in affirmative sentences in the simple past, simply change the
ending of the verb according to the following rules:
1. For regular verbs ending in –e, just add –d at the end of the verb:
• to love – loved
• to lie – lied
• to arrive – arrived
• to like – liked
2. For regular verbs ending in consonant+vowel+consonant (CVC), the last
consonant is doubled and the –ed is added:
• stop – stopped
• control – controlled
• plan – planned
• prefer – preferred
3. For verbs ending in –y preceded by a consonant, the y is removed and the –ied is
added:
• to study - studied
• to worry – worried
• to cry – cried
• to try – tried
4. To verbs ending in –y preceded by a vowel, only –ed is added:
• enjoy – enjoyed
• stay – stayed
• play – played

Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs do not have a formation pattern. They do not follow the rules indicated
above as they have their own shape.
Here are some irregular verbs in the simple past:
The formation of sentences in the affirmative in the simple past follows the structure
below:
Subject + verb + complement
Example: She liked the English teacher.

Negative Form
For the construction of negative sentences in the simple past, the verb did is used as an
auxiliary verb.
The main verb is not conjugated in the past, since the auxiliary already indicates the
verb tense.

Its sentence structure is as follows:

Subject + did + not + main verb + complement
Example: She did not like the English teacher. (She didn't like the English teacher)
See: the contracted form of did not is didn’t.
Interrogative Form
As in the negative form, did is the auxiliary verb used for interrogative sentences in
simple past .
See the structure below:
Did + subject + main verb + complement
Example: Did she like the English teacher?
See: only the auxiliary verb (did) is conjugated in the Simple Past. It is not necessary to
conjugate the main verb.

Simple Past x Past Continuous

Many confuse the uses of the past tense in English, especially the Simple Past and the
Past Continuous. Let's see the differences between them below:
Simple Past
It expresses past actions, that is, it refers to events that started in the past and ended in
the past. In this case, the actions have already been completed. The auxiliary verb did is
used only in the negative and interrogative forms of the simple sast.
Examples:
• You ran in the marathon.
• You did not run in the marathon.
• Did you run in the marathon?

Past Continuous
Expresses an ongoing action that has taken place in the past.
Unlike the Simple Past, it is formed by the auxiliary verb to be conjugated in the Simple
Past (was/were) + the gerund (-ing) of the main verb.
Examples:
• You were running in the marathon.
• You were not running in the marathon.