Past simple tense in English - Regular and irregular verbs
In the present simple tense, we say:
I live, you live, we live, they live,
but for he, she, it, we add an S to the end of the verb in the present simple.
So we say: he lives, she lives, it lives .
However, for the past simple tense, it is much easier.
There is only one form of each verb in the past simple tense.
The exception is TO BE which has two forms: was and were.
We will see more about this later.
The past tense of live is lived.
Lived is used for all subjects including he, she and it.
I lived, you lived, we lived, they lived, he lived, she lived, it lived.
You can see that the past tense verb is the same for all subjects.
There is only one form for each verb.
Look at these examples in the present simple tense.
i live in a small apartment.
He lives in a big house.
How can we change these sentences into the past tense?
They become...
I lived in a small apartment.
He lived in a big house.
Notice how in the present tense the verb changes.
I live, he lives.
But in the past tense, the verb is the same:
I lived, he lived.
How can you make a past tense verb to make a past tense verb?
We normally just add ED to the end of a regular verb, for example:
Play becomes played.
Rain becomes rained.
Cook becomes cooked.
Watch becomes watched.
Need becomes needed.
Want becomes wanted.
If the regular verb already ends in E, we just add a D to the end.
For example, live already ends in an E so we just add D to the end.
Live becomes lived.
Smile becomes smiled.
Dance becomes danced.
See our lesson about the spelling of words ending in ED for more examples and exceptions.
The link is in the description.
Now, listen to the pronunciation of ED at the end of each verb.
Played, rained, cooked, watched, needed, wanted.
Did you notice how the final ED was pronounced in three different ways?
Listen again...
Played ends in a /d/ sound ... played
Rained ends in a /d/ sound ... rained
Cooked ends in a /t/ sound ... cooked
Watched ends in a /t/ sound ... watched
Needed ends in an /id/ sound ... needed
Wanted ends in an /id/ sound ... wanted
Here is a quick summary chart.
I recommend watching our complete English lesson about the pronunciation of ED at the end of words.
The link is in the description.
Look at these sentences.
They live in Spain. - present tense affirmative sentence
They lived in Spain. - past tense affirmative sentence
The only difference is that the verb in the past tense ends in ED.
What is the negative form of the sentence in the present simple tense?
They live in Spain ... becomes ...
They don't live in Spain.
Don't and doesn't are used in the present simple tense to make a negative sentence.
But ,how do we make a negative sentence in the past simple tense?
We just use DIDN'T.
They lived in Spain. ... becomes ....
They didn't live in Spain.
We do not say they didn't "lived" in Spain. No!
Look at the summary chart.
DIDN'T is used to make negative sentences in the past simple tense.
Remember, in the present simple tense DON'T and DOESN'T are used.
In the past simple tense, we only have one auxiliary... didn't.
I didn't, you didn't, we didn't, they didn't, he didn't, she didn't, it didn't,
DIDN'T is used for all subjects.
But what comes after DIDN'T?
The verb after DIDN'T is always the base form of the infinitive...
didn't live, didn't play, didn't watch.
The auxiliary DIDN'T tells us it is a negative sentence in the past simple tense.
Let's look at the two negative sentences again.
They don't live in Spain.
They didn't live in Spain.
The only difference between these negative sentences and the
present tense versus the past tense are the auxiliaries DON'T or DOESN'T and DIDN'T.
Change these negative sentences from the present tense to the past tense.
I don't play the piano.
becomes
I didn't play the piano.
She doesn't live in Italy
becomes
She didn't live in Italy.
We don't need a dictionary.
becomes
We didn't need a dictionary.
Jack doesn't want to go.
becomes
Jack didn't want to go.
Look at these sentences again
They live in Spain. - present tense affirmative sentence
They lived in Spain. - past tense affirmative sentence
How do we make a question in the present simple tense?
They live in Spain becomes
Do they live in Spain?
We just add DO to the beginning.
