Simple past

The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic
form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past,
although it also has some other uses.[1] Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed;
however, there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.[2]

The term "simple" is used to distinguish the syntactical construction whose basic form uses the
plain past tense alone,[3] from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in
combination with participles, such as the present perfect, past perfect, and past progressive.[4]

Formation

Regular verbs form the simple past end-ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with
different forms.[2] The spelling rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs are as follows:
verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change
to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant
double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped).[5] For details see English verbs § Past tense.

Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the person or number of the
subject (there is no addition of -s for the third person singular as in the simple present). However,
the copula verb be has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and
were in other instances.[1] The form were can also be used in place of was in conditional clauses
and the like;[6] for information on this, see English subjunctive. This is the only case in modern
English where a distinction in form is made between inversion, negations with not, and emphatic
forms of the simple past use the auxiliary did.[6] For details of this mechanism, see do-support. A
full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb help as an example:

Basic simple past:

I/you/he/she/it/we/they helped

Expanded (emphatic) simple past:

I/you/he/she/it/we/they did help

Question form:
Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?

Negative:
I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) help

Negative question:
Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they not help? / Didn't I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?
Base form

Affirmative (+) S + verb(ed) + c

Negative (-) S + did not ( didn't) + verb + C

Usage

The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for
past habitual actions:[1]

He took the money and ran.

I visited them every day for a year.

It can also refer to a past state:

I knew how to fight even as a child.

For actions that were ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used
instead (e.g. I was cooking).[7] The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. the ball was lying
on the sidewalk), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all,
typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of
possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see Uses
of English verb forms § Progressive – and in these cases the simple past is used even for a
temporary state:

The dog was in its kennel.

I felt cold.

However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use could see in place of
saw, could hear in place of heard, etc. For more on this, see can see.[7]

If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be
expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:[7]

Your mother called while you were cooking.

The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect. The simple past is used when
the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past
(i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly
stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a
sequence of past events).[7]

I was born in 1980.

We turned the oven off two minutes ago.
I came home at 6 o'clock.
 When did they get married?
We wrote two letters this morning.
She placed the letter on the table, sighed, and left the house.

These examples can be contrasted with those given at Uses of English verb forms § Present
perfect. Also, for past actions that occurred before the relevant past time frame, the past perfect
is used.

Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action. The sentence When I
was young, I played football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using used to (... I used
to play ...) or using would (... I would play...).

The simple past form also has some uses in which it does not refer to a past time. These are
generally in condition clauses and some other dependent clauses referring to hypothetical
circumstances, as well as certain expressions of wish:

If he walked faster, he would get home earlier.

I wish I knew what his name was.
I would rather she wore a longer dress.

For more details see the sections on conditionals, dependent clauses and expressions of wish in
the article on uses of English verb forms.

For use of the simple past (and other past tense forms) in indirect speech, see Uses of English
verb forms § Indirect speech. An example:

He said he wanted to go on the slide.

Pronunciation of -ed

The regular verbs ending with -ed are pronounced as follows:[5]

Regular verb endings with voiced consonants+/d/, e.g. hugged /hʌɡd/.

Regular verb endings with unvoiced consonants+/t/, e.g. stopped /stɒpt/.
Regular verb endings with /t/ or /d/ + /ɪd/, e.g. needed /niːdɪd/.

See also

English verbs

Uses of English verb forms

Preterite

Past tense

Other tenses:
 Simple present

Present perfect

References

1. Comrie, Bernard (2006). Tense. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (8. pr. 2004 transferred
to digital printing 2006 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–43. ISBN 978-
0-521-28138-6.

2. "Past simple" (https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/

past-simple) . LearnEnglish - British Council. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2024-01-04.

3. Aarts, Bas; Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund S. C.; Weiner, E. S. C. (2014). The Oxford
dictionary of English grammar. Oxford paperback reference (2. ed., [fully rev. and
updated] ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-965823-7.

4. Comrie, Bernard (2001). Aspect: an introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related
problems. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (Transferred to digital print ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29045-6.

5. "Past simple – regular verbs" (https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2-g

rammar/past-simple-regular-verbs) . Learn English Teens - British Council. Retrieved
2024-01-04.

6. Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 10: Verb and adjective complement
clauses". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10. impression ed.). Harlow:
Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.

7. Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 6: Variations in the verb phrase: tense
aspect, voice, and modal use.". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10.
impression ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.

iStudyEnglishOnline (2015). Past Simple Uses & Explanations (https://web.archive.org/web/20

150814141504/http://istudyenglishonline.com/english-tenses/past-simple/) . Archived from
the original (http://istudyenglishonline.com/english-tenses/past-simple/) on August 14,
2015.