Simple past

[pic]Simple Past: Regular Verbs
Introduction
The simple past tense is one of the most common tenses in English. Its form is the same with all subjects. It is usually formed by adding -ED to the verb. This page will explain the rules for forming the tense with regular verbs.
1. Forming the simple past tense
With most verbs, the simple past is created simply by adding -ED. However, with someverbs, you need to add -ES or change the ending a little. Here are the rules:
|Verb ending in... |How to make the simple past |Examples |
|E |Add -D |live [pic]lived |
| ||date [pic]dated |
|Consonant +y |Change y to i, then add -ED |try [pic]tried |
| | |cry [pic]cried |
|One vowel + one consonant |Double theconsonant, then add -ED |tap [pic]tapped |
|(but NOT w or y) | |commit [pic]committed |
|anything else including w |Add -ED |boil [pic]boiled |
| ||fill [pic]filled |
| | |hand [pic]handed |
| | |show [pic]showed |

[pic]Simple Past: Irregular Verbs
Introduction
Although many verbsin English form their past tense with -ED, some do not. These are called irregular verbs, and they include some of the most basic verbs in English. This page will explain some of the most important patterns in forming the past tense. However, the only way to know how an irregular verb will change in the past tense is to learn all of the important verbs.
1. The three most important irregular verbsThe three most important irregular verbs are BE, HAVE, and DO. The simple past forms for BE are different depending on the subject.
|Pronoun |BE |HAVE |DO |
|I |was |had |Did |
|You |were |had |Did |
|He / she / it |was |had |Did|
|We |were |had |Did |
|They |were |had |Did |

2. Other irregular verbs
Other irregular verbs fall into three main categories:
|Category |Examples |
|Verbs which don't change |cut - cut |
||hit - hit |
| |fit - fit |
|Verbs which change their vowel |get - got |
| |sit - sat |
| |drink - drank |
|Verbs which change completely|catch - caught |
| |bring - brought |
| |teach - taught |

[pic]Simple Past: Negatives and Questions
Introduction
In the simple past tense, negative and question forms are made using the auxiliary verb "do" (in its past form, "did") followed by the simple form of the main...