Past tense - gramma

Simple past: regular and irregular verbs
The simple past expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times. It can also be used for actions taking place one after another or in the middle of another action.

Form of Simple Past

For Negative and Interrogative sentences we use the auxiliary Did before the verb.
Using the regular verb “love”
* Positive sentences – Ilove you.
* Negative sentences – I loved you.
* Interrogative sentences – Did I love you?

Using the irregular verb “speak” (original form)
* Positive sentences – I spoke
* Negative sentences – I didn’t speak OR I did not speak.
* Interrogative sentences – Did I speak?
Use of Simple Past
* action in the past taking place once, never or several times
Example:He visited his parents every weekend.
* actions in the past taking place one after the other
Example: He came in, took off his coat and sat down.
* action in the past taking place in the middle of another action
Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.
* if sentences type II (If I talked, …)
Example: If I had a lot of money, I would share it with you.
Signal Words ofSimple Past
* yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday
* If-Satz Typ II (If I talked, …)

Grammar
Regular Verbs
* For regular verbs, just add “ed”.

* The simple past tense is usually formed by adding –ed to the verb.
For example:
jump + ed = jumped lift + ed = lifted
laugh + ed = laughed look + ed = looked

* If the verb ends with -e, just add -d.For example:
agree + d = agreed hate + d = hated
die + d = died live + d = lived

* Remember these spelling rules:
You must double the last letter of some verbs before adding -ed.
For example:
fan + ed = fanned pat + ed = patted
grab + ed = grabbed rip + ed = ripped
nod + ed = nodded slam + ed = slammed

* Notice that the verbs above are all short verbs of just one syllable. Theyall end with a consonant such as b, d, m, n, p, t, and have only a single vowel before the consonant.

* With verbs that end in -y, change the y to i before adding -ed.
For example:
bury + ed = buried fry + ed = fried
carry + ed = carried hurry + ed = hurried
cry + ed = cried try + ed = tried

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ‘ed’

Exceptions in spelling when adding ed | Example |after a final e only add d | love – loved |
final consonant after a short, stressed vowel or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled | admit – admitted
travel – travelled |
final y after a consonant becomes i | hurry – hurried |
Irregular Verbs

The simple past form of some verbs does not end in -ed. Such verbs are called irregular verbs.
The simple past tense of some irregularverbs does not change at all.

For example
Base Form | Simple Past | Base Form | Simple Past |
beat | beat | hit | hit |
burst | burst | hurt | hurt |
cost | cost | put | put |
cut | cut | read | read |

Most irregular verbs, however, take a different form in the simple past tense.
Base Form | Simple Past | Base Form | Simple Past |
bend | bend | fly | flew |
break | broke | get| got |
bring | brought | keep | kept |
buy | bought | shoot | shot |

Exercises
Exercise 1
Write the simple past tense of these verbs on the blanks.
1 take ____________ 7 tell ____________
2 walk ____________ 8 write ____________
3 rain ____________ 9 sit ____________
4 shut ____________ 10 read ____________
5 open ____________ 11 close ____________
6 cry ____________ 12 cook____________

Exercise 2
Fill in the blanks with the correct simple past tense of the verbs in parentheses.
1 She ___________ home alone. (go)
2 The wind ___________ throughout the night. (blow)
3 An apple ___________ on his head. (drop)
4 The Princess’s ball ___________ into the well. (roll)
5 A frog __________ into the well and ___________ it back to her. (jump/bring)
6 Jack ___________...