Past Simple

Affirmative and negative

I
You lived
He / She / It here.
We didn’t (= did not) live
They
Questions and short answers
Did I
You Yes I did.
He / she / It Live here?
We No, I didn’t.
They

Most regular verbs: add –ed

Regular verbs ending in –e: add –d
Short regular verbs ending in consonant + vowel + consonant : double final consonant and add –ed
Regular verbs ending consonant + -y: change –y to –ied

IRREGULAR VERBS

USE

WE USE THE PAST SIMPLE FOR

 A completed past action or a past state. we often use it with expressions that show when things
happened, such as yesterday, Ago, When i was a child, in April / 2008, last night/ week /month /
year, etc.

 The train left the station two minutes ago. You missed it.
 We helped the lady with her bags. She was very old.

 A past habit, often with adverbs of frequency and time expressions such as every week / Monday
/ summer / year.

 They visited their grandparents every Sunday

 A sequence of actions in the past

 The man crossed the road and went into a café.

PRACTICE:

Choose the correct word:

1) What did you buy / bought at the shop

2) It stopped / stop raining.

3) I didn’t liked / like the hotel

4) George didn’t be / wasn’t in class yesterday

5) Did you caught / catch the train on time?

6) She study / studied French at university

Complete the sentence with the past simple of the irregular verbs given

1) Eat
1) We __________ in a very good restaurant yesterday
2) Spend
2) They ___________ a lot of money on their brand new living room
3) Buy/ be
3) I __________ Rihanna latest CD which ________ expensive
4) Go
4) The neighbor ________ to the cinema last week.
5) Beak/ steal
5) Someone _________ into my house and __________ my jewels
6) Sing
6) Lady Gaga __________ all her most famous songs at the concerts
7) Win
7) My parents __________millions on the lottery ten years ago
8) Burn
8) Lots of house __________ in huge fires in Australia last week
9) Set
9) My brother _________ the table everyday last month
10) Leave
10) We __________ very early after the concert yesterday night
11) Write/be
11) My granddad _________ very nice poems when he _______ young.

12) Sam _________ very well last night 12) Sleep

13) They _________ in the sea for three hours yesterday

13) Swim
 Complete the sentences with the past simple form of the regular verbs between parentheses:

1) You _________ (arrive) in England last week.

2) My mum _________ (study) Russian at university.

3) I _________ (phone) you yesterday, but you weren’t at home.

4) Last night, Marga and Alice _________ (plan) their holiday.

5) Tom _________ (invite) us to his birthday party.

6) The children __________ (carry) the books to the classroom.

7) We __________ (finish) the exam at half past three.

8) I _________ (chat) to Jane about films and fashion.

Complete the following sentences with the appropriate time expression from the chat below:

Last Ago Yesterday

Last night 10 minutes ago Yesterday

Last Sunday An hour ago Yesterday morning

Last week Three days ago Yesterday afternoon

Last weekend A week ago Yesterday evening

Last year A month ago The day before yesterday

Last month A year ago

I saw a game on TV ___________________

My parents travelled to Japan _________________

Michael arrived in Mexico ________________

________________, I got a lot of presents

 Past Continuous
Affirmative and negative

He Was
She
It Wasn’t (=was not)
Travelling very fast

We Were
You
They Weren’t (= were not)

Questions and short answers

Was I Yes I was.

He
She No, I wasn’t.
It
Looking at a map
We Yes, we were.
Were You
They No, we weren’t.

USE

WE USE THE PAST CONTINUOUS FOR

 Background descriptions, especially in stories.

 The sun was shining and the birds were singing.

 Actions at progress at a specific time in the past

 What were you doing at 3 p.m. on Wednesday?

 I was watching TV and my brother was listening to music.

 We often use the past continuous and the past simple together for a longer action interrupted by a
shorter action.
 It was raining when we left the house.

 We do not use the past continuous with state verbs such as believe, need, understand etc. but we often
use it with verbs which show that the action or event has duration such as wait, live, work, rain, etc.

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