PAST SIMPLE

1. El pasado simple de los verbos regulares añade la terminación –ed al infinitivo sin “to”.
Véase “Reglas ortográficas de las terminaciones –(e), –ed, –ing, –er y –est”:

She lived They stayed

Los verbos irregulares tienen formas diferentes para el pasado (consulta el listado):
Eddy went You saw
2. Para la forma negativa se emplea did not, que se puede contraer (didn’t), delante del infinitivo
sin “to”, tanto para los verbos regulares como para los irregulares.

She didn’t live / They didn’t stay (regular) Eddy didn’t go / You didn’t see (irregular)
3. Las preguntas las formularemos con Did + sujeto + infinitivo sin “to”, tanto si el verbo es
regular como si es irregular.

Did she live? / Did they stay? (regular) Did Eddy go? / Did you see? (irregular)
4. En los cuadros siguientes podemos observar las tres formas:

Regular verbs
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION
I I I
You You you
He He he
lived didn’t live live?
She She she
Did
It It it
stayed didn’t stay stay?
We We we
You You you
They They they

Irregular verbs
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION
I I I
You You you
He He he
went didn’t go go?
She She she
Did
It It it
saw didn’t see see?
We We we
You You you
They They they

5. Se emplea para referirse a acciones y situaciones que ocurrieron en el pasado.

I went to the cinema yesterday.
Bill lived in Athens from 1965 to 1968.
Observa que siempre hay una expresión de tiempo que indica pasado, que a veces puede
sobrentenderse:

‘We didn’t go out last night. We stayed at home.’ ‘And so did you watch the film on TV?’

GM Past Simple 1
 PAST SIMPLE – Exercises
1. Nick and his family are on holiday in Europe. Complete Nick’s email to Bob about the
cities he visited and the weather, the food and the museums in these places.

City Weather Food Museums

Monday Madrid fine not very good boring
Tuesday Paris fine good interesting
Wednesday London bad not good OK
Thursday Amsterdam OK good not very interesting
Friday Zurich bad terrible quite interesting
Saturday Venice not very good bad great
Sunday Rome nice great interesting

To: bob.early@kmail.com
Subject: Holidays in Europe

Hi Bob!
As you can see, I’m on holiday around Europe with my family. On Monday we were in
Madrid. The weather was fine, but the food wasn’t very good, and the museums were boring.
On Tuesday

On Wednesday

On Thursday

On

GM Past Simple 2
2. Write the questions and Nick’s answers about the table on page 2.

(1) weather / Madrid / fine? Was the weather in Madrid fine? ~ Yes, it was.
(2) museums / Paris / interesting? Were the museums
(3) food / Zurich / good?
(4) weather / London / good?
(5) food / Venice / fine?
(6) weather / Rome / nice?
(7) museums / Amsterdam / ok?

3. Yesterday these people had lunch at the seaside. Follow the example.

Packets Bottles
Minipizzas Sandwiches Oranges Apples
of crisps of Coke
Dave 3 - 2 2 2 -
Sally 2 4 - 3 2 -
Nicola - 5 2 2 2 -
Mark and Peter 4 - 4 4 2 -
Sue - 1 - 1 - 2

(1) Dave had three minipizzas, two oranges, two packets of crisps and two bottles of Coke. He
didn’t have any sandwiches and he didn’t have any apples.
(2) Sally

(3) Nicola

(4) Mark and Peter

(5) Sue

4. Write questions and short answers.

(1) Sue / sandwiches? Did Sue have any sandwiches? ~ Yes, he did.
(2) Sally / oranges? Did Sally have any oranges? ~ No, she didn’t.
(3) Nicola / packets of crisps?
(4) Dave / minipizzas?
(5) Mark and Peter / apples?
(6) Sue / bottles of Coke?

GM Past Simple 3
5. Write these sentences in the Past Simple.

(1) They talk in class.
(2) She walks to school.
(3) He dances very well.
(4) They love basketball.
(5) He misses the bus.
They talked in class. (6) She plays tennis.
(7) He likes you.
(8) You look tired.
(9) We live in Oxford.
(10) I watch TV.

