TALKING ABOUT

THE PAST
We use the Simple Past
■ To talk about things that happened one after another in the past.
■ She moved to São Carlos, graduated from college and traveled to
Argentina.

■ Or just to mention an action that took place in the past.

■ She celebrated her first birthday in 88.
■ She started drama classes and soccer practice last year.
Regular verbs
■ General rule: add –ed
■ Example: dress – dressed
start – started
reconnect – reconnected

■ When the final letter is -e, only add -d.

■ Example: love – loved
dance – danced
graduate – graduated
 Regular verbs
■ After a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled (CVC)
■ Example: admit – admitted
plan – planned
stop – stopped
prefer – preferred

■ ATTENTION: some verbs are CVC without a stressed vowel, so we don’t

change
listen – listened
visit – visited

■ Final -L is doubled in British English, but not in American English.

■ Example: travel – travelled (BrE) – traveled (AmE)
Regular Verbs
■ After a consonant, final -y becomes -i , and then we add -ed
■ Example: study – studied
try – tried
worry - he worried

■ ATTENTION: it doesn’t happen if the –y comes after a vowel.

■ Example: play – played
stay - stayed
Simple Past
■ Negative
■ I was not at home yesterday
■ She did not arrive on time for dinner

■ Questions
■ Were you at the restaurant last night?
■ Did they visit you last holiday?
Simple Past
■ Expressions
Last … = Last night, we listened to music together.
.... ago = We visited Paris ten years ago.
Yesterday = They stayed at home yesterday.
In… = In 2014 I traveled to Machu Picchu.
When… = When he was a child, he used to play hide and seek.