PAST SIMPLE

HOW TO USE PAST SIMPLE:

Finished actions, states or habits in the past:

1: We use it with finished actions, states or habits in the past when we have a finished
time word (yesterday, last week, at 2 o'clock, in 2003).
 I went to the cinema yesterday.
 We spent a lot of time in Japan in 2007.
2: We use it with finished actions, states or habits in the past when we know from general
knowledge that the time period has finished. This includes when the person we are talking
about is dead.
 Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa.
 The Vikings invaded Britain.

HOW TO FORM PAST SIMPLE:

A. AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE: For regular verbs, add ”-ed” to the root form of the
verb (or just ”-d” if the root form already ends in an ”e”):
♦ Play→ Played
♦ Type→ Typed
♦ Listen→ Listened
♦ Push→ Pushed
♦ Love→ Loved

For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The simple past tense of some
irregular verbs looks exactly like the root form:
♦ Put→ Put
♦ Cut→ Cut
♦ Set→ Set
♦ Cost→ Cost
♦ Hit→ Hit

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 For other irregular verbs, including the verb ”to be”, the simple past forms are more
erratic:
♦ See→ Saw
♦ Build→ Built
♦ Go→ Went
♦ Do→ Did
♦ Rise→ Rose
♦ Am/Is/Are→ Was/Were
♦ Eat ate
♦ Drink  drank
♦ Send  sent
♦ Break  broke
♦ Tell  told

The verbs in the simple past tense (except for the verb ”to be”) don’t need to agree in
number with their subjects.
Example: Wolfgang polished his medal. The other winners polished their medals too.

B. NEGATIVE SENTENCE: The formula is ”did not” + [root form of verb]. You can
also use the contraction ”didn’t” instead of ”did not”.
Example: Wolfgang did not brag too much about his hula hoop skills. Wolfgang’s
girlfriend didn’t see the contest.
I worked last weekend.
I didn’t worked last weekend.

For the verb ”to be”, you don’t need the auxiliary did. When the subject of the
sentence is singular, use ”was not” or ”wasn’t”. When the subject is plural, use ”were not”
or ”weren’t”.
Example: The third-place winner was not as happy as Wolfgang. The fourth-place winner
wasn’t happy at all. The onlookers were not ready to leave after the contest ended. The
contestants weren’t ready to leave either.

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B. INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE: The formula for asking a question in the simple past
tense is ”did” + [subject] + [root form of verb].
Example: Did Wolfgang win the gold medal or the silver medal? Where did Wolfgang go
to celebrate? Did the judges decide fairly, in your opinion?
When asking a question with the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did. The formula is
”was”/”were” + [subject].
Example: Was Wolfgang in a good mood after the contest? Were people taking lots of
pictures?

COMMON REGULAR VERBS IN THE PAST TENSE:

INFINITIVE PAST TENSE- PAST TENSE- PAST TENSE-
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
To ask I asked I did not ask Did I ask?
To work She worked She did not work Did she work?
To call You called You did not call Did you call?
To use They used They did not use Did the use?

COMMON IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE PAST TENSE:

INFINITIVE PAST TENSE- PAST TENSE- PAST TENSE-
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
To be I was/ you were I was not/ you were not Was I? Were you?
To have They had They did not have Did they have?
To do You did You did not do Did you do?
To say She said She did not say Did she say?
To get They got They did not get Did they get?
To make He made He did not make Did he make?
To go She went She did not go Did she go?
To take We took We did not take Did we take?
To see I saw I did not see Did I see?
To come You came You did not come Did you come?

Signal words for Past Simple:

 Frequency: often, sometimes, always
I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.

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I often brought my lunch to school.
 A definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work at seven o’clock.
I went to the theatre last night.
 An indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
People lived in caves a long time ago.
She played the piano when she was a child.
I/ you/ he/ she/ it/ we/ they worked
I/ you/ he/ she/ it/ we/ they
Eat- ate

EXERCISE

I. Change the verb into the past simple.

1. I _______came__________ (come) to England in 1993.
2. She __________stood_______ (stand) under the tree to shelter from the rain.
3. They __________did_______ (do) their homework yesterday.
4. We _________sang________ (sing) too much last night, I have a sore throat!
5. He already _____ate____________ (eat) all the cake.
6. The child _________fell________ (fall) off his bicycle.
7. It ________took_________ (take) three hours to drive to Paris.
8. I ___________found______ (find) your keys under the table.
9. She __________got_______ (get) a new bike for her birthday.
10. She ___________sold______ (sell) her house last year.
11. We _______went__________ (go) to New York in January.
12. Finally my mother ________let_________ (let) me go to a party.

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13. It ________was_________ (be) cold last night.
14. I _________met________ (meet) John at the weekend.
15. Lucy ________paid_________ (pay) the bill, before leaving the restaurant.
16. We ______saw___________ (see) the new film yesterday.
17. She _________wore________ (wear) her new coat to the party.
18. I ___________thought______ (think) my football team would win.
19. They ______put___________ (put) their bags in the bedroom.
20. Billy _________ran________ (run) after the bus.
21. She __________said_______ (say) that she would come later.
22. I ______bought___________ (buy) some books this morning.
23. We ________made_________ (make) a cake, it was delicious.
24. He ______sat___________ (sit) on the old chair, and it broke.
25. They _______wrote__________ (write) a letter to their parents.

