Just as the name suggests, SIMPLE PAST TENSE is basically a tense that you use to talk about the past :)
If you want a more sophisticated explanation of what simple past tense is then, here it is:
- In simple past tense, the action is mentioned and understood to have taken place sometime in the past.
- The action started and ended sometime in the past (the time may or may not be mentioned)
- In this tense, the action that happened in the past only happened once, not many times (and is already finished
Examples:
a) I tripped over a rock last week. (it happened last week and has not happened again)
b) She played hockey. (it does not say the time, but it happened somewhere in the past)
4. BUT the tense can also be used to talk about actions that happened back to back
Examples:
a) I tripped over a rock and fell down the stairs last week. (both actions happened last week and they happened one after another)
b) She played hockey and won the gold medal. (both action took place sometime in the past and happened one after another)
This next use of SIMPLE PAST TENSE is a little confusing because it is combined with the use of PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE (to help you understand PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE simply, it is an action that was happening in the past and didn't stop yet at that time)
Okay, so, the red line there is a short action that happened in the past (simple past). And the grey arrow is the action that you were still doing (past progressive) when the red line interrupted you.
Let me give you some examples:
a) She called when I was sleeping yesterday.
(the action of receiving a call, "called" happened when she was still sleeping and it happened yesterday)
b) He fell when he was dancing with his wife.
(the action of falling, "fell" happened while he was dancing with his wife)
OKAY :) now moving on to the next section!
do you remember how in the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE page i put a Conjugation table to show how the verbs change? well, for SIMPLE PAST TENSE the table will be a little different. It won't be a Conjugation table anymore, instead it will be a Regular/Irregular Verbs table because for SIMPLE PAST TENSE you do not have to worry about conjugating the verbs according to subjects.
Regular Verb Table & Positive Statement Table
Subject
|
Verb
|
Last
part of sentence
|
I
|
played
|
football
yesterday
|
You
|
played
|
football
yesterday
|
They/The
children/The cats (these are known as 3rd person
plural)
|
played
|
football
yesterday
|
He/She/It/Tom/Sherry/Abu/Siti/The
boy/The girl (these are all known as 3rd person
singular)
|
played
|
football
yesterday
|
Irregular Verb Table & Positive Statement Table
Subject
|
Verb
(drive)
|
Last
part of sentence
|
I
|
drove
|
her car last month
|
You
|
drove
|
her car last month
|
They/The
children/The cats (these are known as 3rd person
plural)
|
drove
|
her car last month
|
He/She/It/Tom/Sherry/Abu/Siti/The
boy/The girl (these are all known as 3rd person
singular)
|
drove
|
her car last month
|
there are many other verbs that can be categorized under irregular verbs:
went (go)
dove(dive)
slept(sleep)
wore(wear)
wept(weep)
hung(hang)
buy(bought)
taught(teach)
brought(bring)
(for more irregular verbs visit this website)
Now that we're done with that, let's move on to the Negative Statement Table! this one is easy!
Negative Statement Table
Subjects
|
Didn’t (Did Not)
|
Verb
|
Rest of the sentence
|
I/We (I + You)
|
didn’t
|
play
|
football yesterday
|
You
|
didn’t
|
play
|
football yesterday
|
They/The children/The cats (these are known as 3rd person plural)
|
didn’t
|
play
|
football yesterday
|
He/She/It/Tom/Sherry/Abu/Siti/The boy/The girl (these are all
known as 3rd person singular)
|
didn’t
|
play
|
football yesterday
|
Notice
1. All the subjects uses the word "didn't" and
2. All the verbs used are the same and are in the basic form.
And that's it for now!!! let's do some exercises!
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