Past simple: form
For regular verbs, we add -edto the base form of the verb (work–worked) or -dif the verb already ends ine(move–moved).
+ | I, she, he, it, you, we, they | worked. | |
− | I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (full form) did not | work. |
I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (short form) didn’t | ||
? + | DidI, she, he, it, you, we, they | work? | |
? – | (full form) DidI, she, he, it, you, we, theynot | work? | |
(short form) Didn’tI, she, he, it, you, we, they | |||
In regular one-syllable verbs with a single vowel followed by a consonant, we double the final consonant when adding-edto make the past simple:
stop: The busstoppedsuddenly.
plan: Whoplannedthis trip?
See also:
Spelling and verb forms
Regular verbs
Past simple: pronunciation of-ed
For regular verbs, there are three possible pronunciations of -edendings.
/d/ | /t/ | /ɪd/ |
after all vowel sounds and after voiced consonants (except/d/) /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /l/ /g/ /dʒ/ /z/ /b/ /v/ | after all voiceless consonants (except/t/)/k/ /p/ /f/ /s/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/ | after/d/and/t/ |
cried, tried, hurried, weighed, smiled, planned, judged, sneezed, lived | picked, hopped, laughed, crossed, pushed, watched | decided, ended, landed, started, visited, waited |
See also:
Spelling and verb forms
Past simple: irregular verbs
Many verbs are irregular. Here are some common ones. Each one has to be learnt. A full list is provided on page 611.
The verb form is the same for all persons (I, you, she, he, it, we, they), and we make questions and negatives with irregular verbs in the same ways as for regular verbs.
irregular verb | example in the past simple |
be |
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begin |
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come |
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do |
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eat |
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fly |
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have |
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know |
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read |
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sing |
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tell |
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wake |
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write |
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See also:
Irregular verbs
Verbs
Past simple: uses
Definite time in the past
We use the past simple to talk about definite time in the past (often we specify when something happened, e.g.yesterday, three weeks ago, last year, when I was young):
Didyouwatchthat film yesterday?
Heleftat the end of November.
When they were young, theyhatedmeat.
See also:
Present simple (I work)
Single or habitual events or states
We use the past simple to talk about single or regular (habitual) events or states in the past.
Events that happened once |
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Events that happened more than once |
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States |
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When we use the past simple to refer to habitual events, the meaning is similar toused to:
Idida lot of travelling when I was younger.(orIused to doa lot of travelling when I was younger.)
See also:
Used toorwould?
The past simple with no time reference
Sometimes there is no time expression when the past simple is used. This happens especially when we know the time:
Leonardo Da Vincipaintedthe Mona Lisa.(From our general knowledge, we know that Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa a few hundred years ago.)
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Past simple without a definite time reference: both speakers know when this time was and do not need to say it. They know each other well. | Past simple with a definite time reference: the speaker is not sure if the listener knows when she was at primary school. |
Past simple and the order of events
When one past event happens after another, the first one mentioned in the past simple happened first and the second one happened next, and so on. If we change the order of the verbs, this changes the meaning.
| The first event in the past simple happened first. The second event in the past simple happened second, and so on. |
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