Simple Past

Past Simple (I walked, she rang)

Type of Sentence	Pattern	Examples
Positive	base verb + -ed	• I talked to my friends for hours yesterday. • They worked until 7:00 pm last night. • She tried to help me two weeks ago. • My coworkers completed the project.
Negative	did not / didn't + base verb	• He did not study French at school. • My classmates didn't like my speech.
Question	did + subject + base verb	• Did you call me last night? • Did she go on a trip last year?
Wh- Question	Wh- word + did + subject + base verb	• When did you leave? • How did they know about the test?

1. We form the Past Simple of regular verbs by adding -ed to the verb:

walk → walked	watch → watched
open → opened	ask → asked

There are some exceptions:

• verbs ending with -e:

+ -d:
live → lived
like → liked

• verbs ending with a consonant and -y:

-y → -ied:
apply → applied
try → tried

• most verbs ending with one vowel and one consonant:

-p → -pped:
stop → stopped
plan → planned

2. The Past Simple form of many verbs is irregular:

do → did	have → had
take→took	buy→bought
come → came	stand → stood
find→found	ring→rang
go→went	say→said

3. We form the negative with didn't and the infinitive (e.g. do, take, understand):

I didn't understand. (Not didn't understood )

We form questions with did and the infinitive (e.g. watch): Did you watch the film?

4. The Past Simple of be is like this:

Positive/Negative
I/he/she/it	was/wasn't	very good.
You/we/they	were/weren't	very good.
Question
Was	I/he/she/it	very good?
Were	you/we/they	very good?

5. We use the Past Simple to talk about a completed event in the past. We often say when it happened (e.g. yesterday, last night):

Chris phoned me yesterday. He wanted to discuss something with me. Did you enjoy the concert last night?

6. We can use the Past Simple with for to talk about something that continued for a period of time, and ended in the past:

I lived in Rome for two years. Then I went to work in Japan.

7. Pronunciation of ED

Words that end in a vowel sound use /d/ pronunciation for ED.

/id/		/t/		/d/
T	wanted	P	helped	L	called
D	needed	K	looked	N	cleaned
		F	sniffed	R	offered
		GH	laughed	G	damage
		SH	washed	V	loved
		CH	washed	S	used
		SS	kissed	Z	amazed
		C	danced	B	rubbed
		X	fixed	M	claimed

Other source

• Wikipedia List English irregular verbs
• Ginger List English irregular verbs
• English Page - Simple Past
• Ginger - Past Simple