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
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- 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:
Hello Sad,
There is nothing grammatically wrong with either sentence. I think the most likely way to phrase it would be 'We learn to write at school', but it really depends on the context and to what question the person is responding, if any.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sad,
Both of these are fine:
There is no difference in meaning or strength.
The sentence 'We write at school' is, as I said, grammatically correct. I think it's very unlikely anyone would say it in conversation but it's possible to think of a context in which it would make sense:
The teacher doesn't give us writing homework. Usually, we have lists of words to learn at home. We write at school.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello fdrewaserera,
I'm not sure there is a 'why' to explain this. It's simply a feature of how the verb system words in English. The present perfect has a retrospective meaning: it looks back on the past from now and thus requires an open time reference. It is never used with a completed time reference.
I can say
However, if I add a completed time reference then I need to use a past form:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello fdrewaserera
Could you please give a specific example of what you're asking about?
Thanks.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello yasiraq,
All of those are correct grammatically. Which one is appropriate in a given context will depend on the context.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Scarlettleg,
Could you check to see if you have quoted the sentence accurately, please? I think I recognise this from a Sherlock Holmes story, but I think you may have misquoted it.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Widescreen,
The correct form is 'came', because 'came into being' is a completed act (words such as 'survive', 'live' or 'endure' would describe ongoing actions).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello AfnanAlAhmad
Yes, with time expressions that refer to a completed past time (for example, 'last week', 'yesterday', 'five minutes ago', '10,000 years ago', 'last year') we use the past simple.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sad1974
'at home' is the correct way to say this, not 'in home'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello patph0510,
I think the past simple is the most likely choice here, and we would only use the present tense if we wanted to emphasise that we consider it to be still a current event in some way.
For example:
The existence of slavery in the US was a national disgrace. [past as slavery existed in the past]
The existence of slavery in the US is a national disgrace. [present because the speaker wants to emphasise that the disgrace remains even though slavery ended]
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello patph0510,
If the person is still a taxi driver then both past and present could be used. I think a newspaper describing an ongoing or very recent trial would probably use the present; someone describing a trial long ago would use the past.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello bakh.sh85,
Both of those sentences are possible, as are many others (he typed, he was going to type, he had been typing etc). Without any context, it is not possible to say which form is preferable.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello p t balagopal,
It would be possible to use 'has taken' here but it would depend upon the context.
The phrase 'become engaged' does not sound particularly natural to me, however. We would be more likely to say 'get engaged'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello seelan65,
Both forms are possible here, but there is a difference in meaning.
The phrase 'for our holidays' can mean the time we have free (some weeks in the summer, for example) or it can mean a particular vacation or trip.
The phrase 'for our holiday' means a particular trip.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vivian888999,
When the main verb in the sentence is a form of 'be' then we invert the verb and subject to form a question:
He is a teacher > Is he a teacher?
You are alone > Are you alone?
When the main verb is not 'be' we use the auxiliary verb 'do' in the appropriate form before the subject and the base form of the main verb:
She lives in London > Where does she live?
They watched the film at the cinema > Did they watch the film at the cinema?
When the verb has two parts, we invert the subject and the first auxiliary verb:
You have lived here for ten years > Have you lived here for ten years?
The class will be going to Paris next week > Will the class be going to Paris next week?
You can read more about question forms on this page and this page.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Abdel El,
Yes, that is perfectly fine, grammatically speaking. Remember that names of countries should be capitalised (Spain rather than spain).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andrew international,
'o'clock' is an abbreviation of 'of the clock', not 'on the clock'.
I can't think of a situation when I'd say 'two on the clock'. There is the phrase 'on the clock', which people use in a work context to refer to the fact that they are being paid to work at a given time and so, for example, they shouldn't be answering personal phone calls. But it's not used to refer to a specific time of day.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Emaximus,
You can say this sentence but it means something different. 'For' here tells us how long you played football so the sentence tells us that you played football in the past and do not now and that your playing career lasted five years.
I think the best way to express what you want, if I've understood correctly, would be this:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello JJ53,
This is because those are subject questions. Please see our Question forms page for an explanation of this. If it's still not clear after you read that page, please don't hesitate to ask us again.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello alotar,
We often use a bare infinitive form in a clause after a verb of perception. Here, 'did you see' is the verb of perception (others are 'hear', 'watch', etc.) and then 'get' and 'leave' are the bare infinitives in the clause 'those two fellows get into the train and leave me here'.
It's also possible to use an -ing form -- in this case, 'get into' would be 'getting into' and 'leave' would be 'leaving'. The difference is that the bare infinitive form suggests we saw the action from beginning to end, whereas the -ing form focuses on the action as it was happening.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SahilK,
It's perfectly fine to say I graduated last year. You could also say I got my degree last year or I finished university last year.
The verb system in English, including various tenses and aspects, is very complicated and not something we can explain in a quick comment! However, we have an extensive grammar section which covers this area in a lot of depth with explanations, examples and practice tasks.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Grace_C,
In this sentence 'did' is the auxiliary verb used to form a question in the past tense. In questions, the auxiliary carries the tense information; the main verb is in the base form, not a past form, for example. Thus, 'happen' is correct and not 'happened'.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team