Introduction
The past simple is used to talk about past actions that are not limited in duration. It can be used to describe an action that happened in a second or an action that took place thousands of years ago.
Basic notes about past simple
| FORM | – Formation rule: subject + verb-(e)d OR: subject +past simple form of an irregular verb – Affirmative/positive: I/You/We/They/He/She It finished/studied/did/went – Negative: I/You/We/They/He/She/It did not (didn’t) finish/study/do/go – Interrogative: Did I/you/we/they/he/she/it finish/study/do/go? |
| USE/FUNCTION | 1. Actions happened and finished at a definite time in the past explicitly known from the context. 2. Actions that happened and finished at a time in the past are implicitly known from the context. 3. Actions that occupied a period of time in the past are now terminated. 4. Past habits 5. With conditional type 2 |
| EXAMPLES | 1. I cut the watermelon yesterday. 2. Jannet was born on Independence Day. 3. Alexandra and her husband lived in this apartment for twenty years. 4. I used to go to cafés every morning. 5. If I were you, I would accept the job. |
| SIGNAL WORDS | – last……. – ………… ago. – yesterday – in+month/ year/ season – on+day |
Practice
Put the verbs between brackets in the past simple tense (affirmative, negative, and interrogative)
- Last year I (spend) my holiday in Ireland.
- It (look) great.
- I (travel) around by car with two friends and we (visit) lots of interesting places.
- Yesterday evening we (go) to the café.
- Last night I( learn) lots of English words.
- Last week I (see) her at the beach.
- He (answer) the question.
- They (call) us.
- We (climb) a mountain.
- John (collect) stamps.
- We (live) in London.
- I (feel) hungry.
- He (go) to school.
- We (have) lunch in an Italian restaurant.
- Paul (stay) with Anny.
- The teacher (test) our English.
- Emmily (leave) the door open.
- Jeff and Linda (cycle) home.
- You (repair) the car.
- He (wear) a blue shirt.
