base form

+ ed = simple past

walk walked

push pushed

greet greeted

cover covered

The simple past is used to describe an action that occurred and was completed in the past.

For regular verbs, the simple past is formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb (infinitive without to).

  Singular   plural

We worked yesterday.

1st per I worked yesterday

2nd per You worked yesterday

You worked yesterday.

3rd per He, She, It worked yesterday. They worked yesterday.

The simple past tense of all regular verbs is the same for all persons.

base form

simple past

hate hated

seize seized

hope hoped

assume assumed

tie tied

free freed

For regular verbs ending in the vowel -e, add -d.

base form

simple past

ski skied

echo echoed

For the very few English verbs that end in a vowel other than -e, add -ed.

base form

simple past

play played

decay decayed

survey surveyed

enjoy enjoyed

For regular verbs that end in a vowel+y, add -ed.

base form

simple past

cry cried

dirty dirtied

ready readied

magnify magnified

Exceptions: The verbs SAY and BUY are irregular: see below.

For regular verbs that end in a consonant+y, change the -y to -i and add -ed.

base form

simple past

dam dammed

beg begged

sin sinned

stop stopped

rub rubbed

For regular verbs ending in short vowel sounds followed by a consonant, double the final consonant before adding -ed.

base form

incorrect simple past

defer defered deferred

regret regreted regretted

reship reshiped reshipped

compel compeled compelled

When the regular verb has more than one syllable, in American English the final consonant is doubled when the syllable stress is on the final syllable.

In these words, the syllable stress is not on the final syllable, so the consonant is not doubled.

simple present simple past

I walk to school. I walked to school.

She works downtown. She worked downtown.

They help on Tuesday. They helped on Tuesday.

He asks a lot of questions. He asked a lot of questions.

Here are examples with regular verbs in the simple past.

base form

simple past

buy bought

do did

fly flew

forget forgot

light lit

go went

say said

I rregular verbs do not form the past tense by adding -ed. I rregular verbs form the past tense by a change in spelling.

Put the verbs into the simple past:

1. Last year I (go) to England on holiday.

2. It (be) fantastic.

3. I (visit) lots of interesting places. I (be) with two friends of mine .

4. In the mornings we (walk) in the streets of London.

5. In the evenings we (go) to pubs.

6. The weather (be) strangely fine.

7. It (not / rain) a lot.

8. But we (see) some beautiful rainbows.

9. Where (spend / you) your last holiday?

Write the past forms of the irregular verbs.

Infinitive Simple Past

1. meet .

2. drive .

3. speak .

4. put .

5. write .

6. sing .

7. do .

8. sit .

9. stand .

10. run .

Complete the table in simple past.

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

He wrote a book.

He did not sing

Was she pretty?

Put the sentences into simple past.

1. We move to a new house. →

2. They bring a sandwich. →

3. He doesn't do the homework. →

4. They sell cars. →

5. Does he visit his friends? →

Write sentences in simple past.

1. Janet / miss / the bus →

2. she / tidy / her room →

3. Nancy / watch / not / television→

4. she / read / a book →

Choose "Was“ or "Were“:

1. The teacher nice.

2. The students very clever.

3. But one student in trouble.

4. We sorry for him.

5. He nice though.