Past Simple Tense Lesson

Welcome back to our today’s lesson. we discovered together the present and future simple tenses, now; we will be learning about past simple tense. Enjoy the lesson!

read more: The present simple tense

1 _ The use of the past simple tense:

The Past Simple Tense is used to talk about actions that happened and were completed at a specific time in the past. 

• Completed actions in the past: The action or the event started and finished at a specific time in the past.

Example: I visited Nice last summer.

• Past habits or repeated actions: Used for things that happened regularly in the past but no longer occur.

Example: When I was 6, I hated to go to school every day.

• Series of actions in the past: When multiple actions are mentioned, they are usually in the past simple tense.

Example: Yesterday, He woke up, had breakfast, and went to work.

2 _ Forming the past tense:

🔷 The affirmative form: to form an affirmative sentence using the past simple tense, follow this structure:

Subject + verb in the past simple + the rest of the sentence.

• Regular Verbs:

For most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb.

Example:

1. Emma works hard. → Emma worked hard for yesterday’s exam.
2. James plays volleyball. → James played volleyball.

• Irregular Verbs:

Irregular verbs do not follow the typical -ed rule and must be memorized.

Example:

1. They go to the cinema together. → They went to the cinema together.
2. I eat all my meal. → I ate all my meal.
3. I see you twice a week. → I saw you twice a week.

3 _ Negative form of Past Simple:

• For the negative form , use did not (didn't):

Subject + did not (didn't) + the base form of the verb (the infinitive form of the verb without to) + the rest of the sentence.

Example: Mia didn’t go to the party last night.

4 _ Question form of Past Simple:

• To form a question, use this structure:

Did + subject + base form of the verb ( the infinitive form of the verb without to ) + the rest of the sentence + ?

Example : Did you meet Alexander yesterday?

5 _ Try to memorize those common time Expressions for Past Simple:

• Some common time expressions used with the past simple tense are:

yesterday, last week , last month, last year, in 2005, ago, this morning , this afternoon, when I was a child , the other day , the previous day , the previous week .

6 _ Table of conjugation of 5 regular verbs in the Past Simple tense:

Verbs	To watch	To love	To play	To revise	To fix
Personal   pronouns
I	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed
You	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed
He / she /   it	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed
We	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed
You	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed
They	Watched	Loved	Played	Revised	Fixed

7 _ Table of conjugation of 5 irregular verbs in the Past Simple tense :

Verbs	To write	To take	To find	To make	To run
Personal   pronouns
I	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran
You	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran
He / she /   it	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran
We	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran
You	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran
They	Wrote	Took	Found	Made	Ran

Tasks

Task 1 : Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in the past simple tense : 

1. Yesterday, my sister Eva …………….. (to go) to the store to buy some milk.
2. Lily ………….. (not to like) the horror movie we watched last night.
3. My friend Grace and I ………….. (to see) a beautiful rainbow yesterday.
4. Last week , I ……………..(to watch) a great documentary about the world war 1 and 2 .
5. My parents …………….(to travel) to Morocco last summer.

The correction of task 1 : 

1) Went .

2) Didn’t like .

3) Saw .

4) Watched .

5) Traveled .

Task 2 : Complete the following table with the correct form of the verb .

The   infinitive verb	The verb in   the past simple tense
To speak
	Began
To buy
To meet
	Had
To sing
	Swam

The correction of task 2:

The   infinitive verb	The verb in   the past simple tense
To speak	Spoke
To   begin	Began
To buy	Bought
To meet	Met
To   have	Had
To sing	Sang
To   swim	Swam

Task 3 : Make questions.

1. …………your friend Sofia ………….. (to go) to the beach with you last weekend?

2. ……….. she …………. (to like) the concert last night ?

3. ……….. they ………… (to visit) their cousins last summer?

4. …………..William …………. (watch) the match yesterday?

5. …………. we …………. (have) lunch together last Tuesday?

The correction of task 3 : 

1. Did your friend Sofia go to the beach with you last weekend?

2. Did she like the concert last night ?

3. Did they visit their cousins last summer?

4. Did William watch the match yesterday?

5. Did we have lunch together last Tuesday?

Task 4 : Complete the sentences with the correct time expression .

1. I visited my aunt Olivia ……………

2. Daniel arrived at the airport …………...

3. They went to the beach ………………

4. I saw Harry Potter movie ………………….

5. We traveled to Paris ……………

The correction of task 4 : 

1. I visited my aunt Olivia last summer .

2. Daniel arrived at the airport four hours ago .

3. They went to the beach when they were kids .

4. I saw Harry Potter movie yesterday .

5. We traveled to Paris in 2003 .

Recapitulation of the lesson

That was all for today. Do not forget to exercise. These exercises should help reinforce your understanding and usage of the past simple tense in various contexts!