The Past Simple in English: Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative Sentences

The Past Simple is a basic and extremely useful tense for beginners. Pay attention because here I explain everything about the simple past.

In this article, we are going to learn how to use the past simple in English. It is, like the past continuous, one of the most basic verb tenses that exist. Furthermore, it is one of the simplest to construct, as we will see below.

In this article, I am going to explain how the past simple is formed and when it is used according to the context.

How the Past Simple is Constructed

The reason the past simple in English is extremely easy to construct is because to put a verb in the past simple you only have to add the ending -ed (in affirmative sentences) to the base of the verb (infinitive) or make use of the auxiliary verb did (do in the past).

Let’s look at some examples:

This happens with all verbs except irregular verbs, which we will see later. Furthermore, the verb to be has the peculiarity that it does not use the auxiliary did, just as in the present simple it does not use the auxiliary do/does.

Now, let’s delve a little deeper into how the past simple is formed in affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences. And keep in mind that the simplicity of the past simple is that it never changes according to the person. 😀

Past Simple: affirmative sentences

Affirmative sentences are the easiest, as is usually always the case. Let’s look at some example sentences:

As you can see, the only change we have made to put the verb in the past simple has been to add -ed to the verb.

Irregular verbs in past simple: affirmative sentences

In the case of irregular verbs, the past simple is not formed with -ed, but is usually a different variation of the word, or a completely different word. Let’s look at some example sentences:

Past Simple: negative sentences

Just as in the present simple we use don’t/doesn’t to construct negative sentences, in the past simple we use didn’t. And whenever we use did/didn’t, the main verb goes in its base form (infinitive).

Let’s look at some examples of negative sentences in the past simple:

Notice how when using didn’t, the main verbs do not take -ed.

Verb to be in past simple: negative sentences

The verb to be is never accompanied by did/didn’t. The verb to be simply needs not added after it:

Past Simple: questions

To construct questions in the past simple we need to consider the following:

• We have to invert the order of the subject and the auxiliary verb (did).
• When using did, the main verb goes in the base infinitive (without -ed, or irregular form).
• If it is the verb to be, we will invert the order of the subject and the verb to be (was/were).

Let’s look at some transformations:

Verb to be in past simple: questions

In the case of the verb to be in the past simple, since it does not use did, we simply change the order of the verb to be and the subject:

When to use the Past Simple

Now that we know how to form the past simple in English, the most important thing is to know when and in what contexts it is used. The most common uses of the past simple in English are the following:

• Completed actions in the past, often with a time expression:

I saw you the other day on the bus.
I met him in college.

• To express sequences of consecutive actions in the past:

I got up at 7 o’clock and had a shower. After having a shower, I had some toast and a glass of milk. Then I watched TV while I finished my cup of coffee.

• Actions that were habitual in the past:

During my teens, I went to English lessons every single week. Actually, I think I never missed one!

• Facts that were true in the past:

When I was a kid I really loved going to the movies.

Spelling changes in the past simple

Although I said that we simply add -ed to regular verbs to form the past simple, sometimes adding this particle entails a spelling change in the original verb. Let’s look at the exceptions:

• When the regular verb ends in -e: we only add -d.

I hoped he could come, but it wasn’t possible. (hope > hoped)
The store closed sooner than usual. (close > closed)

• When the regular verb ends in consonant + -y: we change -y to -ied.

She married a man younger than her. (marry > married)
Luke dried his hair with a towel. (dry > dried)

• We double the last consonant:
  • When the verb is monosyllabic and ends in consonant-vowel-consonant:

They banned smoking indoors a long time ago. (ban > banned)
My mum nagged me a bit when I was a teenager. (nag > nagged)

• In the following cases in British English:

travel > travelled
cancel > cancelled
level > levelled
marvel > marvelled

In conclusion, the Past Simple in English is a verb tense you should know from when you start learning English, and furthermore, we are lucky that it is quite simple to use and construct.

Past Simple Exercises

Do you have any questions? Leave me a comment and I will reply as soon as possible!

Until next time, don’t forget to keep smiling!