Past Simple

In English, there are two kinds of main verbs. One is the regular verb and the other is the irregular verb. In this article, we will take a look at the structure of each.

Just like simple present, the negative form and questions in simple past need an auxiliary verb: 'did.' It is the past form of 'do.' To make negative sentences in past tense, you need to bring the subject at the beginning, followed by 'did not' or its contracted form, 'didn't,' and the main verb.

Much like its simple present partners, 'did' helps in making questions and negative sentences. Both yes/no and wh- question in simple past need 'did.' Making yes/no questions in simple past is simple; you need 'did' at the beginning of your question, followed by the subject and the simple form of your main verb. Take a look at these examples:

You can make wh- questions to ask for information about the past, but you need wh- words first, including what, when, where, who, how, why. In order to make wh- questions, you use a wh- word at the beginning, followed by 'did' and the subject. The main verb comes after, and you should remember that it is always in simple form. Take a look at the following examples:

We use past simple to talk about something that happened once in the past and it's finished. In other words, this tense refers to actions that started happening in the past and were finished in the past as well. Here are some examples:

We often use the past simple with indefinite time adverb like 'the other day,' 'ages ago,' 'a long time ago.' They all refer to a past time. Look at these examples:

We use the past simple to talk about something that was true for some time in the past. They are no longer true, but they happened back then. Check out these examples:

The past simple to talk about finished actions, states, or habits in the past when we know from general knowledge that the time period has finished. They are not unfinished and they are not still happening. Check out these examples:

We use past simple to talk about something that happened several times in the past. To be clear the action might have happened regularly and habitually in the past. For example:

We use past simple to talk about something that was true for some time in the past. take a look at some examples:

We can use the past simple for stories or lists of events. To show the sequence of events for the actions that happened in the past we use the simple past tense.

We can also use the past simple to refer to the present or future in hypotheses. We call this structure the second conditional. In this structure, we refer to what would have happened in the present, or the future, if something else happened in the past. Look at the examples:

We can also use the past simple after words like 'wish' to indicate you do not have something, but you hope you will have someday or to show you want something that you do not have and sometimes you regret it. For example:

We use the past simple together with the past continuous to show that the simple past interrupted an action which was in progress in the past. In this case, there should be a while-clause or when-clause in the sentence. Look at the examples:

We use the past simple with finished actions, states, or habits in the past that we have introduced with the present perfect or another tense.