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English has a few different ways to talk about things that happened in the past. In this post, we’re going to look at the most common tense that’s used, the simple past (went, did, lived, worked, etc.):
- We heard a great DJ last night.
- I woke up very early this morning.
- She didn’t work yesterday.
- Did you see Bill last week?
Forming the Simple Past Tense
Most English verbs form their past tense regularly, just by adding –ed. But a lot of the most common verbs are irregular. We won’t cover all of the details here, but if you’re interested, there are sections at the end of this post that give you a lot of details around spelling, pronunciation, and irregular forms. For now, just keep in mind a few quick points:
- Regular verbs add –ed: talk > talked; smile > smiled; upload > uploaded
- The –ed ending can be pronounced /t/ as in talked, /d/ as in smiled, or /id/ as in uploaded. There are predictable rules below explaining this, which we cover below.
- There are some minor spelling changes to keep in mind, for example: just add –d to verbs that end in a vowel (bake > baked), change –y to –i if –y followed a consonant (study > studied) but not if –y follows a vowel (stay > stayed). If the verb ends in a single consonant in a stressed syllable, double it (stop > stopped; refer > referred), but don’t double it if the syllable is unstressed (travel > traveled), at least not in American English.
- Irregular verbs usually involve vowel changes (take > took; eat > ate), and there are several typical patterns, but irregulars must be memorized. We divide them into categories and cover each one below.
Uses of the Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is used to express a state or action that happened in the past. Often, but not always, you’ll see a past time adverbial used along with the simple past tense, for example yesterday, last week, last year, in 2001, and so on. The time adverbials are all underlined in these examples:
- I worked out and went for a run yesterday.
- The DJ was amazing last night.
- They had dinner and saw a movie last week.
- Bob and John got a new apartment last month.
- The family moved to Chicago in 2001.
- From 2004 to 2016 I lived in Los Angeles
- Barack Obama was president of the US in 2011.
- My family had two dogs when I was a child.
- Before coming to Venice, we visited Rome.
Of course, it isn’t necessary for a sentence with the simple past tense to include a time adverbial. In these cases, it’s understood from context or common knowledge that the action happened in the past.
- Jill met David at a party.
- We bought our car at this dealership.
- I heard a really cool new DJ.
- Mary went to college in a small town in Vermont.
- Vikings were the first Europeans who came to North America.
There are other past tenses that are used in English, so it’s important to contrast the simple past tense with those other tenses in order to better understand when and how to use the simple past.
Practice 1
Complete each sentence with the simple past tense of the verb in parentheses.
- We _____ for hours about the film after seeing it. (talk)
- I ____ home all night. (be)
- She _____ for that company for over ten years. (work)
- Sam and Linda _____ their house about five years ago. (buy)
- We _____ dinner late last night. (eat)
- Peter last _____ his family about three months ago. (see)
- She _____ her resume. (upload)
- They _____ history together in college. (study)
- I _____ dinner for some friends. (make)
- Yuming _____ Chinese as a child. (speak)
Answers: 1. talked; 2. was; 3. worked; 4. bought; 5. ate; 6. saw; 7. uploaded; 8. studied; 9. made; 10. spoke
Contrast 1: The Simple Past and the Present Perfect
Notice something very important about time adverbials like yesterday, last week, last year, and in 2001. They are all closed, meaning that they are finished and over. (Yesterday is over; it’s today now. Last week is over, it’s this week now, 2001 is over, and so on.) This is important because English only uses the simple past in cases when the time frame is over/complete/finished. If the time frame is open or unfinished, especially if there’s an effect on the present or the possibility of continued action, the present perfect (have done, have eaten, have worked) is used instead. Compare:
- I worked five days last week.
Today is Wednesday, so I have worked three days this week. (I’ll probably work two more days.) - Bill saw four movies last month.
Bill has only seen one movie this month. (Maybe he’ll see more, maybe he won’t.) - Sandra ate three meals yesterday.
It’s 2pm, so she’s only eaten two meals so far today. (She’ll probably eat dinner, too.) - I saw my family five or six times last year.
I haven’t seen this yet this year. (Hopefully I will.)
The adverb yet means “up until now” or “so far,” so it refers to an open/unfinished time frame. For this reason, you always use the present perfect (and not the simple past) with yet. Yet is usually used in questions or negatives. In affirmative statements or answers, use already.
- Have you eaten yet?
Yes, I’ve (already) eaten, so I’m not hungry. - Have the students all finished their term papers yet?
No, they haven’t all finished their terms papers yet. - Has Sam met your brother yet?
Yes, Sam has (already) met my brother.
Notice though that if you introduce a completed or finished time frame in the answer to a question in the present perfect, you must use the simple past.
- Have you eaten yet?
Yes, I have. I ate earlier today. I’m not hungry. - Have the students all finished their term papers yet?
Yes, they have. They all finished their papers last week. - Has Sam met your brother yet?
Yes, he has. They met at a party last month.
The adverb ever usually refers to open/unfinished time frames, something along the lines of “at any time during your life.” When it has this meaning, you always use the present perfect instead of the simple past. You’ll sometimes hear ever paired with before.
