Transcript The Past Simple Tense

B. Troeva, New Bulgarian University
 For completed actions in the past
 We can have a single completed action in the past:
e.g. I wrote a letter to her yesterday.
George came home early.
WWII ended in 1945. (We often use the Past Simple to talk about when things happened.)
 We can also have a series of completed actions in the past:
e.g. Laura came in, closed the door and sat down.
 For past habits, facts or generalizations which are no longer true:
e.g. I spent my holiday with my grandma every summer when I was a child.
She was very beautiful when she was young.
1. Regular verbs: verb + ed
I
You
He/She/It
We
You
They
worked.
I
you
Did he/she/it work?
we
you
they
I
You
He/She/It
We
You
They
Yes,
No,
didn’t work.
I
you
he/she/it
we
you
they
Important: After ‘did’ and ‘did not’ there is no –ed!
did.
didn’t.
1. most verbs: verb + -ed
e.g. helped
2. after –e: verb + d
e.g. hoped
3. when ending in –y:
3.1. vowels (a,o,e) + y= yed
e.g. played
3.2. consonant (b, c, etc.) + y = ied
e.g. studied
4. doubling of consonants:
4.1. consonant+vowel+consonant in 1-syllable words stopped, planned
4.2. consonant+vowel+consonant under stress: prefer - preferred
2. Irregular verbs
Infinitive
Past form
Past participle
be
was/were
been
go
went
gone
come
came
come
have
had
had
tell
told
told
see
saw
seen
do
did
done
read
read
read
Irregular Verbs: Questions and Negative Sentences
Example 1
A positive statement in the Past Simple with the past form of the irregular verb ‘come’:
I came to Sofia a year ago.
The negative sentence and the question are formed with ‘did’, which is followed by the
infinitive of the verb:
My sister didn’t come with me, but a year later.
When did you come to Sofia?
Example 2
We had a nice time at the picnic.
But Emil didn’t have a nice time as he was quite sick.
Did you have a nice time?