DO and DOES are used in the present simple tends to make a question.
But, how do we make a question in the past simple tense?
We add DID to the beginning.
They lived in Spain becomes
Did they live in Spain?
Notice how the verb live is used because it is the base form of the infinitive
just like with negative sentences.
We do not say... Did they "lived" in Spain? No!
In english we use DID to make questions in the past simple tense.
Exceptions ... questions with TO BE or modal verbs like can, might, must, etc.
So the questions are...
Do they live in Spain? - present simple tense
Did they live in Spain? - past simple tense
The only difference between these questions and the present tense versus the past tense
are the auxiliaries DO or DOES versus DID.
Change these questions from the present tense to the past tense.
Do you play football?
becomes
Did you play football?
Does he want to go?
becomes
Did he want to go?
Do i need a ticket?
becomes
Did i need a ticket?
Does she live in Japan?
becomes
Did she live in Japan?
With questions beginning with DID you can also give a short answer.
Look at these questions.
What are some possible short answers?
Did you need my help?
Yes, i did ... or ... No, i didn't.
Did she open the window?
Yes, she did ... or ... No, she didn't.
Did Steve walk to work?
Yes, he did ... or ... No, he didn't.
With questions, you can also use one of the question words
such as when, where, why, what, who, which, etc. before DID.
Look at these example sentences.
When did you arrive?
Where did they go?
Why did she leave early? What did he say?
For now, we have only seen regular verbs in the past tense.
But, don't worry, irregular verbs in the past tense are also easy.
Let's look at the verb TO GO in the present tense.
It is GO or GOES
The past tense of go is WENT.
WENT is used for all subjects.
I went, you went, he went, she went, it went, we went ,and they went.
They all use went.
For example
I went to the beach last weekend.
She went to the dentist last week.
They went to the library yesterday.
You went to a concert last night.
For the past tense of GO you just need to learn one word: WENT
The best thing is that you only need to know this irregular form for affirmative sentences.
For negative sentences in the past tense we follow the same rules as regular verbs.
We use DIDN'T with the verb in its base form.
For example:
You went to the concert.
This is an affirmative sentence.
How do we make this a negative sentence in the past simple tense?
We use DIDN'T.
You didn't go to the concert.
Notice how we use GO because we had the base form of the infinitive.
Instead of TO GO just GO.
You don't say you didn't "went" to the concert. No!
DIDN'T tells us it is in the past tense.
You didn't go to the concert.
This is correct.
Here is another affirmative sentence in the past tense.
He went to the park.
How can we make this a negative sentence?
He didn't go to the park.
Again, the auxiliary DIDN'T tells us it is a negative sentence in the past simple tense.
Now, look at the affirmative sentence again.
You went to the concert.
How can we make this a question?
Using the same rules for regular and irregular past tense verbs.
We use DID at the beginning, while the verb is in the base form of the infinitive.
The question is... Did you go to the concert?
The auxiliary DID at the beginning tells us it is a question in the past simple tense.
Notice how we use GO because we have the base form of the infinitive.
Instead of TO GO just GO.
We don't say: Did you "went" to the concert? No!
DID tells us it is a question in the past tense.
Look at this affirmative sentence.
He went to the park.
How can we change it into a question?
We say: Did he go to the park?
Again, DID tells us it is a question in the past tense.
So basically, past tense irregular verbs
are only irregular in affirmative sentences and there is only one form for each verb.
For example:
You went to the concert.
You didn't go to the concert.
Did you go to the concert?
You can see that GO is only irregular
in affirmative past tense sentences when it becomes WENT.
In negative sentences and questions we use GO.
Of course, there is an exception TO BE.
We will see this in a separate lesson.
Also, I recommend watching our lesson about 101
irregular verbs in the past tense. It includes example sentences.
I hope you found this English lesson about the past simple tense useful.
If you did, click like and subscribe to our channel
so you know when we create new lessons to help you improve your English.
Have an awesome day!