HomeWHICHWhich Sentence Contains A Verb In The Simple Past Tense

Which Sentence Contains A Verb In The Simple Past Tense

Level: beginner

With most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

called liked wanted worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tense forms in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tense forms:

Base form Past tense be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know leave lead let lie lose make mean meet pay put run say sell send set sit speak spend stand take teach tell think understand wear win write was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew left led let lay lost made meant met paid put ran said sold sent set sat spoke spent stood took taught told thought understood wore won wrote

We use the past tense to talk about:

  • something that happened once in the past:

I met my wife in 1983. We went to Spain for our holidays. They got home very late last night.

  • something that happened several times in the past:
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When I was a boy, I walked a mile to school every day. We swam a lot while we were on holiday. They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

  • something that was true for some time in the past:

I lived abroad for ten years. He enjoyed being a student. She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

  • we often use expressions with ago with the past simple:

I met my wife a long time ago.

Past simple 1 GapFillTyping_MTYzMjI= Past simple 2 GapFillTyping_MTYzMjM=

Past simple questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past simple:

Did she play tennis when she was younger? Did you live abroad? When did you meet your wife? Where did you go for your holidays?

But questions with who often don’t use did:

Who discovered penicillin? Who wrote Don Quixote?

Past simple questions 1 ReorderingHorizontal_MTYzMjQ= Past simple questions 2 GapFillTyping_MTYzMjU=

We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past simple:

They didn’t go to Spain this year. We didn’t get home until very late last night. I didn’t see you yesterday.

Past simple negatives 1 GapFillDragAndDrop_MTYzMjY= Past simple negatives 2 GapFillTyping_MTYzMjc=

Level: intermediate

Past simple and hypotheses

We can also use the past simple to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages:

  • Past tense
  • Verbs in time clauses and conditionals
  • Wishes and hypotheses

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