English may not have as many verb forms as other languages you know—but those few forms come with a lot of complications, and the simple past is no exception.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to form the simple past in English, how it’s pronounced, and when to use it!
In this post:
- When is the simple past used in English?
- How do you form the English simple past?
- Negation of the simple past
- Questions in the simple past
- Pronunciation of the simple past
- English simple past vs. present perfect
When is the simple past used?
For example:
SENTENCE | I called my mom last night. |
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EXPLANATION | We use the simple past to describe the completed action of calling someone on the phone at a time in the past (last night). |
SENTENCE | We played basketball yesterday. |
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EXPLANATION | We use the simple past to describe the completed action of playing basketball at a time in the past (yesterday). |
SENTENCE | They went to the store two days ago. |
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EXPLANATION | We use the simple past to describe the completed action of going to the store at a time in the past (two days ago). |
How do you form the simple past?
How simple past verbs are formed depends on whether they are regular or irregular.
Past forms of regular verbs
Most commonly, the simple past for regular verbs follows a simple formula:
For example:
BASE FORM | ➕ | -ED | 🟰 | SIMPLE PAST |
---|---|---|---|---|
talk | talked | |||
watch | watched | |||
ask | asked |
In a sentence, the simple past form comes after the subject—just like a simple present tense verb would:
- Amy talked to her girlfriend on the phone yesterday.
- Last month, they watched a lot of scary movies.
- I asked two questions.
Some regular verbs require a slight spelling change. If the base form of a regular verb already ends in -e, you only need to add a -d for the past:
BASE FORM | SIMPLE PAST | EXAMPLE |
---|---|---|
use | used | We used your pen. |
die | died | Lucy’s cat died yesterday. |
bake | baked | Vikram baked a big cake. |
If the base form of a regular verb ends in a consonant followed by a -y, change the -y to -i and then add -ed:
BASE FORM | SIMPLE PAST | EXAMPLE |
---|---|---|
try | tried | I tried the soup. |
marry | married | She married my brother. |
hurry | hurried | They hurried to the car. |
Finally, if the base form of a regular verb ends with consonant-vowel-consonant, you usually double the last consonant and then add ‑ed:
BASE VERB | SIMPLE PAST | EXAMPLE |
---|---|---|
plan | planned | We planned the party. |
stop | stopped | Junior stopped the movie. |
wag | wagged | The dog wagged its tail. |
Memorizing the most important patterns for English past forms of regular verbs can be very helpful:
Past forms of irregular verbs
One of the tricky parts of the simple past is that many verbs are irregular, meaning their past forms don’t follow the regular -ed pattern. Some common irregular verbs and their past tense forms include:
BASE VERB | SIMPLE PAST | EXAMPLE |
---|---|---|
bring | brought | Zari and Lily brought the cake. |
buy | bought | Lucy bought a new coat. |
can | could | She could walk fast. |
come | came | They came to the house. |
do | did | I did my homework. |
drink | drank | Junior drank the milk. |
eat | ate | We ate at the restaurant. |
find | found | They found their car. |
go | went | It went in that box. |
have | had | The dress had two buttons. |
think | thought | Eddy thought he was lost. |
In addition to the irregular verbs above, the verb to be is also irregular. The subjects I and he/she/it take the past form was, while you, we, you (plural), and they all take the past form were:
SIMPLE PAST | EXAMPLE | |
---|---|---|
I | was | I was thirsty last night. |
you (singular) | were | You were at school last week. |
he/she/it | was | It was so hot yesterday! |
we | were | We were much younger back then. |
you (plural) | were | You were all so great in that play last year. |
they | were | They were at Grandma’s house two days ago. |
Negation of the simple past
To form negative sentences in the simple past, add did not (or the contraction didn’t) before the verb. Importantly, you use the base form of the verb rather than the past form in a negative simple past sentence.
AFFIRMATIVE | NEGATIVE (WITH AND WITHOUT CONTRACTION) |
---|---|
I watched the movie. | I didn’t watch the movie. I did not watch the movie. |
They played in the house. | They didn’t play in the house. They did not play in the house. |
He bought new shoes. | He didn’t buy new shoes. He did not buy new shoes. |
Questions in the simple past
You can ask questions using the simple past. Usually, with questions in this tense, you use the word did. However, you don’t add did for questions with was or were. As with negative sentences, you use the base form of the verb that comes after did rather than the past form when forming questions in the simple past.
QUESTION | Did you close the door? |
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ANSWER | Yes, I closed the door. |
QUESTION | Was Zari excited? |
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ANSWER | Yes, Zari was definitely excited. |
QUESTION | Where did they watch the movie? |
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ANSWER | They watched the movie at home. |
QUESTION | When was Oscar in Italy? |
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ANSWER | He was in Italy last year for an art symposium. |
QUESTION | You didn’t buy more cheese, did you? |
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ANSWER | No, I didn’t. |
QUESTION | She wasn’t at the party, was she? |
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ANSWER | Yes, she was. |
Pronunciation of the simple past
For any given base verb, it’s important to identify its last sound rather than its last letter, because they aren’t always the same. For example, the verb choose ends in the letter -e, but its final sound is actually a “z” sound.