- Have you ever visited Thailand?
- Has John ever seen your new apartment?
- Have you ever been seriously ill before?
- Have you ever eaten Georgian food before?
Ever is only used in questions. In negative statements, use not ever or never. In affirmative statements, you don’t need to use any adverb, but you may hear before.
- Have you ever visited Thailand?
No, I’ve never visited Thailand.
Yes, I have visited Thailand. - Has John ever seen your new apartment?
No, he hasn’t ever seen my new apartment. - Have you ever been seriously ill?
Yes, I’ve been seriously ill before. - Have you ever eaten Georgian food before?
Yes, I’ve eaten Georgian food before. It’s delicious.
There is one situation where it’s correct to use the simple past with ever (or not ever/never), and it makes perfect sense if you keep in mind that the simple past is used with closed or finished time frames. Imagine a situation where you expected your friend to call her brother at some point last week. There was no specific time other than “at any point last week.” In this case, you could ask:
- Did you ever call your brother (last week)?
No, I never called him. / No, I didn’t ever call him.
Yes, I called him last Wednesday evening.
This has the same meaning of ever that we saw earlier, at any time, but now ever is in a closed time frame, last week. Compare:
- Have you ever eaten sushi? (in your entire life)
Yes, I’ve eaten sushi before.
No, I’ve never eaten sushi. - Did you ever eat sushi at that new Japanese restaurant you wanted to go to last month?
Yes, I ate sushi there last month like I said I would.
No, I never ate sushi there (last month). Maybe I’ll go this month.
Practice 2
Choose the simple past or the present perfect.
- I (haven’t eaten/didn’t eat) yet today.
- When (have you met/did you meet) your husband?
- It’s only Tuesday, but it feels like I (have worked/worked) for the entire week.
- We (have gone/went) to Tokyo three years ago.
- (Have you ever gone/Did you ever go) to South America?
- Yes, we (have gone/went) to Brazil and Argentina about ten years ago.
- Do you remember that book you were meaning to buy? (Have you ever bought/Did you ever buy) it?
- I (have read/read) that book when I was in college. It’s fantastic.
- So far, I (have only read/only read) about half of it, but I like it a lot.
- How many times (have you seen/did you see) that film?
Answers: 1. haven’t eaten; 2. did you meet; 3. have worked; 4. went; 5. Have you ever gone; 6. went; 7. Did you ever buy; 8. read; 9. have only read; 10. Both are possible. Probably “have you seen” is the better answer, assuming that it’s a film that the listener really likes and may see again. But “did you see” is also possible if you’re talking about a finished time, for example when the listener was a child.
Contrast 2: The Simple Past and the Past Progressive
Most often, the simple past refers to a “point” action in the past. For example, imagine that you have a timeline with a line in the middle representing now. The right is the future, and the left is the past. You would represent most actions expressed in the simple past as a simple point, represented with the red X.
Each of the actions or states in these examples could be represented as that red X:
- I ate breakfast early today.
- She left work late last night.
- I met my wife in 2006.
- He wrote his first book in 1948.
The point doesn’t have to literally last a moment, it can last for quite a long time, as long as that amount or span of time is thought of a completed and finished point.
- I worked from 10am until 7pm yesterday. (Here, the point lasts nine hours.)
- They lived in San Francisco from 1995 until 2017. (This point lasts 22 years!)
- Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for millions of years. (This is a much longer point!)
If there’s a background action happening when that point occurs, a bit like scenery on a stage behind where the action takes place, English uses the past continuous (or past progressive): was/were doing, going, sleeping, etc.. Take a look at these examples:
- We were eating dinner when the phone rang.
- We were eating dinner when someone knocked at the door.
- We were eating dinner when the game started.
In each of these examples, there are point actions: the phone rang, someone knocked at the door, and the game started. And there’s one background action happening in all three cases: we were eating dinner. If we think of this as a timeline, we would have a simple past point, and then a longer-lasting past progressive. The red X is again the simple past, and the yellow, longer-lasting event is the past progressive, representing the time when we were eating dinner in those three examples.
Practice 3
Complete the sentences with the simple past or past progressive of the verb in parentheses.
- I (work) at a restaurant when they (offer) me this new job.
- I (get) a phone call when we (ate) dinner.
- When no one (look) the child (eat) all the cookies.
- Bill (run) into an old friend while he (wait) in line at the supermarket.
- Meagan’s parents (sleep) when she (get) home last night.
- It (rain) when I (wake) up this morning.
Answers: I worked at a restaurant when they offered me this new job. 2. I got a phone call when we were eating dinner. 3. When no one was looking the child ate all the cookies. 4. Bill ran into an old friend while he was waiting in line at the supermarket. 5. Meagan’s parents were sleeping when she got home last night. 6. It was raining when I woke up this morning.
Contrast 3: The Simple Past and the Past Perfect
If there are two actions or states that happened in the past, and it’s important to stress that one happened BEFORE the other, use the past perfect (had done, had eaten, had worked) to express the first, earlier action.
- Bill had visited Paris in 2013 before he visited Madrid in 2015.
- Mary had graduated from college before she started grad school.
