How do we use the Past Simple Tense?
We use the past simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the
past. The event can be short or long.
Here are some short events with the past simple tense:
The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday.
She went to the door.
We did not hear the telephone.
Did you see that car?
past present future
The action is in the past.
Here are some long events with the past simple tense:
I lived in Bangkok for 10 years.
The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years.
We did not sing at the concert.
Did you watch TV last night?
past present future
The action is in the past.
Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or
seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the
event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic
period). We use the past simple tense when:
the event is in the past
the event is completely finished
we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event
In general, if we say the time or place of the event, we must use the past simple tense;
we cannot use the present perfect.
Here are some more examples:
I lived in that house when I was young.
He didn't like the movie.
What did you eat for dinner?
John drove to London on Monday.
Mary did not go to work yesterday.
Did you play tennis last week?
I was at work yesterday.
We were not late (for the train).
Were you angry?
Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the past simple tense. We may use the
past continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the past simple tense
for the action. Look at this example of the beginning of a story:
"The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold.
The door opened and James Bond entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet,
and ordered a drink at the bar. He sat down in the corner of the lounge and quietly
drank his..."
This page shows the use of the past simple tense to talk about past events. But note that
there are some other uses for the past simple tense, for example in conditional or if
sentences.
PASADO SIMPLE - (SIMPLE PAST TENSE)
El Pasado Simple es un tiempo verbal que se utiliza para describir acciones que han
sucedido en un tiempo anterior y que ya han finalizado, por ejemplo:
She cleaned her house. Ella limpió su casa.
I broke the window. Yo rompí la ventana.
Aquí vemos su conjugación que en el español equivale al Pretérito Indefinido. Observa
que la estructura de la oración es similar a la del Presente Simple:
Tanto en la forma
interrogativa como en negativa se utiliza como auxiliar DID que es la forma pasada del
verbo "TO DO" y acompaña al verbo principal en su forma infinitiva. En las negaciones
puede utilizarse la forma contraída de DID NOT o sea DIDN'T. En el cuadro superior se
emplea el verbo To Play (Jugar) a modo de ejemplo.
Al expresar una oración en Pasado Simple se entiende que la acción no guarda relación
con el presente, como vemos en los siguientes casos:
He lost the keys. Él perdió las llaves.
(Puede que en el presente las haya encontrado).
She lent me a book. Ella me prestó un libro.
(Puede que ya se lo haya devuelto).
También es posible indicar el momento en que se desarrolla la acción para indicar el tiempo
con mayor precisión:
They saw the movie last night. Ellos vieron la película anoche.
We went to London yesterday. Nosotros fuimos a Londres ayer.
Para poder formar una oración en tiempo pasado debemos distinguir dos tipos: VERBOS
REGULARES y VERBOS IRREGULARES.
En el primero de los casos forman su Pasado Simple añadiendo la terminación ED al
infinitivo, mientras que los irregulares reciben ese nombre por no seguir un patrón
determinado y en este caso deben estudiarse individualmente.
67(6c-7a-7b)............7a: complete the sentences with the correct verb in past(all of them are
regular verbs), 7b......you are going to correct the sentences according to point 7a. using the
simple past
71(6b)
76(3-4-5)
99(8-11)