It’s important to distinguish between voiced and voiceless sounds. Voiced sounds are produced by vibrating your vocal folds, as with the sound “b.” Voiceless sounds, such as “p,” are produced without vibrating your vocal folds.
If the base form of a verb ends in a voiceless sound, the past tense ending -ed is pronounced like the “t” in tea.
If the base form of a verb ends in a voiced sound, the past tense ending -ed is pronounced like the “d” in dog.
Finally, if the base form of a verb ends in the sound “d” or “t,” the past tense ending -ed is its own syllable, pronounced “id”.
FINAL SOUND: VOICELESS -ed pronounced as “t” |
|
---|---|
SOUNDS | EXAMPLES |
“f” “k” “p” “s” “ch” “sh” |
sniffed looked hopped missed watched pushed |
FINAL SOUND: VOICED -ed pronounced as “d” |
|
---|---|
SOUNDS | EXAMPLES |
all vowel sounds “b” “g” “l” “m” “n” “r” “th” (as in the) “v” “w” “z” “dj” “zh” |
cried described belonged smiled named rained scared bathed loved mowed apologized judged sabotaged |
FINAL SOUND: “D” OR “T” -ed pronounced as “id” |
|
---|---|
SOUNDS | EXAMPLES |
“d” “t” |
provided hated |
Simple past vs. simple present perfect
The simple past isn’t the only way to talk about events in the past in English. There’s also the present perfect, which is formed with the auxiliary verb have (or has for the third person singular) and the past participle.
So how do you know which tense to use?
For example, you’ll use the present perfect for an action that is continuing into the present, that might happen again, or that affects something in the present.
Compare how the meaning of a sentence changes based on whether you use the simple past or the present perfect:
SIMPLE PAST | PRESENT PERFECT | |
---|---|---|
EXAMPLE | I watched the show every day for ten years. | I’ve watched the show every day for ten years. |
IMPLIES | The action started in the past and is finished. | The action started in the past and continues now. |
MEANING | You don’t watch the show anymore. | You still watch the show. |
SIMPLE PAST | PRESENT PERFECT | |
---|---|---|
EXAMPLE | They ate at the restaurant three times. | They’ve eaten at the restaurant three times. |
IMPLIES | The action happened in the past and may not happen again in the future. | The action happened in the past and may happen again in the future. |
MEANING | Perhaps the restaurant closed, so they know they won’t return. | They might eat at the restaurant again. |
SIMPLE PAST | PRESENT PERFECT | |
---|---|---|
EXAMPLE | I spilled coffee on my shirt, so I changed my clothes! | I’ve spilled coffee on my shirt, so I need to change my clothes! |
IMPLIES | The action happened in the past and is now complete. | The action happened in the past and is affecting the present. |
MEANING | The spilling of the coffee caused you to do something in the past. | The spilling of the coffee is still affecting what you have to do now. |
Keywords to look for
There are certain words that often appear with the simple past and others that more commonly appear with the present perfect. These signal words can be useful clues for determining which tense works best in a sentence.
Simple past signal words
- yesterday
- last ___
- last night
- last week
- last month
- last year
- ___ ago
- two days ago
- two weeks ago
- two months ago
- two years ago
Present perfect signal words
- already
- ever
- never
- once
- so far
- just
- yet
- up to now
- recently
Past and past participle forms of irregular English verbs
In general, learning the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs will help you be a more confident English speaker! Use the table below as a reference:
BASE VERB | PAST | PAST PARTICIPLE |
---|---|---|
be | was/were | been |
become | became | become |
begin | began | begun |
bite | bit | bitten |
break | broke | broken |
bring | brought | brought |
build | built | built |
buy | bought | bought |
catch | caught | caught |
choose | chose | chosen |
come | came | come |
do | did | done |
draw | drew | drawn |
drink | drank | drunk |
drive | drove | driven |
eat | ate | eaten |
fall | fell | fallen |
feel | felt | felt |
find | found | found |
fly | flew | flown |
get | got | got or gotten |
go | went | gone |
know | knew | known |
lay | laid | laid |
lead | led | led |
lend | lent | lent |
lie | lay | lain |
lose | lost | lost |
ride | rode | ridden |
ring | rang | rung |
rise | rose | risen |
run | ran | run |
say | said | said |
see | saw | seen |
shake | shook | shaken |
sing | sang | sung |
sink | sank or sunk | sunk |
sit | sat | sat |
sleep | slept | slept |
speak | spoke | spoken |
steal | stole | stolen |
swim | swam | swum |
take | took | taken |
tell | told | told |
throw | threw | thrown |
understand | understood | understood |
wear | wore | worn |
win | won | won |
write | wrote | written |
Make the simple past simple to learn!
Maybe in the past 😉 you were confused about the simple past, but with practice and this handy guide, you will be a simple past star! ⭐