The simple past tense is used to talk about events
in the past that are finished.
I worked in a restaurant
last year. (but I don’t work there now) I
did work in a restaurant last year.
(and I don't work there anymore)
To talk about things that have nothappened
in the past we use did not or didn't. I didn't work in a restaurant
last year.
ANNE My
brother, David, worked in the family business too. But
he didn’t like it.
2. REGULAR VERBS
Regular verbs form the past tense by adding ed
to the basic form of the verb.
For example: work is the basic form
Adding 'ed' gives us: worked
The ending does not change with different pronouns. I worked; he
worked, we worked, you worked, they
worked
There are three ways of pronouncing the edending.
We use the edpronunciation
after the consonants t and d. t arrest
/ arrested
You should arrest him. / He was arrested.
d load
/ loaded
I’ll load the shopping in the car. / I loaded
the shopping in the car.
ANNE He
wanted to try something different.
We use thetpronunciation after the soundss, p,
k, f and sh s mess/
messed
He messed her hair.
p sip/
sipped
She sipped her drink.
kpick/
picked
He picked his nose.
flaugh/
laughed
They laughed at my jokes.
sh fish/
fished
He fished in a boat.
ANNE My brother, David, worked in
the family business too.
ANNE I don’t know. He wrote every week,
and then the letters stopped.
We use the d pronunciation after the consonant
soundsb, g, l, z,v,
m, n, j, th and ng b mob/
mobbed
He was mobbed by fans.
g beg/
begged
I begged for mercy.
l fill/
filled
I filled the tank.
z quiz/
quizzed
The police quizzed him for hours.
v love/
loved
I loved the movie.
mhum/
hummed
We hummed the tune.
n thin/
thinned
I thinned out the weeds
j judge/
judged
He judged her harshly
th smooth/
smoothed
She smoothed her dress.
ng clang/
clanged
The bell clanged loudly
JOHN So what happened?
JOHN Do you know where he lived?
edis
also pronounced d when the word ends with
a vowel sound. I fry
/ fried
I fried an egg.
A stay /
stayed
I stayed all day.
ANNE My parents agreed.
ANNE He stayed with an Australian
family.
3. SPELLING VERBS ENDING IN Y
Some verbs which end in y change the y
to an i before adding ed.
hurry
hurried
marry
married
study
studied
worry
worried
Verbs which end in ay or oy
don’t change the y to an i.
stay
stayed
delay
delayed
annoy
annoyed
enjoy
enjoyed
4. IRREGULAR VERBS
Many verbs are 'irregular'. They form their past tense in different
ways. We just have to learn these. Look at the verb to be.
Present
is
am
are
Past
was
were
Notice that this verb to be changes depending
on whether the subject is singular or plural.
Present I am happy.
He is happy.
You are happy.
We are happy.
They are happy.
Past I was happy.
He was happy.
You were happy.
We were happy.
They were happy.
Other irregular verbs just have past tense forms that don't end with
ed. Here are some examples from today's episode.
The past tense of leave isleft.
I leave tomorrow.
I left yesterday.
ANNE He
left there a year ago.
The past tense of go is went.
I go to university.
I went to university.
ANNE They
don’t know where he went.
The past tense of write iswrote.
I write these examples.
I wrote you an email.
ANNE He
wrote every week, and then the letters stopped.
The past tense of come is came.
I want you to come to the meeting.
I came to the meeting.
ANNE He
came here, to Adelaide.
The past tense of think is thought.
I think English is easy.
I thought English was easy.
ANNE We
thought he was happy.
The past tense of let is let.
I will let the cat in.
I let the cat in last night.
ANNE They
let him come to Australia to study.
5. QUESTIONS IN THE PAST TENSE
There are several ways of asking questions in the past tense. To
ask about past actions we use the past tense of the verb 'to
do' – did.
Questions starting with didare asking whether an action was performed or not.
The answer is usually 'yes' or 'no'.
We use didfollowed by a pronoun or subject,
and then the verb or action being asked about.
Notice that the verb used after didis not in the past tense.
The word did forms the past tense for the
question and the answer.
Did you feed
the cat? Yes I did
feed the cat.
You can also answer this question by just saying yes,
or yes I did. Did you feed the cat? Yes.
Did you feed the cat? Yes I did.
You answer no with the negative form of did - didn't
Did you feed the cat? No
I didn’t.
Didn'tis the contracted form of did not.
We usually use did not to add emphasis. Did you steal the money?
I did not.
You can give answers to did questions about
the past with the past tense of the other verb used in the question. Did he go
to the bank? Yes he went to the
bank.
Did you feed the
cat?
Yes I fed the cat.
6. QUESTIONS USING WHAT and WHERE
Questions starting with what and where
are asking for information. Where did you go? I went to the supermarket.
What did you do? I bought some eggs.
JOHN Where did he go?
ANNE He
came here, to Adelaide.
We’ll look more at questions like these inlater
episodes of Living English.
Watch Living English and get to know the characters of our drama 'Sisters and Brothers' as you learn and revise your basic English skills.
