ESL002: Intermediate English as a Second Language

In this part of Unit 1, we look at how we form and use the past. The simple past tense is also one of the most common tenses in English. As we did in the previous lesson, keeping in mind parts of speech, sentence structure, and verb mood can help you form and use tenses correctly.

Forming the Simple Past Tense

Again, we want to remember from ESL001 that each sentence in English has a subject and predicate. Also, subject pronouns will help us conjugate the verbs or change their form. Finally, it is also helpful to keep in mind regular and irregular verb types when forming the simple past.

1. Simple Past Tense - Affirmative

For most verbs (regular), the simple past is conjugated by adding -ed or -d. The basic pattern is Subject + verb(-ed/-d). For irregular verbs, we must learn the changed form of the verb that shows the past. Here are the rules with examples using the regular verb "cook" and irregular verb "sing".

As you can see, the form of the verb is the same for all subjects. Past simple conjugation is easy because we do not have to remember different endings for each person. However, we must remember the past simple form of irregular verbs. Here is a list of the most commonly used irregular verbs.

2. Simple Past Tense - Negative

The helping verb "did" is needed to form negative statements in the past simple. It’s very important to note that the verb no longer ends with -ed (for regular types) or uses the past simple form (for irregular types) in the negative. The basic pattern is Subject + did + not + verb. Here are the rules with examples using the regular verb "cook" and irregular verb "sing".

As you can see again, the form of the verb is the same for all subjects for both regular and irregular verbs.

3. Simple Past Tense - Interrogative

The helping verb "did" is also needed to form questions in the past simple. It’s very important to note that the helping verb changes places with the subject. Also, the main verb again no longer ends with -ed or -d or uses the past simple form (for irregular types) in the interrogative. The basic pattern is Did + subject + verb?. Here are the rules with examples using the regular verb "bake" and the irregular verb "read".

Once again, we can see that the form of the verb is the same for all subjects for both regular and irregular verbs.

However, one verb does not follow the patterns explained above. You may have guessed already that the verb "be" is different. The chart below shows the rules for conjugating "be" in the past simple.

The video below explains how to form affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences in the past simple.

Source: Adapted from Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace, https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/collegeeslwritermills/chapter/overview-of-verb-forms/
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