Simple past tense. Regular verbs (+ed) and the irregular ones you cannot avoid.
“Yesterday is gone. But you still need to talk about it. Today we learn the past tense. The form for everything that already happened.”
Yesterday I woke up at 6. I drank one cup of tea. I walked to the school. I taught for four hours. I ate lunch with a colleague. I read a book in the afternoon. I called my brother in the evening. I went to bed at 10.
Every verb in those sentences ends in something special. 'Walked' has -ed. 'Drank' is irregular. 'Went' is the irregular past of 'go'. The past tense in English has two paths: regular (add -ed) and irregular (you have to memorise them).
Most English verbs are regular. To make the past, just add -ed.
Walk → walked. Talk → talked. Work → worked. Play → played. Cook → cooked.
If the verb ends in -e already, just add -d: live → lived, love → loved.
If it ends in consonant + y, change y to ied: study → studied, try → tried, cry → cried.
If it is one syllable ending in consonant-vowel-consonant, double the last letter: stop → stopped, plan → planned.
About 100 common verbs in English are irregular. The most common 30 you must memorise. Here are the top ones:
go → went. eat → ate. drink → drank. see → saw. say → said. do → did. have → had. make → made. take → took. come → came. give → gave. get → got. find → found. think → thought. know → knew. tell → told. run → ran. read → read (spelled the same but pronounced 'red'). write → wrote. speak → spoke. sleep → slept. buy → bought. bring → brought. teach → taught. begin → began. break → broke. choose → chose. drive → drove. feel → felt.
Negative: use 'did not' + the BASE verb (not the past form).
I did not go. (NOT 'I did not went'.)
She didn't eat. (short form)
Questions: start with 'Did' + subject + base verb.
Did you walk to school? Did he see her?
Click “Translate” below if you need any word in your own language.
Past of 'walk'.
I walked home yesterday.
Past of 'eat'. Irregular.
She ate lunch at 1.
Past of 'go'. Irregular.
We went to the cinema.
Past of 'see'. Irregular.
I saw a beautiful sunset.
Past of 'have'. Irregular.
He had a good day.
Past of 'do'. Used to form negatives and questions in past.
What did you do?
The day before today.
I worked yesterday.
Most recent. Goes with week/month/year.
I saw her last week.
Back in time. Goes after a time period.
Two years ago I moved here.
Many languages have just one past tense. English has several (simple past, past continuous, present perfect). For Level 2, just master the simple past. The others come in Advanced.
Try these on paper or out loud. Mr. Gee's rule: practice today, do not save it for tomorrow.
Past tense: regular verbs add -ed. Irregular verbs (about 100) must be memorised. Negative: did not + BASE verb. Question: Did + subject + base verb. The top 30 irregular verbs cover 80% of conversation.
Read aloud every day. Even if it sounds funny. Your tongue needs practice.
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