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
Hi davidnh,
Simplifying the sentence helps to make this clear, I think. We can simplify the sentence as follows:
You can see that the subject here is 'The only choice'. All we need to do now is to add the qualifying phrase:
The sentence has the same structure as before but now the subject is 'The only choice people had'.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello teachers, hope you all are good. I have a question in a sentence like "he was saying that we needed to be paid more for our work". Can "that" be ommitted and just say "he was saying we needed to be paid more for our work" thanks
Hello Timmosky,
Yes, you can omit 'that' here. It's quite common to omit it after verbs like 'say' and does not change the meaning.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
And also "said" and "told". "That" may also be ommitted e.g "he told me he was sick" and "he said he needed to think". Thanks
Hello guys it's me again, I know you might have answered me something like this before but I just wanna be sure I'm saying it right. My pastor said "life is what you make it" he only uttered that statement. Now when I'm reporting it at another time can I say: my pastor said life is what you make it, while he was saying this, i was typing on my phone...is this statement right? after using said, I used was saying again being that he just utterd that one statement.
Also, is it write to say something like: I sat while they were talking or Is it I was sitting while they were talking. Thanks again I really need clarifications
Hello Timmosky,
I'm not sure I've understood exactly what you're asking, but yes, you can say 'My pastor said life is what you make of it'. You could also use the past ('...said life was what you make of it') but I think 'is' is better here since it's an observation about life in general this also true for the present and future.
By the way, it would be easier to understand your questions if you put the words you are asking about between 'inverted commas' or in bold or italics.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
My first question is, is there any difference between "I sat there listening to them while they were talking" and "I was sitting there listening to them while they were talking" also I want to be sure if a single line sentence can be referred to as "saying"? I.e my pastor said "life's what you make it". Since that's just a single line sentence, can I report it and then say "while he was saying that, I was texting on my phone" can I use the word saying to describe the process of saying what was said even if it's a single line statement is my second question....thanks
Hello Timmosky,
The difference between the past simple and past continuous is explained on our talking about the past page. What exactly the difference between those two sentences is depends a lot on the context or the speaker's view of the situation, so it would take a bit of explaining to really make it clear. Why don't you tell us what you think the difference could be and then we can confirm or correct it?
Yes, you can use 'saying' in that way -- no problem.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kirk, I don't think there's much difference between the two sentences I "sat" is past simple "was sitting" is past continuous and it depends on the aspect of the speaker. I've always spoken English quite well but my fears began one day when I spoke to my gf who's American and she said I used some certain sentences wrongly in some contexts. That's why I want to be well grounded. My problem is how people use past simple and continuous in a sentence without interruptions. E.g "I watched as the blood was dripping from his body last week". I say things like this everyday but sometimes I'm unsure If they are right in some contexts. "Watched" past simple "was dripping" past continuous. You watched the action as a whole, was dripping was just part of what you saw....if you can explain this usages to me very well then I'm Good with my English.
Hello Timmosky,
There are a lot of factors to consider in choosing past simple vs past continuous. Without a specific context or knowing how the speaker sees an event, it's difficult to completely explain why they choose one or the other. Next time you say something that your girlfriend finds odd, you're welcome to describe it to us and we can see if we can help you.
You might also want to take a look at this Cambridge Dictionary page on the past simple vs the past continuous, which explains some of the most common ways they are used.
I hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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