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The Simple Past Tense

Introduction

The simple past tense is one of the most common tenses in English. Its form is the same with all subjects. It is usually formed by adding -ED to the verb. 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:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they	played.
	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:

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

Examples:

• Did you play basketball yesterday?
• Did you watch television?
• Did you do the homework?

The negative form of the simple past:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they	did not/didn't	play
		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.

Exercises:

I.                    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?

II.                  Write the past forms of the irregular verbs.

No.	Infinitive	Past Verb	No.	Infinitive	Past Verb
10.	Meet		15.	Sing
11.	Drive		16.	Do
12.	Speak		17.	Sit
13.	Put		18.	Stand
14.	Write		19.	Run

III.                Complete the table in simple past.

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
He wrote a book.	20.	21.
22.	He did not sing.	24.
25.	26.	Was she pretty?

IV.                Put the sentences into simple past.

27.   We move to a new house. → ____________________________

28.   They bring a sandwich. → _______________________________

29.  
He doesn't do the homework. → _________________________

30.   They sell cars. → ______________________________________

31.   Does he visit his friends? → _____________________________

V.                  Write sentences in simple past.

32.   Janet / miss / the bus → _______________________________

33.   she / tidy / her room → _______________________________

34.   Nancy / watch / not / television→ _______________________

35.   she / read / a book → _________________________________

VI.                Choose "Was“ or "Were“:

36.   The teacher      ____________  nice.

37.   The students    ____________  very clever.

38.   But one student ___________ in trouble.

39.   We  _____________________ sorry for him.

40.   He   _____________________ nice though.