Simple Past Tense

Many English learners struggle with the simple past tense when talking about completed actions. How do you form regular and irregular past verbs? What are the common mistakes to avoid? This blog post helps learn simple past tense with clear rules, structure, and examples. By mastering this tense, you’ll improve your ability to describe past events accurately. For better understanding, Check out the Present Tenses

What is Simple Past Tense?

The Simple Past Tense is used to describe actions that happened at a specific time in the past. It is commonly used for completed events, past habits, and historical facts.

Structure of the Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense is formed using: Subject + past verb (V2) + object

1. Affirmative Sentences

Structure: Subject + past verb (V2) + object

• Aisha visited Turkey last year.
• They completed their homework on time.

2. Negative Sentences

Structure: Subject + did not + base verb (V1) + object

• Aisha did not visit Turkey last year.
• They did not complete their homework on time.

3. Interrogative Sentences

Structure: Did + subject + base verb (V1) + object?

• Did Aisha visit Turkey last year?
• Did they complete their homework on time?

4. Double Interrogative Sentences

Structure: Wh-word + did + subject + base verb (V1) + object?

• Where did Aisha visit last year?
• Why did they complete their homework early?

Regular vs Irregular Verbs in Simple Past

Regular Verbs:

Regular verbs form their past tense by adding -ed or -d to the base form.

• Play → Played
• Work → Worked
• Visit → Visited

Irregular Verbs:

Irregular verbs have unique past forms that do not follow a fixed pattern.

• Go → Went
• Eat → Ate
• Write → Wrote

Time Expressions in Simple Past Tense

These words indicate when the action happened:

• Yesterday: I watched a movie yesterday.
• Last week/month/year: She traveled to Egypt last month.
• Ago: He left two hours ago.
• In + past year: They met in 2015.

Uses of the Simple Past Tense

✅ Completed Actions in the Past
Used for actions that happened at a specific time in the past.

• Bilal visited Makkah last year. (The action is finished and happened at a known time.)
• We watched a great movie yesterday. (The event is completely in the past.)

✅ Past Habits
Describes habits or repeated actions in the past.

• Ahmed woke up early when he was a student. (It was his routine in the past.)
• She always took a walk in the evening. (A past habit that no longer happens.)

✅ Stories and Narratives
Commonly used for telling stories and past events.

• Once upon a time, there was a brave prince. (Typical way to start a story.)
• The old man lived alone in a small village. (Describing past events in a narrative.)

✅ Historical Facts
Used to describe facts or events from history.

• Muslims ruled Spain for many centuries. (A historical event that is no longer true.)
• The Wright brothers invented the airplane in 1903. (A significant past event.)

Simple Past vs Present Past Tense

Aspect	Simple Past	Present Perfect
Definition	Describes an action that happened at a specific time in the past and is now completed.	Describes an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past or started in the past and continues in the present.
Formula	Subject + V2 (past form) + object	Subject + has/have + V3 (past participle) + object
Usage	1. Used for completed actions at a specific past time. 2. Used for past habits or repeated actions.	1. Used for actions with an unspecified past time. 2. Used for actions that started in the past and continue now.
Time Expressions	Yesterday, last week, in 2010, two days ago, when I was a child	Ever, never, just, already, yet, recently, for, since
Example Sentences	– Aisha visited her grandmother last weekend. ✅ – We watched a movie yesterday. ✅	– Aisha has visited her grandmother this week. ✅ – We have watched that movie already. ✅

Examples of the Simple Past Tense in Use

Affirmative

• Fatima wrote a letter last night.
• We visited Spain in 2020.

Negative

• Bilal did not sleep well.
• They did not finish their project.

Interrogative

• Did your brother study for the exam?
• Did they leave for school?

Common Mistakes with the Simple Past Tense

❌ He go to school yesterday.
✅ He went to school yesterday.

❌ We did finished our work.
✅ We finished our work.

❌ She did not went to the party.
✅ She did not go to the party.

FAQs

Read More

• Simple Present Tense
• Present Continuous Tense
• Present Perfect Continuous Tense