We form the Past Simple like this:
I/you/he/she/it/we/they | worked. |
I/you/he/she/it/we/they | didn’t work. |
Did | I/you/he/she/it/we/they | work? |
Yes, | I/you/he/she/it/we/they | did. |
No, | I/you/he/she/it/we/they | didn’t. |
Regular verbs: Past Simple and past participle
INFINITIVE | PAST SIMPLE | PAST PARTICIPLE | |
With most verbs we add -ed: | happen | happened | happened |
We verbs ending with -e, we add -d: | live | lived | lived |
We verbs that end with a consonant + -y, we change the -y to -ied: | try study |
tried studied |
tried studied |
With verbs that end with one vowel + one consonant, we double the consonant: | stop grab |
stopped grabbed |
stopped grabbed |
We do not double the consonant,
|
enjoy allow discover listen |
enjoyed allowed discovered listened |
enjoyed allowed discovered listened |
But note also that we double the l at the end of verbs when the syllable is not stressed (e.g. TRAvel): | cancel travel |
cancelled travelled |
cancelled travelled |
Irregular verbs: Past Simple and past participle
INFINITIVE | PAST SIMPLE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
be | was/were | been |
beat | beat | beaten |
become | became | become |
begin | began | begun |
break | broke | broken |
bring | brought | brought |
build | built | built |
burn | burnt | burnt |
buy | bought | bought |
catch | caught | caught |
choose | chose | chosen |
come | came | come |
cost | cost | cost |
cut | cut | cut |
do | did | done |
draw | drew | drawn |
drink | drank | drunk |
drive | drove | driven |
eat | ate | eaten |
fall | fell | fallen |
feel | felt | felt |
find | found | found |
fly | flew | flown |
forget | forgot | forgotten |
forbid | forbade | forbidden |
get | got | got |
give | gave | given |
go | went | gone/been |
grow | grew | grown |
have | had | had |
hear | heard | heard |
hide | hid | hidden |
hit | hit | hit |
hold | held | held |
hurt | hurt | hurt |
keep | kept | kept |
know | knew | known |
learn | learnt/learned | learnt/learned |
leave | left | left |
lend | lent | lent |
let | let | let |
lose | lost | lost |
make | made | made |
meet | met | met |
pay | paid | paid |
put | put | put |
read | read | read |
ring | rang | rung |
run | ran | run |
say | said | said |
see | saw | seen |
sell | sold | sold |
send | sent | sent |
show | showed | shown/showed |
shut | shut | shut |
sing | sang | sung |
sit | sat | sat |
sleep | slept | slept |
speak | spoke | spoken |
spend | spent | spent |
stand | stood | stood |
steal | stole | stolen |
sweep | swept | swept |
swim | swam | swum |
take | took | taken |
teach | taught | taught |
tell | told | told |
think | thought | thought |
throw | threw | thrown |
understand | understood | understood |
wake | woke | woken |
wear | wore | worn |
win | won | won |
write | wrote | written |
We use the Past Simple for single complete actions in past time. We often use it with time expressions like at 4 o’clock, yesterday, when?, in 1993, etc:
- A: When did you go on holiday?
- B: We went on holiday last summer.
- We drove to my mother’s yesterday.
We use the Past Simple for complete events, even when they continued for a long time:
- A: How long did the Second World War last?
- B: It lasted about six years, I think.
- My parents lived in Germany for three years. Then they went to live in Poland.
We also use the Past Simple to talk about repeated events, or habits in the past:
- When George was young, he always walked to school.
We use the Past Simple to tell a story in past time:
- We left home early on Saturday morning and drove, without stopping, to the Scottish border. It took about 6 hours to get there. After we crossed the border, we stopped in a little village, and had something to eat …
PRACTICE
Now it is time to practise what you have learned.
- For each Practice Test, read the instructions carefully.
- Complete the exercise and press 'Check' to get your results.
Practice Test A
Practice Test B
Practice Test C
Practice Test D
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