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
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- Past simple 2
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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
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- Past simple questions 2
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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
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- Past simple negatives 2
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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
Please I found in tutorial website that the past simple in negative and yes or no questions form would take infinitive without to ( the question is that I don't know why ???since We can say for instance I didn't want "to" bring something from the market and still that is supposed to be past simple form!!!)
So that is shat one of important tutorial websites said for reference:
-We make the negative form with didn’t (did not) + infinitive without ‘to’.
I didn’t like working in a bank.
-Past simple yes/no questions are made from did + subject + infinitive without ‘to’.
Did you like living in Japan?
Hello Reema,
I'm afraid I can't comment on an explanation that I haven't seen. I expect that what the website meant was that the negative form of 'I wanted' is 'I didn't want' (not 'I didn't
towant').If you have any doubts, please refer to the explanation on this page -- it is correct.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi, you mentioned that "We use the Past Tense to talk about...something that happened once in the past...something that happened several times in the past"
Firstly, to be specific, you mean to say "the simple past tense" instead of just "Past Tense" right? because "Past Tense" can refer to "Past simple tense, Past continuous tense, Past perfect tense or Past perfect continuous tense".
Secondly, out of all the four past tenses (as mentioned above), is it a case where the simple past tense is also known or referred to widely as just the "Past Tense" (that is when a person simply says "the past tense", and assuming no other unique background/context that suggests anything else, we may assume that the person is referring to the simple past tense)?
Hello magnuslin,
As the Past tense page explains, in this grammar's view, there are only two tenses in English -- present and past -- though each has several different forms. On this (Past simple) page, only the past simple is discussed.
I wouldn't assume that someone who says 'past tense' definitely means 'past simple'.
By the way, if you're interested, you can read more about the idea that English has only two tenses in the Wikipedia, where it's explained a bit more.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kirk,
Actually it is because the title of this article is "Simple Past" and yet the article goes on to say "We use the Past Tense to talk about...something that happened once in the past...something that happened several times in the past", which was what led me to ask whether by the term "Past Tense", are you referring to the Simple Past in this article?
And if so, is it then a case where out of all the four past tenses (e.g. Simple past, past perfect, past continuous and past perfect continuous), only the Simple Past is colloquially referred to most often as just The Past Tense?
Hello Guan Lin,
Yes, this article refers to the past simple (also known as 'simple past').
As far as I know, 'the past tense' can refer to any of the four forms you mention, but I'm not completely sure what the author of this page meant. I'm sorry -- I can't make anything other than guesses about his intentions here.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
excuse me, please can i know the different between,(did) and( was and were), they are both in the past can i know the different. and thanks
Hello ali mohamedali,
'did' is the past simple form of the verb 'do' and 'was' and 'were' are the past simple forms of the verb 'be'.
Both of these verbs are used in many, many different ways. Both of them can be the main verb in a sentence, e.g. 'I did my homework' and 'I was tired after work'.
They can also be auxiliary verbs. For example, 'did' is used to form the negative of a past simple verb: 'I didn't eat lunch today' ('didn't' is the auxiliary verb and 'eat' is the main verb).
Does that help? If you have another specific question, please feel free to ask again.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
thanks for you answer, but they are both in the bast when ican use was and were,ir did , and thanks
Hello again ali mohamedali,
I'm not sure I understand your question. We use 'was' after singular nouns and the pronouns 'I', 'he', 'she' and 'it'. We use 'were' after plural nouns and the pronouns 'you', 'we', and 'they'. For example, 'I was very tired after the match, but my friends were not.'
You can use 'did' after any noun or pronoun, for example, 'I did my homework but they did the laundry.'
I hope this helps you.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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