II. Make the past simple:

1. She _______brought__________ (bring) some chocolates to the party.
2. I _________heard________ (hear) a new song on the radio.
3. I ________read_________ (read) three books last week.
4. They ______spoke___________ (speak) French to the waitress.
5. He _______understood__________ (understand) during the class, but now he doesn't
understand.
6. I _______forgot__________ (forget) to buy some milk.
7. She ______had___________ (have) a baby in June.
8. You ________lost_________ (lose) your keys last week.
9. They _______swam__________ (swim) 500m.
10. I ________gave_________ (give) my mother a CD for Christmas.
11. At the age of 23, she ________became_________ (become) a doctor.
12. I ______knew___________ (know) the answer yesterday.
13. He ___________told______ (tell) me that he lived in Toronto.
14. We _______lent__________ (lend) John £200.
15. She __________drank_______ (drink) too much coffee yesterday.
16. The children _______slept__________ (sleep) in the car.
17. He _______kept__________ (keep) his promise.

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 18. I ________chose_________ (choose) the steak for dinner.
19. The film ________began_________ (begin) late.
20. We _______flew__________ (fly) to Sydney.
21. They _______drove__________ (drive) to Beijing.
22. He _______taught__________ (teach) English at the University.
23. I ______sent___________ (send) you an e-mail earlier.
24. We _________left________ (leave) the house at 7 a.m..
25. He _______felt__________ (feel) terrible after eating the prawns.

III.Complete the sentences for situations in the past. Decide which tense you need to
use.
1. A plumber (come) .......came.................... to our house yesterday.
2. He (want) .......wanted.................... to repair our washing machine that
(break) .........broke.................. a few days before.
3. Before he (ring) ...............rang............ at my door, he (look) …..looked….. for a parking
space for about ten minutes.
4. While the plumber (repair) ...repaired........................ the washing machine, I
(watch) .........watched.................. the news.
5. Suddenly, I (realise) .....realised...................... that they (show) .........showed.................. our
street on TV.
6. The reporter (say) .....said................. that a car (crash) into a stop sign just before reaching
the crossroads.
7. While I (listen) ........listened................... carefully to what
(happen)..........happenned................., someone (knock) ..........knocked................. at my door.
8. I (open) ............opened............... the door and (see) ......saw..................... a police officer
standing there.
9. He (ask) ...........asked................ for the plumber.
10. As it (turn) ..........turned................. out, it (be) ............was............... our plumber’s car that
(roll) ..........rolled................. down the street.
11. In his haste, the plumber (forget) .............forgot.............. to put the handbrake on.

IV. Tell the story – fill in the past simple tense.

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 On Friday, the children .........talked........... (talk) about a day out together in the
country. The next morning, they .........went........... (go) to the country with their two
dogs and ........played............ (play) together. Ben and Dave .........had........... (have)
some kites. Some time later the dogs ........was............ (be) not there. So
they .........called........... (call) them and ..........looked.......... (look) for them in the
forest. After half an hour the children ........found............ (find) them
and ....took................ (take) them back. Charlie .........was........... (be) very happy to see
them again. At lunch time Nick ..........went.......... (go) to the bikes
and ............fetched........ (fetch) the basket with some meat sandwiches. Then
they ........played............ (play) football. Nick and Dave ...........won......... (win). In the
evening they ..........rode............. (ride) home.

V. Complete the questions with the past simple.

1. I met somebody. Who ..did I meet.................. ?
2. Harry arrived. What time ...did Harry arrive................. ?
3. I saw Bob yesterday. Who did I see.................... yesterday?
4. They wanted something. What ...did they want................. ?
5. The meeting ended. What time ......did the meeting end.............. ?
6. Pat went home early. Why ..did Pat go.................. home early?
7. We had fish for dinner. What ....did we have................ for dinner?
8. It cost a lot of money. How much ..did it cost.................. ?
9. He bought a T - shirt. What .....did he buy............... ?
10. We ate ham and eggs. What .......did we eat............. ?

VI. Put the following sentences into the negation. Fill in the negative form of the
verb.
1. My dad met her in Paris three days ago.
My dad ...did not meet................. her in Paris three days ago.
2. Sam bought a new camera.
Sam ...did not buy................. a new camera.
3. They came home late from work last Monday.
They ...did not come................. home late from work last Monday.
4. We played tennis yesterday afternoon.
We ...did not play................. tennis yesterday afternoon.
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5. I caught a cold last winter.
I ....did not catch................ a cold last winter.
6. The girls watched TV yesterday evening.
The girls ...did not watch................. TV yesterday evening.
7. The student copied the text from the board.
The student ...did not copy................. the text from the board.
8. The children swam in the sea.
The children ....did not swim................ in the sea.
9. We stayed at the same hotel in Paris.
We ..did not stay.................. at the same hotel in Paris.
10. Linda flew to Las Vegas last Wednesday.
Linda ...did not fly................. to Las Vegas last Wednesday.
11. I was really tired yesterday evening.
I ...was not................. really tired yesterday evening.
12. They went to bed early last Friday.
They ....did not go................ to bed early last Friday.
13. We found out what they did last night.
We ......did find.............. what they did last night.
14. She cooked pasta for dinner last Thursday.
She .....did cook............... pasta for dinner last Thursday.
15. They were late for school again two days ago.
They .... were not................ late for school again two days ago.

VII. Tick the correct sentences. Change the incorrect sentences.

1. John called me yesterday.
2. I studyed English yesterday. studied
3. Did you travelled to Spain last year? Travel
4. We see a good film last week. saw
5. Did he liked the film? like
6. What time did he came? come
7. I didn’t went to the cinema yesterday. go
8. Where did you broke your leg? break
9. Did Linda eat the fish?
10. I don’t did my homework yesterday? do

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11. He stopped me and asked me the time.
12. What time did the concert started? start
13. I finished work, walk to the beach and find a nice place to swim.
14. Lucy and Linda washed my car.