English as 2nd Language

See More About:

Past Simple

Listed below are examples, uses and structure of the Past Simple followed by a quiz.

Examples	Usage
Where did you go yesterday? The flight left at 8 o'clock. They didn't come last night.	Finished past actions, definite past
Common past time expressions include:	last (week, year, night), yesterday, ago, in 1987, when I was a child.

Structure

In the positive form, for regular verbs, add an -ed to the base form of the verb. If the verb ends in -y preceded by a consonant, change the -y to -ied.For irregular verbs check the list below (most common irregular verbs).

I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They

arrived late last night. (regular verb)

came back late last night. (irregular verb)

Use the conjugated helping verb 'did' not (didn't) the base form of the verb to make negatives.

I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They

didn't go to New York last week.

Use the conjugated helping verb 'did' subject the base form of the verb in question forms.

When Did

I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They

leave yesterday?

Past Simple Quiz

Tom (buy) a new house last month.

When (they/arrive) last week?

She (not/understand) the question yesterday.

Fred (take) a lot of pictures on his holiday last summer.

What (you/get) for your birthday?

They to get the bread this morning!

Alice (play) tennis this morning.

Where (you/go) last weekend?

I (want) to buy that computer, but it was too expensive.

Why (they/not/come)?

	Past	Past
Infinitive	Simple	participle

be	was/were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank	stunk
strike	struck	struck
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrown	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written