An explanation of the past tense in English with examples.

1. PAST SIMPLE
FORM:
POSITIVE:
With regular verbs wesimply add ‘-ed’ to the base formof the verb. The verb NEVER
CHANGES (except in ‘be’ [see‘be past’ section]) depending on person:
ASK TALK WAIT
I asked I talked I waited
You asked You talked You waited
S/he/it asked S/he/it talked S/he/it waited
We asked We talked We waited
You asked You talked You waited
They asked They talked They waited
Exceptions in spelling for regular verbs:
1. If the verb already ends in ‘e’ wesimply add ‘d’:
Decide = decided; create = created
2. When the verb ends in ‘y’ there are 2 rules:
a. If the letter before the ‘y’ is a vowel, we simply add ‘ed’
Stay = stayed;
b. If the letter before the ‘y’ is a vowel, we take it off and add ‘ied’:
Carry = carried; try = tried
3. In British English a final ‘l’ is doubled:
Travel = travelled

2. In English there are many irregular past simple verbs. If a verb is irregular in the past
simple, it is also irregular in the past participle. Sometimes all 3 forms are different:
Base form Past Simple Past Participle
Go Went Gone
Do Did Done
Be Was/were Been
See Saw Seen
Speak Spoke Spoken
Sometimes they stay the samein the past simple and participle:
Think Thought Thought
Buy Bought Bought
Bring Brought Brought
A few havethe same pastparticiple as the baseform:
Come Came Come
Run Ran Run
A few do not changeat all:
Put Put Put
Hurt Hurt Hurt
The only real way to learn them is to memorize them. Although we have not studied the
past participle yet, it is easier to simply learn both forms together.

3. NEGATIVE:
Apart from‘be’ and modal verbs, the past simple uses the negative of the pastform of
‘do’: DID NOTOR DIDN’T.
Like with the presentsimple, the auxiliary gives us the information and the main verb is
ALWAYS in the base form.
STOP
Positive Negative
I stopped I did not stop OR I didn’t stop
You stopped you did not stop OR you didn’t stop
S/he/it stopped s/he/it didnot stop OR s/he/it didn’t stop
We stopped we did not stop OR we didn’t stop
You stopped you did not stop OR you didn’t stop
They stopped they did not stop OR they didn’t stop
SPEAK
Positive Negative
I spoke I did not speak OR I didn’t speak
You spoke you did not speak OR you didn’t speak
S/he/it spoke s/he/it didnot speak OR s/he/it didn’t speak
We spoke we did not speak OR we didn’t speak
You spoke you did not speak OR you didn’t speak
They spoke they did not speak OR they didn’t speak
I didn’tstop at the gas station yesterday, now we don’thave enough petrol.
She didn’tspeak to him for 2 years.

4. QUESTIONS:
Apart from‘be’ and modal verbs, the past tense needs to usethe auxiliary verb ‘do’ in the
past form: ‘DID’. We put it before the subject.
Like with the negative, the auxiliary gives us the information and the main verb is
ALWAYS in the base form.
Remember the answer is YES or NO with the auxiliary inpositive or negative.
EAT
Did I eat? Yes, I did NOT: Yes, I ate OR No, I didn’t
Did you eat? Yes, you did NOT: Yes, you ate OR No, you didn’t
Did s/he/it eat? Yes, s/he/it did NOT: Yes, she ate OR No, s/he/it didn’t
Did we eat? Yes, we did NOT: Yes, we ate OR No, we didn’t
Did you eat? Yes, you did NOT: Yes, you ate OR No, you didn’t
Did they eat? Yes, they did NOT: Yes, they ate OR No, they didn’t
Did you eatthe pizza? Yes, I did. I ate it all! I was really hungry!
Did they go to see the film? No, they didn’t. They wentto a restaurantinstead.
USE:
When we wantto talk about something that happened in the past we can usethe past
simple. We use it to talk about actions that have finished and happened at a definite
time.
We usually use time expressions like:
Yesterday
Three weeksago
Last year
In 2002
From March to June
For a long time
For 6 weeks
In the 1980s
In the last century
In the past