The Past Simple
Affirmative (Positive)
- I played football.
Form: Subject + verb (past simple)
Negative
- I did not play football.
Form: Subject + did not + verb (infinitive)
Question (Interrogative)
- Did I play football?
Form: Did + subject + verb (infinitive)
Completed Actions in the Past
- I ate dinner at 6pm yesterday.
- We closed the window because it was cold.
Past States
- I was really happy at school.
- I lived in Barcelona when I was 21.
Past Habits or Routines
- I ate pizza every Friday when I was younger.
- I went to school on the train every day.
Verbs can be classified as either regular or irregular, according to their past simple and past participle forms.
Regular Verbs
For regular verbs, we add -ed to the infinitive (form: Verb + -ed)
- Play = played
- Need = needed
- Dance = danced
Irregular Verbs
There is no rule, we’ll just have to learn them together!
- buy = bought
- run = ran
- eat = ate
„IRREGULAR VERBS LIST”
| to be | was | been |
| to bear | bore | borne |
| to beat | beat | beaten |
| to become | became | become |
| to begin | began | begun |
| to bend | bent | bent |
| to bite | bit | bitten |
| to blow | blew | blown |
| to break | broke | broken |
| to bring | brought| brought |
| to build | built | built |
| to burn | burnt | burnt |
| to burst | burst | burst |
| to buy | bought | bought |
| to catch | caught | caught |
| to choose | chose | chosen |
| to come | came | come |
| to cost | cost | cost |
| to creep | crept | crept |
| to cut | cut | cut |
| to deal | dealt | dealt |
| to dig | dug | dug |
| to do | did | done |
| to draw | drew | drawn |
| to dream | dreamt | dreamt |
| to drink | drank | drunk |
| to drive | drove | driven |
| to eat | ate | eaten |
| to fall | fell | fallen |
| to feed | fed | fed |
| to feel | felt | felt |
| to fight | fought | fought |
| to find | found | found |
| to fly | flew | flown |
| to forbid | forbade| forbidden|
| to forget | forgot | forgotten|
| to forgive | forgave| forgiven |
| to freeze | froze | frozen |
| to give | gave | given |
| to go | went | gone |
| to grow | grew | grown |
| to hang | hung | hung |
| to have | had | had |
| to hear | heard | heard |
| to hide | hid | hidden |
| to hit | hit | hit |
| to hold | held | held |
| to hurt | hurt | hurt |
| to keep | kept | kept |
| to kneel | knelt | knelt |
| to know | knew | known |
| to lay | laid | laid |
| to lead | led | led |
| to lean | leant | leant |
| to learn | learnt | learnt |
| to leave | left | left |
| to lend | lent | lent |
| to let | let | let |
| to lie | lay | lain |
| to lose | lost | lost |
| to make | made | made |
| to mean | meant | meant |
| to mow | mowed | mown |
| to meet | met | met |
| to pay | paid | paid |
| to put | put | put |
| to read | read | read |
| to ride | rode | ridden |
| to ring | rang | rung |
| to rise | rose | risen |
| to run | ran | run |
| to say | said | said |
| to see | saw | seen |
| to seek | sought | sought |
| to sell | sold | sold |
| to set | set | set |
| to sew | sewed | sewn |
| to shake | shook | shaken |
| to shine | shone | shone |
| to shoot | shot | shot |
| to show | showed | shown |
| to shrink | shrank | shrunk |
| to shut | shut | shut |
| to sing | sang | sung |
| to sink | sank | sunk |
| to sleep | slept | slept |
| to slide | slid | slid |
| to smell | smelt | smelt |
| to sow | sowed | sown |
| to speak | spoke | spoken |
| to spell | spelt | spelt |
| to spend | spent | spent |
| to spill | spilt | split |
| to spread | spread | spread |
| to stand | stood | stood |
| to steal | stole | stolen |
| to stick | stuck | stuck |
| to stride | strode | stridden |
| to strike | struck | struck |
| to strive | strove | striven |
| to swear | swore | sworn |
| to sweep | swept | swept |
| to swim | swam | swum |
| to take | took | taken |
| to teach | taught | taught |
| to tell | told | told |
| to think | thought| thought |
| to throw | threw | thrown |
| to understand | understood | understood |
Past Simple: Pronunciation
Even though regular verbs are all spelled with "ed" in the past simple, they are not all pronounced in the same way.
There are 3 ways to pronounce regular past simple verbs:
- /t/ - walked, placed, jumped
- /d/ - played, called, cried
- /ɪd/ - wanted, waited, crowded