The simple past tense

Before you continue the lesson read the following passage and try to see how the verbs are formed and used.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and composer. He lived

from 1756 to 1791. He started composing at the age of five years old and
wrote more than 600 pieces of music. He was only 35 years old when he died.

The verbs "was, lived,started, wrote, died" are in the simple past tense.

Notice that:

lived, started,died are regular past forms.

was, wrote are irregular past forms.

Regular verbs:

The verbs "lived, started, died" are regular past forms. The rule is the following:

Verb + ed

Examples:

The infinitive The simple past

live lived
start started
die died
visit visited
play played
watch watched
phone phoned
marry married

Irregular verbs:

The verbs "was, wrote" are irregular past forms. "Was" is the simple past of "to be"; "wrote" is the
simple past of "write".
 There is no rule for these verbs. You should learn them by heart.

The infinitive The simple past

be was/were
write wrote
come came
do did
meet met
speak spoke

The forms of the simple past:

The Affirmative form of the simple past:

played.
I, you, he, she, it, we, they wrote
did.

Examples:

I played tennis with my friends yesterday.

I finished lunch and I did my homework.

The interrogative form of the simple past:

Play?
Did I, you, he, she, it, we, they write
do?

Examples:

Did you play basketball yesterday?

Did you watch television?
Did you do the homework?

The negative form of the simple past:

play
I, you, he, she, it, we, they did not/didn't write
do
I didn't like the food in the wedding last Saturday.
I didn't eat it.
Remember:

didn't is the short form of did not. You can say either:

I did not play basketball, or

I didn't play basketball.

Grammar Exercises - Simple Past Tense.

Do the exercises below on the simple past tense and click on the button to check your
answers.

(Before doing the exercises you may want to read the lesson on the simple past tense)

Put the verbs into the simple past:

1. Last year I (go) to England on holiday.

2. It (be) fantastic.

3. I (visit) lots of interesting places. I (be) with two friends of mine .

4. In the mornings we (walk) in the streets of London.

5. In the evenings we (go) to pubs.

6. The weather (be) strangely fine.

7. It (not / rain) a lot.

8. But we (see) some beautiful rainbows.

9. Where (spend / you) your last holiday?

Write the past forms of the irregular verbs.

 Infinitive Simple Past

1. meet .

2. drive .

3. speak .

4. put .

5. write .

6. sing .

7. do .

8. sit .

9. stand .

10. run .

Complete the table in simple past.

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

He wrote a book.

He did not sing

Was she pretty?

Put the sentences into simple past.

1. We move to a new house.

2. They bring a sandwich.

3. He doesn't do the homework.

4. They sell cars.

 5. Does he visit his friends?

Write sentences in simple past.

1. Janet / miss / the bus

2. she / tidy / her room

3. Nancy / watch / not / television

4. she / read / a book

Choose "Was or "Were:

1. The teacher nice.

2. The students very clever.

3. But one student in trouble.

4. We sorry for him.

5. He nice though.

Warning

Before submitting the test, check the following:

Punctuation and capitalization

Spelling

Spaces (don't add any unnecessary spaces)

Such mistakes would cost you valuable points. Good luck!