GRAMMAR - PAST SIMPLE TENSE: FORMATION AND USES

REGULAR VERBS	IRREGULAR VERBS
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + V–ED*	AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + 2nd COLUMN (TABLE)
Examples: Mike helped in the house. They worked in Manchester.	Examples: Mike went to London. I took the bus.
NEGATIVE SENTENCE SUBJECT + DID NOT / DIDN’T + V
Examples: Mike did not / didn’t help in the house. They did not / didn’t work in Manchester.	Examples: Mike did not / didn’t go to London. I did not / didn’t take the bus.
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE DID + SUBJECT + V?
Examples: Did Mike help in the house? Did they work in Manchester?	Examples: Did Mike go to London? Did I take the bus?
SHORT ANSWERS YES, SUBJECT PRONOUN + DID / NO, SUBJECT PRONOUN + DIDN’T
Examples: Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t. Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.	Examples: Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t. Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.

* SPELLING RULES:

1- Most verbs add -ED:
Appear → Appeared; Finish → Finished; Help → Helped; Present → Presented.

2- Verbs ending in  silent E →+D: 
Arrive → Arrived; Close → Closed; Dance → Danced; Decide → Decided.

3- Verbs ending in CONSONANT +Y → Y + IED:
Carry → Carried;  Study → Studied; Try → Tried. BUT: Play → Played ("a" is not a consonant).

4- Verbs ending in STRESSED VOWEL + CONSONANT → DOUBLE CONSONANT + ED: 
Ban → Banned;  Prefer → Preferred; Stop → Stopped. BUT: Open→ Opened  ("e" is not stressed). 

5- In BRITISH ENGLISH, verbs ending in VOWEL + L → DOUBLE L + ED: 
Cancel → Cancelled; Marvel → Marvelled; Travel → Travelled. BUT: Boil → Boiled (2 vowels, not 1).

* PRONUNCIATION: 

Click the following link on YouTube to practice the pronunciation of past tense sounds of regular verbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_s12MkuvFQ

1. USES:

- Completed actions in the past.

- Actions that took place at a specific time in the past (i.e. description of a past event).

- Consecutive actions in the past (i.e. the main events in a story).

2. TIME EXPRESSIONS:

- ago

- yesterday, the day before yesterday

- last day / week / month / year

-in + year (in the past)

- then

- when + time clause (in the past)

GRAMMAR - PAST SIMPLE: IRREGULAR VERBS CHART

INFINITIVE	PAST SIMPLE	PAST PARTICIPLE	SPANISH TRANSLATION
be	was/were	been	ser/estar
begin	began	begun	empezar
break	broke	broken	romper
bring	brought	brought	traer
build	built	built	construir
burn	burnt	burnt	quemar
buy	bought	bought	comprar
can	could	been able to	poder
catch	caught	caught	coger
choose	chose	chosen	elegir
come	came	come	venir
cost	cost	cost	costar
cut	cut	cut	cortar
do	did	done	hacer
dream	dreamt	dreamt	soñar
drink	drank	drunk	beber
drive	drove	driven	conducir
eat	ate	eaten	comer
fall	fell	fallen	caer(se)
feel	felt	felt	sentir(se)
fight	fought	fought	luchar/ pelear
fly	flew	flown	volar
forget	forgot	forgotten	olvidar
get	got	got	obtener
give	gave	given	dar
go	went	gone	ir(se)
have	had	had	tener/haber
hear	heard	heard	oir
know	knew	known	saber
learn	learnt	learnt	aprender
leave	left	left	irse/dejar
lose	lost	lost	perder
make	made	made	hacer
must	had to	had to	tener que
pay	paid	paid	pagar
put	put	put	poner
read	read	read	leer
run	ran	run	correr
say	said	said	decir
see	saw	seen	ver
show	showed	shown	mostrar/enseñar
sing	sang	sung	cantar
sleep	slept	slept	dormir
speak	spoke	spoken	hablar
spend	spent	spent	gastar
take	took	taken	tomar
teach	taught	taught	enseñar
think	thought	thought	pensar
understand	understood	understood	entender
win	won	won	ganar