Simple Past
If you have already watched the Simple Present videos, it will be very easy to
show you the past tense, because it has the SAME sequence, with a few small
differences.
We use the past form to describe past events. Things that happened to you
in the past, last year, yesterday, 10 years ago, this morning, before lunch, every
finished period of time is considered simple past, even 2 minutes ago.
Affirmative sentences will have the P V C sequence. The only difference is in
your V
PV C IR
The V will change. In affirmative sentences, the V always changes. There are
two types of changes. Regular and Irregular ones.
Regular changes mean your V will always get an ED or IED at the end.
Irregular changes mean your V will have a completely different way to spell
destroyed half of the town of Paradise last week.
DestroyED verb + ED, which means it is a regular verb
half of the town of Paradise last week complement
If a verb ends in Y preceded by a consonant, you will need to drop the Y and
add IED.
TRY tried
CRY - cried
Another example
Our neighbor bought presents to all the neighborhood kids last year.
P our neighbor
V bought (past for of BUY, irregular)
C presents to all the neighborhood kids last year
Negative Sentences
In Negative sentences, the sequence is very similar with the Simple Present
one
PNVC
The Letter N is represented by (= did not)
In negative sentences, your V goes back to the base form, no conjugations.
Peter in the last committee (because he was sick)
Peter P
Participate V
in the committee last week C
Participate goes back to the base form (no changes) because I am using
. it is a negative phrase.
was sick is another phrase.
Verb to Be
In the Past form, verb to be in the past is WAS and Were. It is an independent
verb. Negative phrases with verb to be
you use verb to be in the past *was/were + NOT.
The students were not happy with their final test results.
The students P
were not
happy with their final test results C
To make questions in the simple past form, you will follow the same sequence
as in the present tense
APVC
but this time, your A, your assistant (auxiliary verb), will be DID.
In questions, your verb is also in the base form. Normal, no conjugations,
no change.
Did you read the news this morning? There was a terrible accident
downtown.
Did A
you P
read V
the news this morning C
With v
You will use this verb in the past (was/were) and invert the position between
the subject (the person, the pronoun or the noun) and the verb:
Were you mad at me last night?
Was Sheila at the mall this morning?
List of verbs
Regular verbs Irregular Verbs
Base form Past form Base form Past form
add added Be was/were
admire admired become became
agree agreed bring brought
analyze analyzed bite bit
annoy annoyed buy bought
answer answered break broke
approve approved catch caught
avoid avoided can could
breathe breathed choose chose
burn burned do did
call called drive drove
clean cleaned drink drank
confess confessed eat ate
confuse confused fight fought
cry cried find found
cover covered feel felt
check checked fall fell
dance danced forget forgot
decorate decorated get got
develop developed give gave
dream dreamed grow grew
dry dried go went
delay delayed hurt hurt
fold folded hide hid
fool fooled keep kept
grab grabbed know knew
guess guessed leave left
happen happened lose lost
hate hated pay paid
identify identified ring rang
include included see saw
intend intended sell sold
invent invented shake shook
invite invited sing sang
introduce introduced speak spoke
jump jumped sit sat
love loved spend spent
learn learned teach taught
land landed think thought
move moved understand understood
open opened wake up woke uo
woke up
p
practice practiced write wrote
prepare prepared
push pushed
question questioned
scream screamed
stop stopped
talk talked
try tried
use used
watch watched
wonder wondered
