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
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
Hi!
I read somewhere that says that the simple past tense is also known as the "past indefinite" tense. I am just curious why this is so, considering that the simple past tense is used to describe an action that began and ended at a definite or specific time in the past, hence to call it "past indefinite" seems odd. For your advice, pls.
Thanks!
Regards,
Tim
Hello Tim
We don't use this terminology on LearnEnglish, but if you'd like to read more about it, I'm sure you can find some information by doing an internet search for 'indefinite aspect' or 'indefinite tenses'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
My understanding of the simple past is that it is used to explain that an action began and ended in the past at either a definite point in time (for shorter actions) or over a finished duration in the past (for longer action), and that in either case, a time expression/time clause usually accompanies the simple past tense to show the time when the action took place (such as last week (for definite point or moment in time, or "when i was a child" as a time clause indicating a longer past duration). Is this understanding correct?
Furthermore, I am interested to know if it is grammatically correct to use the simple past tense without any time expression (e.g. I went to the cinema. I loved her). In this case, I am simply indicating that these events began and concluded (i.e. occurred or happened) at some point in the past, and while i do have a time period in mind, I simply did not say it. Is this grammatical?
Many thanks in advance!
Regards,
Tim
Hello Tim
Your understanding is mostly correct, but I wouldn't say it's true that a time expression usually accompanies a past simple verb. That is sometimes the case, but it is in no way required. Often the context will make the time period clear, but not always, and there is nothing wrong with that.
A past simple verb simply expresses that the action is entirely in the past -- as you say, it began and ended in the past.
Actually, a past simple verb can express other ideas (e.g. unreal present events, as in a second conditional), but I don't think that's what you're asking about here.
Best wishes
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Do we only use the verb to do to make negative sentences for simple past? What about the verb to can or the verb to be?
Hello Fey,
We form negatives in simple past with the verb do, in the form of did (not). The exception to this is the verb be, which forms questions by inversion in all tenses and not just simple past. You can read more about the verb be here:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/verb-be
Can is a modal verb. These have their own grammar structures. Note that modal verbs do not occur in the infinitive; there is no form with to. You can read more about modal verbs in this section:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/modal-verbs
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
"Documentation was sent to guide ".
Is this sentence is correct?
Hello Shanthini,
No, I'm afraid that sentence is not grammatically correct. I'm not sure what you want to say and what the context is, so I don't want to guess what the correct way to phrase it would be.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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