Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
EXAMPLES:
I saw a movie yesterday.
I didn't see a movie yesterday.
Last year, I traveled to Japan.
Last year, I didn't travel to Japan.
She washed her car.
She didn't wash her car.
We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These
actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th...
EXAMPLES:
I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the
others at 10:00.
EXAMPLES:
I lived in Brazil for two years.
Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
They sat at the beach all day.
We talked on the phone for thirty minutes.
How long did you wait for them?
We waited for one hour.
EXAMPLES:
I studied French when I was a child.
He played the violin.
She worked at the movie theater after school.
They never went to school, they always skipped.
11. What did the diplomat mean when she said "We had a frank discussion.?"
She _________________ that they shouted at each other.
12. How many paragraphs did you write for your essay?
I ___________________ eight paragraphs.
13. How late did your brother sleep yesterday morning?
He ___________________ until 10:30 AM.
14. How many library books did she take last week?
She __________________ five books.
15. When did the lake freeze?
It __________________ last week when the temperature went down to 0
degrees.
Explanation
1. The simple past tense is expressed with the past form of the verb and nothing
else.
My grandfather died last year.
(Correct)
(Incorrect)
(Incorrect)
Completed action
She finally mailed the letter.
Past status
John was still single in1995.
He drove to work yesterday. Jan finished her report on time. Jane was a movie star.
Yesterday Mrs. Hubbard had a very rough day. In the morning, she
went to the kitchen and looked in the cupboard for some food for her
dog, but the cupboard was empty. Her poor dog stared up at her with
its hungry eyes, and she knew she had to do something quickly. She
hurried to the grocery store to buy some dog food, but unfortunately
the store was out of her dog's favorite brand, so she had to catch a bus
downtown. After buying the food, she waited for a half hour in the rain
to get a taxi. When she finally got home, her dog was sound asleep on
the living room sofa.
(Incorrect)
(Correct)
(Incorrect)
(Correct)
Exercises
Change the verbs in the following sentence into past tense.
1. Yesterday, I go to the restaurant with a client.
2. We drive around the parking lot for 20 minutes in order to find a parking space.
3. When we arrive at the restaurant, the place is full.
4. This morning before coming to class, Jack eats two bowls of cereal.
morning
in
the
summer
in
order
to
make
the
most
of
daylight.
1571, but when William (be) only 14 years old his fortunes fell so low that
William . (have) to leave school. Some historians say he (work)
in
his
fathers
shop.
At the age of 19 William (to marry) Anne Hathaway the daughter of a rich
farmer near Stratford. Three years later Shakespeare (go) to London.
How
he
(live)
there
we
do
not
know.
His most famous play, Hamlet, (be) probably first seen in 1601 at the
Globe Theatre. Shakespeare (continue) to write about 2 plays a year.
Here you can see examples of the past form and base form for irregular verbs and regular
verbs:
V1
base
V2
past
V3
past participle
regular
verb
work
explode
like
worked
exploded
liked
Worked
exploded
liked
irregular
verb
go
see
sing
went
saw
sang
Gone
seen
sung
base
The structure for question sentences in the simple past tense is:
base
The auxiliary verb did is not conjugated. It is the same for all persons (I did, you did, he did
etc). And the base form and past form do not change. Look at these examples with the main
verbs go and work:
subject
auxiliary verb
main verb
+
?
Went
to school.
You
Worked
very hard.
She
did
not Go
with me.
We
did
not Work
yesterday.
Did
you
Go
to London?
Did
they
Work
at home?
Exception! The verb to be is different. We conjugate the verb to be (I was, you were,
he/she/it was, we were, they were); and we do not use an auxiliary for negative and question
sentences. To make a question, we exchange the subject and verb. Look at these examples:
+
?
subject
main verb
I, he/she/it
was
Here.
were
in London.
I, he/she/it
was
not there.
were
not happy.
Was
I, he/she/it
right?
Were
Late?
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_past_s.htm
present
Future
past
present
Future
Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the simple past tense. We may use the past
continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the simple past 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..."
Irregular Verbs
Instructions: Print a copy of this list of irregular verbs. Fill in the forms of the
simple past tense for each irregular verb. Compare your list to the complete
list at Susan Jones' Complete List of Irregular Verbs. Then, make a list of the
words that you need to learn. Of course, you also need to learn the meanings
of the words. You can look them up in the online Newbury House Dictionary
#1 Base Form
#2 Simple
Past
#3 Past Participle
awake
awoken
be
been
bear
born
beat
beaten
become
become
begin
begun
bend
bent
bet
bet
bid
bid
bind
bound
bite
bitten
bleed
bled
blow
blown
break
broken
breed
bred
bring
brought
broadcast
broadcast
build
built
burn
burned/burnt
Irregular Verbs
Base Form
Simple Past
Tense
Past Participle
awake
awoke
awoken
be
was, were
been
bear
bore
born
beat
beat
beat
become
became
become
begin
began
begun
bend
bent
bent
beset
beset
beset
bet
bet
bet
bid
bid/bade
bid/bidden
bind
bound
bound
bite
bit
bitten
bleed
bled
bled
blow
blew
blown
break
broke
broken
breed
bred
bred
bring
brought
brought
broadcast
broadcast
broadcast
build
built
built
burn
burned/burnt
burned/burnt
burst
burst
burst
buy
bought
bought
cast
cast
cast
catch
caught
caught
choose
chose
chosen
cling
clung
clung
come
came
come
cost
cost
cost
creep
crept
crept
cut
cut
cut
deal
dealt
dealt
dig
dug
dug
dive
dived/dove
dived
do
did
done
draw
drew
drawn
dream
dreamed/dreamt
dreamed/dreamt
drive
drove
driven
eat
ate
eaten
fall
fell
fallen
feed
fed
fed
feel
felt
felt
fight
fought
fought
find
found
found
fit
fit
fit
flee
fled
fled
fling
flung
flung
fly
flew
flown
forbid
forbade
forbidden
forget
forgot
forgotten
forego (forgo)
forewent
foregone
forgive
forgave
forgiven
forsake
forsook
forsaken
freeze
froze
frozen
get
got
gotten
give
gave
given
go
went
gone
grind
ground
ground
grow
grew
grown
hang
hung
hung
hear
heard
heard
hide
hid
hidden
hit
hit
hit
hold
held
held
hurt
hurt
hurt
keep
kept
kept
kneel
knelt
knelt
knit
knit
knit
know
knew
know
lay
laid
laid
lead
led
led
leap
leaped/lept
leaped/lept
learn
learned/learnt
learned/learnt
leave
left
left
lend
lent
lent
let
let
let
lie
lay
lain
light
lighted/lit
lighted
lose
lost
lost
make
made
made
mean
meant
meant