B. Troeva, New Bulgarian University The Past Simple Tense B. Troeva, New Bulgarian University

Use For completed actions in the past We can have a single completed action in the past: e.g. I wrote a letter to her yesterday. George came home early. WWII ended in 1945. (We often use the Past Simple to talk about when things happened.) We can also have a series of completed actions in the past: e.g. Laura came in, closed the door and sat down. For past habits, facts or generalizations which are no longer true: e.g. I spent my holiday with my grandma every summer when I was a child. She was very beautiful when she was young.

Form 1. Regular verbs: verb + ed Important: After ‘did’ and ‘did not’ there is no –ed! I You He/She/It worked. We They He/She/It didn’t work. you Did he/she/it work? we they Yes, he/she/it did. No, we didn’t.

Spelling of past regular verbs 1. most verbs: verb + -ed e.g. helped 2. after –e: verb + d e.g. hoped 3. when ending in –y: 3.1. vowels (a,o,e) + y= yed e.g. played 3.2. consonant (b, c, etc.) + y = ied e.g. studied 4. doubling of consonants: 4.1. consonant+vowel+consonant in 1-syllable words stopped, planned 4.2. consonant+vowel+consonant under stress: prefer - preferred

Form Irregular verbs Infinitive Past form Past participle be was/were been go went gone come came have had tell told see saw seen do did done read

Irregular Verbs: Questions and Negative Sentences Example 1 A positive statement in the Past Simple with the past form of the irregular verb ‘come’: I came to Sofia a year ago. The negative sentence and the question are formed with ‘did’, which is followed by the infinitive of the verb: My sister didn’t come with me, but a year later. When did you come to Sofia? Example 2 We had a nice time at the picnic. But Emil didn’t have a nice time as he was quite sick. Did you have a nice time?