- We had just started to eat when the phone rang.
The past perfect is very often completely optional. It’s perfectly fine to say:
- Bill visited Paris in 2013 before he visited Madrid in 2015.
- Mary graduated from college before she started grad school.
- We started to eat, and the phone rang.
Use the past perfect only when you need to, in order to stress or emphasize that one action (had) happened before another one happened.
Did in the Simple Past Tense
In the simple present tense, do (or does) is used in negatives and questions, or in short answers and short forms.
- Does she speak French?
–Yes, she does.
–No, she doesn’t. - She doesn’t speak French.
- She speaks French better than he does.
In the past, simply use did instead of do or does.
- Did she live in Paris?
–Yes, she did.
–No, she didn’t. - She didn’t live in Paris.
- She lived in Paris for longer than he did.
Make sure you use the basic form of the verb after did. In other words, don’t say “Did she lived in Paris?” or “She didn’t lived in Paris.”
Regular Verbs in the Past Tense
There are only a few things to keep in mind about regular verbs in the past tense. First, there are three different pronunciations for the –ed ending, but they’re completely predictable based on the ending of the verb.
| /-id/ after: -t, -d | /-t/ after: -p, -k, -f, -sh, -ch, -s, -x | /-d/ after: vowel, -l, -n, -r, -g, -v, -z, b, -m, -n |
| visited | looked | stayed |
| wanted | helped | arrived |
| needed | talked | listened |
| seated | laughed | tried |
| folded | watched | loved |
| greeted | relaxed | used |
| started | cooked | cleaned |
And there are also a few spelling rules to remember when adding –ed.
- To most verbs, just add –ed.
walk > walked, add > added, look > looked - If the verb ends in -e, just add -d.
bake >baked, smoke > smoked, love > loved - If the verb ends in consonant + y, change the y to i and then add -ed.
try > tried, dry > dried, study > studied - If the verb ends in vowel + y, just add -ed.
stay > stayed, enjoy > enjoyed, obey > obeyed - If the verb is one syllable and ends in a consonant, double the consonant and add -ed.
stop > stopped, bat > batted, sip > sipped - If the verb has more than one syllable and ends in a consonant, only double the consonant if the stress is on the last syllable.
refer > referred, prefer > preferred, entrap > entrapped - If the verb has more than one syllable and ends in a consonant, don’t double the consonant if the last syllable is not stressed, at least not in American English.
cancel > canceled, travel > traveled, label > labeled
Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense
A lot of very common verbs in English have irregular (or “strong”) simple past forms. These usually involve a vowel change, but there are a few other types of changes – including none at all – that you should know about. In this section we’ll divide irregular verbs into categories based on how they change in the past tense.
A. Completely Different Words
be > was, were
go > went
B. No Change
beat > beat
bet > bet
burst > burst
cast > cast (broadcast, forecast)
cost > cost
cut > cut
fit > fit
hit > hit
hurt > hurt
let > let
put > put
quit > quit
set > set
shed > shed
shut > shut
split > split
spread > spread
C. Vowel + Consonant Change or Other Changes
bend > bent
build > built
burn > burnt
can > could
creep > crept
deal > dealt
dream > dreamt (or dreamed)
feel > felt
flee > fled
hold > held
keep > kept
kneel > knelt
have > had
hear > heard
lean > leant (or leaned)
leave > left
lend > lent
lose > lost
make > made
mean > meant
say > said
see > saw
send > sent
sleep > slept
spend > spent
sweep > swept
weep > wept
D. /eh/ as in fell
bleed > bled
breed > bred
fall > fell
feed > fed
lead > led
meet > met
read > read
E. /o/ as in broke
arise > arose
awake > awoke
break > broke
choose > chose
drive > drove
freeze > froze
ride > rode
rise > rose
sell > sold
shine > shone
speak > spoke
steal > stole
tell > told
wake > woke
write > wrote
F. /a/ as in began
begin > began
drink > drank
ring > rang
run > ran
shrink > shrank
sing > sang
sink > sank
sit > sat
spit > spat
spring > sprang
stink > stank
swim > swam
G. /a/ as in became
become> became
come > came
eat > ate
forbid > forbade
forgive > forgave
give > gave
lay > laid
lie > lay (as in to recline, lie as in to tell an untruth is regular lied.)
make > made
pay > paid
H. –ought or –aught
bring > brought
buy > bought
catch > caught
fight > fought
seek > sought
teach > taught
think > thought
I. /i/ as in did
bite > bit
do > did
hide > hid
light > lit
slide > slid
J. /oo/ as in took
shake > shook
stand > stood
take > took
understand > understood
K. /ew/ as in blew
blow > blew
draw > drew
fly > flew
grow > grew
know > knew
throw > threw
L. /u/ as in hung
cling > clung
dig > dug
hang > hung
spin > spun
stick > stuck
sting > stung
strike > struck
swing > swung
win > won
M. /ore/ as in wore
bear > bore
swear > swore
tear > tore
wear > wore
N. /ou/ as in found
bind > bound
find > found
grind > ground
wind > sound
O. /o/ as in got
forget > forget
get > got
lose > lost
shoot > shot
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