Talking about the Past

Objective: You will learn in this chapter how to write sentences in the past tense.

By Ahsan AhmadLevel 03University of Ha’il

What happened yesterday in the class? What did you do on the weekend? What did you eat last night? Where did you go last night?

Past Tense: When you talk about actions in the past, you use the simple past tense.

Anything that you did few minutes ago, few hours ago, a day ago, a month ago, a year ago or years ago is discussed in the past tense.

Both regular and irregular verbs can be used in the simple past tense.

Begin with the Simple Past Tense

The simple past is used to describe an action that happened in the past, and it was completed in the past.

For regular verbs, the simple past is formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb

Base form + ed = simple past walk walked push pushed greet greeted cover covered

Simple Past Tense: Regular Verb

Creating simple past tense from regular verbs is easy. You add –ed or –d to the end of regular verbs.

Example: Use the word live in the simple past tense. I lived in Riyadh. He lived in England. They lived in New York. Add -d at the end of the base form, LIVE to create a sentence in

the simple past. Since the word ends with liv(e), you just add –d at the end of live(D). He lived, she lived, they lived, we lived, it lived.

Another examples: The base form is Visit I visited—You visited—He visited—She visited—They visited—We

visited

Simple Past Tense: Regular Verbs

The simple past tense of all regular verbs is the same for all persons. You will either use –ed or –d at the end of the base form for all persons.

Singular Plural 1st per I worked yesterday. We

worked yesterday. 2nd per You worked yesterday.

You worked yesterday. 3rd per He, She, It worked yesterday.

They worked yesterday.

Simple Past Tense: Regular Verbs

Always remember to add –ed or –d at the end of a base form of a regular verb.

For example: Wait I waited for my friend. He waited for a friend. She waited for her sister. We waited for the customer service to help us. They waited to cross the street.

Simple Past Tense: -Ed and –d Examples

The verb "be" is an irregular verb in the Simple Past. There are two Simple Past forms of the verb be: "was" and

"were.“ The simple past form of the verb be are, “Was,” and “Were.” It also has different question forms and negative forms.

The verb “Be”

Simple Past Tense: StatementsIrregular Verb

Positive Negative Question

I was.

You were.

We were.

They were.

He was.

She was.

It was.

I was not.

You were not.

We were not.

They were not.

He was not.

She was not.

It was not.

Was I?

Were you?

Were we?

Were they?

Was he?

Was she?

Was it?

Textbook examples [Page 93]: Which one is the right form of the verb “Be” in the past

tense. I am in Guatemala last year. I were in Guatemala last year. I was in Guatemala last year. Which one is the right form of the verb “Be” in the past

tense.

Simple Past Tense: Irregular Verb “Be”

More Examples: I was in United States You were in United States He was in United States We were in United States They were in United States Some common Irregular verbs: Fly Flew

Buy bought Find found Eat Ate

Simple Past: Irregular Verb “Be”

How do you form questions in the simple past? When asking someone about an activity or

activities in the simple past, you use:did+ subject + base form of main verb

For example: Did Jason sing last night?

Subject Base formTime Phrase

Did tells us that the sentence is in the simple past

Simple Past Tense: Questions

Verb to live (page 94)

For example: Did I live in England?Did you live in England?Did he/she/it live in England?Did we live in England?Did you all (plural) live in England?Did they live in England?

Simple Past Examples: Questions

Did I live…? Did we live…?

Did you live…? Did you (plural) live?

Did he/she/it live…? Did they live?

Always remember to use did + subject + base form of the verb. More Examples: Did I sing yesterday?

Did you sing yesterday? Did he/she/it sing yesterday? Did we sing yesterday? Did you (plural) all sing yesterday? Did they sing yesterday?

More Examples: Did I dance in the evening?Did you dance in the evening?Did he/she/it dance in the evening?Did we dance in the evening?Did you (plural) dance in the evening?Did they dance in the evening?

Simple Past: Questions

Certain words or phrases can be used to talk about the actions that happened in the past.

For instance, you can use the following phrases to in your past sentences:

Last night What did you do last night? Yesterday Did you come to the football game yesterday? Last week Did you forget to do the homework last week? This morning Did you come to the class late this

morning? This evening Did you eat a cake this evening? A minute ago Did you drink Pepsi a minute ago? An hour ago Did you buy a new car an hour ago? A month ago Where did you live a month ago? A year ago Did you live in New York a year ago?

Time Phrases in the Past Tense