Past tense

Use: The past simple is used to express a finished action in the past. Examples: We played volleyball last Sunday. I worked in London from 1984 to 1989. John left two minutes ago. The past tense is often used with time past expressions like: last year, last month, five years ago, yesterday morning, in 1945.

The form of the past simple is the same for all persons. Positive: The positive of regular verbs end in ed. Examples: dance - danced want - wanted walk - walked use - used

Forming the Past Tense (Irregular Verbs) Although many verbs in English form their past tense with -ED, some do not. These are called irregular verbs, and they include some of the most basic verbs in English. This page will explain some of the most important patterns in forming the past tense. However, the only way to know how an irregular verb will change in the past tense is to learn all of the important verbs.

The three most important irregular verbs The three most important irregular verbs are BE, HAVE, and DO. BE is the most difficult, because its forms are different depending on the subject: Pronoun Verb I He She it Was You we they Were

Examples: I was a beautiful baby You were studying at G.L.P two years ago

HAVE and DO are more simple: Base form Past Tense Have / has Had Do / does Did

Examples: He had the best car in 1994 They had a beautiful house in Cartagena I did my homework yesterday He did a great project for the school

Other irregular verbs Other irregular verbs fall into three main categories: Category Examples Verbs which don't change cut - cut hit - hit fit - fit Verbs which change their vowel get - got sit - sat drink – drank Verbs which change completely catch - caught bring - brought teach - taught

There are many common irregular verbs: Examples: hit - hit eat - ate grow - grew make - made break - broke go - went take - took see - saw be is - was are - were begin - began fall - fell

buy - bought fly - flew find - found drink - drank feel - felt build - built buy - bought fly - flew find - found drink - drank feel - felt give - gave hurt - hurt leave - left read - read run - ran sing - sang swim - swam teach - taught win - won write - wrote

Negative: The negative of the Past Simple is formed with didn’t. Example: He walked. He didn’t walk. I did my homework. I didn’t do my homework.

Questions: The question in the Past Simple is formed with did. Example: Did you go to work yesterday? Yes, I did. No, I didn’t When did she arrive? She arrived yesterday