Past Simple Tense

Go Here For The FREE Past Simple Song and Worksheets. They are  sent to your email here with my other songs. 

Chart For The Past Tense

Here you can see the form of past simple and continuous as well as past perfect and past perfect continuous with examples.

The past simple tense is one of the most commonly used tenses in English. We use it to talk about finished actions in the past—things that started and ended before now.

When to use it, how to form it, regular and irregular verbs, common mistakes, and practice activities.

1. When Do We Use the Past Simple?

Use the past simple to talk about:

✔ Completed actions in the past

  • I visited Japan in 2019.

  • She cooked dinner last night.

✔ Actions that happened at a specific time

  • They arrived at 8pm.

  • He bought a new phone yesterday.

✔ Past habits (often with adverbs like always, usually)

  • When I was a child, I always walked to school.

Time expressions commonly used

  • yesterday

  • last week/month/year

  • in 2010

  • two days ago

  • when I was younger

Go Here For The FREE Past Simple Song and Worksheets. They are  sent to your email here with my other songs. 

2. How to Form the Past Simple

Regular Verbs

Add -ed to the base form.

Base Verb Past Simple
walk walked
study studied
play played

Spelling Rules

  • Verbs ending in e → add d
    love → loved

  • Verbs ending in y → y → i + ed
    study → studied

  • Short CVC verbs → double the last consonant + ed
    stop → stopped

3. Irregular Verbs

These verbs do NOT follow the -ed rule.
You must memorize them.

Base Verb Past Simple
go went
have had
see saw
make made
take took

Examples:

  • We went to the beach.

  • She saw a movie.

4. Positive, Negative, and Questions

Positive

Subject + past verb

  • I played football.

  • She went home.

Negative

Subject + did not (didn’t) + base verb

  • I didn’t play football.

  • She didn’t go home.

Questions

Did + subject + base verb?

  • Did you watch the game?

  • Did they finish the project?

5. Common Mistakes

❌ I didn’t went to school.
✔ I didn’t go to school.

❌ Did you saw him yesterday?
✔ Did you see him yesterday?

❌ He walk to work yesterday.
✔ He walked to work yesterday.

Remember: After did/didn’t, always use the base form.

6. Practice Tasks

A. Write the past simple form

  1. live → ______

  2. go → ______

  3. study → ______

  4. see → ______

  5. stop → ______

B. Complete the sentences

  1. I ______ (watch) a movie yesterday.

  2. They ______ (not visit) us last weekend.

  3. ______ you ______ (eat) breakfast this morning?

  4. She ______ (make) a cake for her friend.

  5. We ______ (travel) to Spain in 2020.

C. Fix the mistakes

  1. He didn’t went home.

  2. Did you ate lunch?

  3. They walk yesterday.

7. Mini Reading for Practice

Billy’s Busy Saturday

Yesterday, Billy woke up early. He made breakfast and cleaned his room. After that, he went to the park with his friends. They played football and had a picnic. In the evening, Billy watched a movie and then fell asleep quickly.

Comprehension Questions

  1. What time did Billy wake up?

  2. Where did he go after cleaning?

  3. What did Billy do in the evening?

8. Summary

The past simple helps us talk about things that happened and finished in the past.
Remember:

  • Regular verbs → -ed

  • Irregular verbs → memorize the forms

  • Negative/questions use did/didn’t + base verb

With practice, this tense becomes easy and natural to use.

Go Here For The FREE Past Simple Song and Worksheets. They are  sent to your email here with my other songs. 

Past Simple Tense Quiz

Part 1 — Multiple Choice (Choose the correct answer)

  1. She ___ to the supermarket yesterday.
    a) go
    b) went
    c) goes

  2. They ___ dinner at 7pm last night.
    a) eat
    b) ate
    c) eaten

  3. I didn’t ___ the movie.
    a) liked
    b) like
    c) liking

  4. ___ you see the new teacher yesterday?
    a) Do
    b) Did
    c) Does

  5. We ___ in London in 2015.
    a) live
    b) lived
    c) living

Part 2 — Fill in the Blanks (Use the past simple form)

  1. I ______ (watch) a documentary last night.

  2. She ______ (not finish) her homework.

  3. They ______ (travel) to Italy two years ago.

  4. ______ you ______ (meet) your cousin yesterday?

  5. The dog ______ (run) into the garden.

Part 3 — Correct the Mistake

  1. He didn’t went to class yesterday.
    Rewrite correctly: __________________________________

  2. Did you saw the match?
    Rewrite correctly: __________________________________

  3. We play basketball yesterday.
    Rewrite correctly: __________________________________

Part 4 — Change to Negative Form

  1. She cooked dinner.
    → __________________________________

  2. They arrived early.
    → __________________________________

Part 5 — Short Writing Task

Write 3 sentences about what you did yesterday.
Use at least one regular verb and one irregular verb.

Answer Key

Part 1

  1. b) went

  2. b) ate

  3. b) like

  4. b) Did

  5. b) lived

Part 2

  1. watched

  2. didn’t finish

  3. traveled / travelled

  4. Did you meet

  5. ran

Part 3

  1. He didn’t go to class yesterday.

  2. Did you see the match?

  3. We played basketball yesterday.

Part 4

  1. She didn’t cook dinner.

  2. They didn’t arrive early.