Level: beginner
With most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding –ed:
| called | liked | wanted | worked |
But there are a lot of irregular past tense forms in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tense forms:
| Base form | Past tense |
|---|---|
| be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know leave lead let lie lose make mean meet pay put run say sell send set sit speak spend stand take teach tell think understand wear win write |
was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew left led let lay lost made meant met paid put ran said sold sent set sat spoke spent stood took taught told thought understood wore won wrote |
We use the past tense to talk about:
- something that happened once in the past:
I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.
- something that happened several times in the past:
When I was a boy, I walked a mile to school every day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.
- something that was true for some time in the past:
I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.
- we often use expressions with ago with the past simple:
I met my wife a long time ago.
- Past simple 1
- GapFillTyping_MTYzMjI=
- Past simple 2
- GapFillTyping_MTYzMjM=
Past simple questions and negatives
We use did to make questions with the past simple:
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?
When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
But questions with who often don't use did:
Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?
- Past simple questions 1
- ReorderingHorizontal_MTYzMjQ=
- Past simple questions 2
- GapFillTyping_MTYzMjU=
We use didn't (did not) to make negatives with the past simple:
They didn't go to Spain this year.
We didn't get home until very late last night.
I didn't see you yesterday.
- Past simple negatives 1
- GapFillDragAndDrop_MTYzMjY=
- Past simple negatives 2
- GapFillTyping_MTYzMjc=
Level: intermediate
Past simple and hypotheses
We can also use the past simple to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages:
Comments
Hello LearnEnglish Teachers,
You say that one of the uses of simple past tense is for "something that happened once in the past" - does this mean the same as "an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past"?
Thank you very much.
Hello VegitoBlue,
A specific time may be given, but is not necessary. For example, I might say this without a specific time reference:
I was born in England, not Ireland.
Happened in the past tells us that the action does not continue to the present. As the information on the page makes clear, it can be a single event, a repeated event or an event with duration.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mr Peter,
Thank you very much. This mean that the better explanation for simple past tense use is "something that happened in the past" which mean the same as "an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past (and I can choose to mention or not mention the time)". Is this understanding correct?
Many appreciation for your teaching.
I remember that I memorized the form (present, past, present perfect) with the rhythm ♪
One of the uses of the simple past tense as described here reads "something that happened once in the past". I suppose this refers to an action that commenced and ended in the past? However, if so, wouldn't it be clearer to describe this use of the simple past tense as "something that happened and finished at some point in the past"? my point being that if you simply say "something that happened (that is, occurred/took place)", does it also imply that the action finished in the past?
Sorry if this seems confusing, I guess in this case I am not really questioning the use of the simple past, but more on the meaning of the word "happen", as used here to describe the use of the simple past.
Hello magnuslin,
There are various ways to define this use of the past simple but I think the description on the page is accurate and accessible for our users.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Ok, thank you. But just to clarify, this way of describing the use of the simple past (that is "something that happened and finished at some point in the past") is correct too, and it means the same as the description on this page (that is "something that happened once in the past"), right?
Hello again magnuslin,
Yes, that's correct.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi team,
I want to know the difference between:
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did she play tennis when she was young? Can we use either of the sentences?
Hello Charneet kaur
Both sentences are grammatically correct. What do you think the difference is? I'd suggest you focus on the words 'young' and 'younger'. There is a slight difference of meaning, though in some contexts this difference in meaning might not be so important.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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