Learning English - Past Simple Tense

         

        We use the Past Simple Tense to talk about action or situation that started and finished in the past. Additionally, we use the tense for routine in the past 

Past Indicators

yesterday            last week            last year            last month            ago             last night          recently

EX. John went to the mall recently.

Structure

S + V2 + C

Example of Irregular Verb Forms

infinitive                past                past participle 

become                  became           become

behold                    beheld            beheld 

burn                        burnt              burnt

creep                       crept              crept

cling                        clung             clung

cut                           cut                 cut 

forego                     forwent          foregone

fall                          fell                 fallen

gainsay                   gainsaid          gainsaid

mean                       meant             meant

steal                        stole                stolen

Full irregular verb click here.

Regular Verb

     For regular verbs, we put ed at the end of each word. However, there are 5 rules to be kept in mind.

1. Verb ends with e. We can directly put d after the words.

        move            moved

        hope             hoped

        realize          realzied

2. Verbs end with y but consonants is located before y. We must change from y to i before we put ed. 

        cry                cried

        marry            married

        try                 tried 

        study             studied

3. Verbs end with y but vowel is located before y, We put ed directly.

        play                played

        stay                stayed

        obey               obeyed

4. One syllable verbs and they end with one final consonant. We have to double the consonant.

        plan                planned

        rub                  rubbed

        nod                 nodded

        bar                  barred

5. For two-syllabled verbs, we also double the final consonant if the verbs end with one final consonant and are stressed on the second syllable.

        refer                referred

        occur              occurred

        permit             permitted

        concur             concurred