Past simple: finished events, questions and negatives

The past simple places an event before now. A time phrase such as yesterday or last year can make that clear. Sometimes the time is already clear from the conversation, so every sentence does not need to repeat it.

The tense also describes a past situation or a repeated action during a finished period. An action does not have to be quick or happen only once. A job that lasted several years can still belong to a finished past period.

Most regular verbs add -ed to the base form: work becomes worked. If a verb already ends in e, add only -d, as in live and lived. For consonant + y, change y to i before -ed: study becomes studied. After a vowel + y, keep y, as in played.

Some short verbs with one vowel letter before a final consonant double that consonant: stop becomes stopped and plan becomes planned. Do not double final w, x or y. Longer verbs have stress and spelling rules too; check a dictionary when you are unsure rather than doubling every final letter.

Irregular verbs do not follow the usual -ed pattern. Useful pairs include go and went, have and had, see and saw, eat and ate, buy and bought, send and sent, and leave and left. Learn the pair with a short example so that you know which past form belongs to which verb.

These past forms stay the same with I, you, he, she, it, we and they. Do not add a present simple -s after a past form. Be is an exception to the one-form pattern: its two past forms, was and were, appear later in this lesson.

With most verbs, make a negative using did not or didn't followed by the base verb. Use the same didn't form with every subject. The negative says that an action did not happen in the past time you are talking about.

After didn't, change an irregular past form back to its base form too. Went becomes go, saw becomes see, and had becomes have. Did already carries the past meaning, so the main verb does not need a second past marker.

To ask a yes-or-no question with an ordinary verb, put did before the subject and the base verb after it. For a question about place, time or another detail, put a question word before did.

A short answer uses did or didn't, with a pronoun for the person or thing being discussed. Questions in which who is the subject work differently: who can be followed directly by the past verb, without did. That pattern asks which person did the action.

Be has two past forms. Use was with I, he, she and it, and usually with one named person or thing. Use were with you, we and they, and with plural nouns. You takes were even when you speak to one person.

Was and were connect the subject to a past description, identity or place. A tired person needs was or were before tired. A person who performed an action needs the action verb's past form; do not add was before a base action verb.

For a negative with be, put not after was or were. Was not can become wasn't, and were not can become weren't. Do not use didn't before was or were.

For a question, move was or were before the subject. Add a question word first if you need more information. A short answer repeats was or were, rather than did. Choose the correct subject pronoun for the answer.

Yesterday names the day before today. Last night, last week and last year refer to the previous night, week or year. These phrases do not need in, on or at in front of them in ordinary time expressions.

Put ago after an amount of time, such as two days or three months. It counts back from now. Use in with a named past year and on with a named day or date. A time phrase can often go at the start or end of the sentence; that change alone does not make the sentence wrong.

In a short account, past simple verbs can show events in the order they happened. First, then and after that help make the order clear. Give the time once, then keep using past forms while you describe that past period.

Check each sentence separately when you edit. A positive action needs a past form; a negative or question with did needs a base form; a description needs was or were. You can use all of these patterns in the same story because they do different jobs.