6. Make negative sentences.

(1) Maria / wash / her hair. Maria didn’t wash her hair.
(2) John / phone / his grandfather.
(3) They / listen to / the records.
(4) I / miss / the train.
(5) We / play / the piano.
(6) Chris / watch / TV.
(7) They / like / film.
(8) Jenny / ask / any questions.
(9) Jim / clean / his room.
(10) Michael / go / to the cinema.
(11) You / do / the exam.
(12) She / sleep / enough.
(13) I / have / a bath.

7. Write questions and answers. Look at Nick’s list for yesterday.

1 Finish homework 
2 Phone Tony 
3 Wash dishes 
4 Tidy room 
5 Take dog for a walk 
6 Watch favourite series 
7 Post two stories on Instagram 
8 Help Dad with the car 
9 Listen to David’s new podcast 
10 Help Mum in the garden 
11 Make bed 
12 Buy birthday present for Anna 

GM Past Simple 4
 (1) Did he finish his homework? ~ No, he didn’t. (7)
(2) (8)
(3) (9)
(4) (10)
(5) (11)
(6) (12)

8. Write the verb.

(1) swim swam (8) drank (15) did

(2) ran (9) bought (16) won
(3) rang (10) flew (17) felt
(4) sat (11) sold (18) lost
(5) came (12) wrote (19) found
(6) made (13) spoke (20) went
(7) ate (14) broke (21) read

9. Complete the following sentences using the verbs in exercise 8 in the Past Simple.

(1) I swam 100 metres in the school swimming pool yesterday.

(2) I my homework from 7.00 to 9.30 yesterday evening!
(3) The cat all the milk and then on the television for three hours.
(4) I four essays last Monday.
(5) We played football last weekend and a window.
(6) Jim his bicycle to Peter for forty pounds.
(7) Jane the Physics book, but she didn’t understand it!
(8) My little brother Tim helped Mum. He his bed this morning.
(9) The telephone twenty times yesterday afternoon.
(10) The teacher in English and I understood him. My English is improving!
(11) Robert was first! He the race.
(12) Anna to my party last month.
(13) Daddy! Mike my lunch!
(14) Tessa sick the other day.
(15) My father a plane ticket and to Denmark last Thursday.
(16) I my pen on Friday, but I it under the table on Saturday.
(17) We to a party last Friday night.
(18) My sister missed the bus and to school, but she was still late.

GM Past Simple 5
10. What did Nicola do last Saturday? What didn’t he do?

Saturday
1 Ring Paula 
2 Read magazine 
3 Write a birthday card to Jenny 
4 Sell bike 
5 Make a cake 
6 Buy a mobile phone from Amazon 
7 Find Spanish dictionary 
8 Go to Diana’s party 
9 Swim 200 metres 
10 Do the washing-up 
11 Do the washing 
12 Take dog to the vet 

(1) Did he ring Paula? ~ Yes, he did. (7)

(2) (8)
(3) (9)
(4) (10)
(5) (11)
(6) (12)

11. Complete this story with the Past Simple of the verbs in brackets.

Last Thursday our class (GO) to France for the day. I (GET)
up early. Mum (MAKE) some sandwiches for me. I (LEAVE) home at
eight o’clock. Dad (TAKE) me to the station by car. When we
(ARRIVE) at the station, the teacher (ASK), ‘Have you all got your
passports?’ I (LOOK) in my bag, but my passport (NOT BE) there.
Dad (TAKE) me home again, but I couldn’t find my passport. Then I
(FIND) it. It (BE) in my pocket! We (DRIVE) back to the station
very fast. A policeman (STOP) us. He (GIVE) Dad a ticket for
speeding. Dad (MISS) his train to work, but we (CATCH)
our train to Dover. We (HAVE) a great time in France. We
(DO) lots of interesting things and we (SEE) some beautiful things in the
market. I (BUY) Dad a big present, but he (NOT BE) very friendly
to me.

GM Past Simple 6