ICAL TEFL Certificate

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Past Simple

Past Simple

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The past simple is used to talk about events in the past; it's often used to tell a story.

He walked into the room and looked around. There was a knock on the door. He opened it and saw...


Form

We make the past tense of regular verbs by adding -ed to the infinitive form fo the verb. There is no change for the third person singular:

{subject} + {past form}
I worked hard.
She walked to the supermarket.
They laughed at the joke

Irregular verbs follow no rule to make the past simple tense. Each irregular verb has its own past simple, and these can only be learnt by heart.

Present Past
eat ate
find found
see saw
tear tore

Usage

We use the past simple when we talk about an action or event which started in the past and finished in the past.

I drank two cups of coffee for breakfast this morning.
The Big Bang happened over ten thousand million years ago.