Simple Past Tense #1 English uses verbs in the simple past tense to refer to actions situations, or events that

are finished and that happened before now. There are three ways to form simple past tense in English. These three different ways depend on the verb: the verb be (special forms) regular verbs (add - d, - ed, or change y to i and add - ed) regular verbs (special forms) Today we'll look at the simple past forms of be. The Simple Past: BE The verb be uses two forms in the simple past: were and was: you / we / they were I / he / she / it was To make these forms negative, add not after were or was: you / we / they were not I / he / she / it was not The negative forms are often contracted: were not -----> weren't was not -----> wasn't Examples She was there. She was not there. She wasn't there. They were here yesterday. They were not here yesterday. They weren't here yesterday. I was at home last night. I was not at home last night.

I wasn't at home last night.

You were very kind. You were not rude. Simple Past Tense #2 English uses verbs in the simple past tense to refer to actions, situations, or events that are finished and that happened before now. There are three ways to form simple past tense in English. One way is what happens with the verb be: it uses the special forms was and were. Another way is what happens with regular verbs. (They are called regular because they all add the same ending--ed--or some variation on it.) ______________________________ The Simple Past: Regular Verbs Regular verbs make their past tense by adding - d, - ed, or (if the verb ends in a consonant + y), changing the y to i and then adding - ed. Examples: Add -d: baked, cared, eased, filed, greased, hated, liked, piled, raced, seized, smiled, typed, wheezed, whined apply / applied; bury / buried; cry / cried; fry / fried; hurry / hurried; marry / married; pry / pried; spy / spied try / tried vary / varied worry / worried other regular verbs: asked, belonged, clapped, dialed, filled, guessed, hopped, looked, marked, needed, pulled, reached,

Change y to i and add -ed:

Add -ed:

started, touched, viewed, washed, yelled, zipped

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Special Notes: 1. Add only - d if a regular verb ends in one or more vowels, a single consonant (except x), and e. See the examples above. If a regular verb ends in a single vowel and a single consonant (except x), double the consonant before you add -ed: beg / begged; clap / clapped; fan / fanned; hop / hopped; jog / jogged; mar / marred; pin / pinned; rip / ripped; slam / slammed; tan / tanned; whip / whipped; zip / zipped Compare these verbs: hop / hopped and hope / hoped; pin / pinned and pine / pined file / filed and fill / filled; like / liked and lick / licked 3. If a regular verb has two or more syllables, if the verb ends in l or r, and if the last syllable is stressed, double the l or r before you add -ed: compl / compelled; confr / conferred; contrl / controlled; defr / deferred; fulfl / fulfilled; prefr / preferred; propl / propelled If a regular verb has two or more syllables, if the

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verb ends in l or r, and if the last syllable is not stressed, do not double the l or r, before you add -ed: cncel / canceled; hnor / honored; sffer / suffered; trvel / traveled Note that British spelling does not use this rule. 4. If a regular verb ends in a consonant and y (or if the final syllable of a regular verb ends in this way), change the y to i and then add -ed: apply / applied; bury / buried; cry / cried; copy / copied; defy / defied; fry / fried; falsify / falsified; hurry / hurried; modify / modified; pity / pitied; qualify / qualified; reply / replied; spy / spied; supply / supplied; try / tried 5. If a regular verb ends in a vowel and y (or if the final syllable of a regular verb ends in this way), do not change the y to i and then add -ed: annoy / annoyed; dismay / dismayed; enjoy / enjoyed; obey / obeyed; play / played; stay / stayed 6. If a regular verb ends in x, add only - ed. Do not double the x: box / boxed; fax / faxed; mix / mixed; tax / taxed 7. Regular verbs ending in other spelling patterns usually add -ed. Simple Past Tense #3 In English, the simple past tense is used for finished actions or situations that began and ended before now. There are three ways to make simple past tense. One way is what happens with the verb be: am and is change to was and are changes to were. A second way is what happens with regular verbs: most regular verbs add - d or - ed to the base (simple) form, but some verbs ending in y change i and then add - ed. The third way is for irregular verbs.

______________________________ The Simple Past: Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs do not make their past tense by adding - d or - ed or by changing y to i and adding ed. Instead, they make their past forms in several ways: 1. For some irregular verbs, the simple and past forms are the same. Here are a few examples: Simple beat bet burst cost cut hit hurt let put set 2. Past beat bet burst cost cut hit hurt let put set

For many irregular verbs, the simple and past forms have different vowels. Here are a few examples: Simple arise become begin break choose dig draw eat fall feed find fly forget freeze get give Past arose became began broke chose dug drew ate fell fed found flew forgot froze got gave

hide hold know lead lie meet ride ring rise take tear weave 3.

hid held knew led lay met rode rang rose took tore wove

For many irregular verbs, the simple verb and the past form have different endings (and often different vowels): Simple bend bring build buy catch creep do (does) feel have (has) lose make mean pay say seek sleep spend stand teach tell think Past bent brought built bought caught crept did felt had lost made meant paid said sought slept spent stood taught told thought

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A few irregular verbs have more than one past form. Here are a few examples:

Simple dream fit kneel leap light shine speed spit wake 5.

Past dreamed, dreamt fit, fitted knelt, kneeled leaped, leapt lit, lighted shone, shined sped, speeded spit, spat woke, waked

For a few irregular verbs, one past form tends is more common in American English and a different one is more common in British English: Verb burn lean learn smell spoil American burned leaned learned smelled spoiled British burnt leant learnt smelt spoilt

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The common irregular verb go has a completely different past form: Simple go Past went

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Special Notes: 1. The simple and past forms of read have the same spelling, but they are pronounced differently: simple: read (pronounced the same as reed) past: read (pronounced the same as red)

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There are no easy rules to help you learn the past forms for irregular verbs quickly. Unfortunately, you will have to memorize them!

To see an excellent online collection of irregular verbs (with past participles as well as past forms), see this Irregular Verb List from Georgia State University.