Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense is simply used to describe events that happend in the past.

Ex: earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, three years ago

Structure: Subject + Simple Past Verb + Object

The Past Simple with 'be' verb

Here's how to make the positive:

I was cold
You were tired
He was in the garden
She was late
It was sunny
We were on holiday
They were hungry

To make the negative with 'be', just add 'not':

I was not sleepy
You were not on the bus
He was not at school
She was not beautiful
It was not cold
We were not at work
They were not tired

To make a question, change the position of 'was / were' and the subject.

Here are the past simple 'yes / no' questions with 'be':

Was I sleepy?
Were you late?
Was he at the cinema?
Was she kind?
Was it hot?
Were we hungry?
Were they at work?

To make 'wh' questions with 'be' (the question word just goes at the beginning, everything else is the same):

Why was I sleepy?
Where were you?
When was he at the cinema?
How was she?
How was it?
Why were we hungry?
When were they at work?

The Past Simple with other verbs

Positive with Other Verbs:

To make the positive add '-ed' to the infinitive.
For example, 'play' becomes 'played'. However, there are some Irregular verbs.
For example 'go' becomes 'went' and 'run' becomes 'ran'.

I walked (regular)
He cooked (regular)
We ate (irregular)
They drank (irregular)

In the negative there aren't any irregular verbs. All verbs use 'did not (didn't) + infinitive':

I did not walk
He did not cook
We did not eat
They did not drink

To make questions,Just put 'did' before the subject, and the infinitive after it.

Here are the 'yes / no' questions:

Did I walk?
Did he cook?
Did we eat?
Did they drink?

To make a 'wh' question, of course, put the question word at the beginning of the sentence:

Where did I go?
What did he cook?
Where did we eat?
How did they travel?

Usage:

Actions that happened at definite time.(yesterday, last week, at 2 o'clock, in 2003).
- I went to the cinema yesterday.
- We spent a lot of time in Japan in 2007.
Actions that happened one after the other.
- He ordered pizza. He received the pizza at home. He ate it.
The actions or states that finished in past.
- His mother used to wash his clothes.