Past Simple Tense in English: A Full Overview

Posted on Feb 17, 2025 in English

Understanding the Past Simple Tense

Regular Verbs in Past Simple

We use the infinitive and add the ending -ed.

1. For verbs that end in an e, we only add -d.

• change → changed
• believe → believed
• decide → decided

2. If the verb ends in a short vowel and a consonant (except y or w), we double the final consonant.

• stop → stopped
• commit → committed

3. With verbs that end in a consonant and a y, the y is changed to an i. Then, add -ed.

• study → studied
• try → tried

Sentence Structure in Past Simple

1. Affirmative Sentences

Subject + main verb…

• She was a doctor.
• The keys were in the drawer.
• I wanted to dance.

2. Negative Sentences

To be:

Subject + to be + not…

• She wasn’t a doctor.

It is constructed with the auxiliary did and the negation not for all singular and plural persons.

• I did not / didn’t work yesterday.
• He did not / didn’t work yesterday.
• They did not / didn’t work yesterday.

3. Interrogative Sentences

To be:

To be + subject…?

• Was she a doctor?
• Were the keys in the drawer?

Auxiliary verb (to do) + subject + main verb (in infinitive)…?

Questions with Past Simple are constructed with the auxiliary did for all singular and plural persons. The verb returns to its infinitive form, that is, without -ed:

• Did you work yesterday?
• Did he work yesterday?
• Did they work yesterday?

Generally, we use it with adverbs of time like last year, yesterday, last night…

Examples:

• Tom stayed at home last night.
• Kate worked last Saturday.

Common Verbs and Question Words

WHAT (QUE), WHERE (DONDE), WHEN (CUANDO)

• be: was (I, he, she, it), were (you, we, they)
• do: did
• have: had

Irregular Verbs