Past simple tense in English

We use the past simple tense to describe an action in the past.

Example:

Yesterday, he walked to the train station.

In the above example, “he walked” is the past simple tense. It describes an action from yesterday.

Form

affirmative

I walked
you walked
he / she / it walked
we walked
you walked
they walked

Spelling rules for the past simple form

Regular verbs
Add -ed to the base form.
clean -> cleaned
walk -> walked

Regular verbs ending in a silent -e
Add -d to the base form.
close -> closed
die -> died

Regular verbs ending in a vowel and -y
Add -ed to the base form
play -> played
stay -> stayed

Regular verbs ending in a consonant and -y
Change the “y” to “i” and add -ed
carry -> carried
hurry -> hurried

Regular verb with 1 syllable ending in a consonant + vowel + consonant
Double the final consonant and add -ed
plan -> planned
stop -> stopped

Regular verb with more than 1 syllable that ends in a consonant + vowel + consonant
Double the final consonant only if the final syllable is stressed and add -ed

prefer -> preferred
regret -> regretted

If the final syllable is not stressed, add -ed
transfer -> transfered

Verbs ending in -l (British English rules)
always double the “l” and add -ed
travel -> travelled
cancel -> cancelled

Verbs ending in -l (American English rules)

Double the final consonant only if the final syllable is stressed and add -ed

If the final syllable is not stressed, add -ed

travel -> traveled
cancel -> canceled

Past simple form of irregular verbs

There are no logical rules for irregular verbs. You must simply learn them.

Negative past simple form

subject + “did not” + base form of verb

I did not clean
you did not clean
he / she / it did not clean
we did not clean
you did not clean
they did not clean

Contracted negative past simple form

subject + “didn’t” + base form of verb

I didn’t clean
you didn’t clean
he / she / it didn’t clean
we didn’t clean
you didn’t clean
they didn’t clean

Question form

Did you close the door?

“Did” + subject + base form of verb + “?”

Did I close?
Did you close?
Did he / she / it close?
Did we close?
Did you close?
Did they close?

Verb “to be” – past simple

The verb “to be” is an important irregular verb and it deserves a separate section.

Affirmative past simple form

I was
you were
he / she / it was
we were
you were
they were

Negative past simple form

I was not
you were not
he / she / it was not
we were not
you were not
they were not

Question past simple form

was I?
were you?
was he? / she? / it?
were we?
were you?
were they?

Use and meaning of the past simple tense

Completed action in the past

An action that started and finished at a specific time in the past

Examples:
Last night I watched television.
I played football 3 days ago.

Time expressions used with the past simple

10 minutes ago
4 days ago
3 weeks ago
a month ago
2 years ago

last night
last week
last month
last year
yesterday

Series of completed actions

We use the past simple to list a series of completed actions. We often separate each action with a comma (,). We separate the last action with the word “and”.

Example:
Yesterday I went to London, bought a camera and then took some photographs.

In the above example we used the past simple of the following irregular verbs:
go -> went
buy -> bought
take -> took

Duration in the past

We can use time expressions with the past simple to describe the duration of an action in the past.

“for” + period of time

for three minutes
for two hours
for five days
for a fortnight (“a fortnight” means two weeks)
for two months

Example:
Sarah and David talked for two hours.

“all” + unit of time (in the singular form)

all day
all night
all morning
all afternoon
all evening

“all” followed by a unit of time describes an action whose duration lasts for the whole period of time, from the start of the unit of time until the end.
Note that the unit of time is always in the singular form.

Example:
Mark waited all morning.

This means that Mark started to wait at the beginning of the morning. He stopped waiting at the end of the morning. He waited for the whole of the morning.

When clauses with the past simple

If we have 2 clauses in the past simple, the “when clause” happens BEFORE the main clause (in time)
But we can write the 2 clauses in any order.

For example. Here is a list of 2 actions in the past.

1)Mark woke up
2)Mark shaved

We can write this in 2 ways:

Mark shaved when he woke up.
or
When Mark woke up, he shaved.

The meaning of both sentences is the same and both sentences are correct.
If we write the “when clause” first, we separate it from the second clause with a comma (,)

Other lessons

Present simple tense
Present continuous tense
Future simple – will and shall
Idioms about colours

Video lesson