The past simple is the most common way of talking about past events or states which have finished. It is often used with past time references (e.g. yesterday, two years ago.
Please explain past events or states!
A past event could be one thing that happened in the past, or a repeated thing.
I stopped at a zebra crossing.
We carried on with the test.
We played tennis every day in August.
kill → killed
jump → jumped
like → liked
escape
escape
escape
escape
escape → escaped
plan → planned
carry → carried
enjoy → enjoyed
/d/ /t/ /ɪd/
arrived asked wanted
failed crossed decided
agreed stopped started
You didn't fail, did you?
Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.
A state is a situation without an action happening.
We stayed at my grandparents' house last summer.
How do you form the past simple?
Regular past simple forms are formed by adding -ed to the infinitive of the verb.
start → started
That seems easy!
Yes, but there are some spelling rules.
If a verb ends in -e, you add -d.
agree → agreed
If a verb ends in a vowel and a consonant, the consonant is usually doubled before -ed.
stop → stopped
If a verb ends in consonant and -y, you take off the y and add -ied.
try → tried
But if the word ends in a vowel and -y, you add -ed.
play → played
OK, not quite so easy! But the past simple form doesn't change at all for I, you, he, she, we and they, does it?
No, the form doesn't change. See, it is easy!
What about the pronunciation of the -ed ending?
There are three kinds of pronunciation: /d/, /t/ and /ɪd/. Look at the table below.
Aaagh! How do I know how to pronounce each one?
Good question. Well, really all you need to know is that /d/ is easier to say after arrive, and /t/ is easier to say after ask. For /ɪd/, the infinitive ends in a /d/ or a /t/ sound already so you must add an extra syllable for these verbs.
All right, that makes sense, but how do you form questions and negatives?
With the verb did (do in the past) + the infinitive.
Exercises:
Practice 3
Practice 4
Practice 5