Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense is used for events that happened or started and completed in the past and that have no relation with the present. The past form of the verb is the same for all persons and things regardless of whether they are singular or plural. If the verb is a regular verb, it takes the base form of the verb with –ed added (kick – kicked) or –d added (bake - baked) if it ends in –e.

We use the simple past tense:

to describe an action that occurred in the past or at a specified time or the time is easily understood or already implied.

Examples:

• My grandfather played for the Golden Hornless Bull football team.
• I ate a big spicy piece of pizza for my breakfast.
• We finished our final exam an hour ago.
  Not: We have/had finished our final exam an hour ago..

to refer to an action completed regardless of how recent or distant in the past.

Examples:

• My brother joined the circus as a clown last week.. 
• Alexander Bell invented the telephone in 1876.
• The police recaptured the escaped prisoner three months later.

for an action done repeatedly, habitually or at regular times in the past.

Examples:

• He visited his mother every Sunday until her death.
• We saw the movie 'Titanic' several times at the cinema.
• Brian was always a heavy drinker in the old days.

for a state in the past.

Examples:

• I felt very tired after a couple of games of tennis.
• My poor mother had backache for nearly a year. 

for a short event or action that comes or follows one after the other.

Examples:

• We looked left and we looked right. Then we crossed the road.
• We followed the path, then turned left into another path, and lost our way. 

to talk about someone who has died.

Examples:

• Arthur was a highly respected science-fiction writer.
• He left all his money to me. 

in providing details or information that follow news reports which, when first reported, are usually expressed in present perfect tense.

Examples:

• Negotiations with the insurgent forces have broken down. The leader of the insurgent forces blamed the government for the break down. A government spokesman said the insurgent forces made unreasonable demands. 

To ask a question, the past tense of the auxiliary verb do, which is did, is the only word used, whether the subject in the question is a singular or plural noun, or a singular or plural pronoun.

Examples:

• He visited his mother every Sunday until her death.
• Did your boss give you a lift home?
• Did the mosquitoes keep you awake the whole night?
• Did he promise you he would not tell anyone about it?
• Did they agree among themselves? 

What Is the Simple Past Tense? (with Examples)

The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity that happened in the past. In other words, it started in the past and ended in the past.

Uses of the Simple Past Tense

Here are some examples of the simple past tense (shaded):

• The Martians landed near the aqueduct.
• The burglar considered using the fire escape.

Of course, you can also have the negative version, which is formed "did not" + "[verb in base form]":

• The Martians did not land near the aqueduct.
(We could have used didn't instead of did not.)
• The burglar did not consider using the fire escape.

And the question versions:

• Did the Martians land near the aqueduct?
• Why didn't the burglar consider using the fire escape?

Forming the Simple Past Tense

Here is an infographic explaining the simple past tense:

The Simple Past Tense with Time Expressions

The simple past tense is often seen with a time expression explaining when the activity took place or how long it lasted.

Examples of "when an activity took place":

• On Tuesday last week, the Martians landed near the aqueduct.
("On Tuesday last week" tells you when it happened. It's called an adverbial phrase of time. Other examples are"Yesterday," "Last year," "Before breakfast,". They are really common. When any adverb appears at the front of a sentence, it is usual to follow it with a comma. A comma is not usually used when the adverbial phrase appears at the back of a sentence. NB: This is not a strict rule. Use a comma if it helps your reader.)

Read more about commas with adverbial phrases.

• The Martians landed near the aqueduct on Tuesday last week.
(Note: No comma)
• Just before he was caught, the burglar considered using the fire escape.
("Just before he was caught" tells you when the activity took place.)

Examples of "how long an activity took":

• Last week, the council inspected the drains.
("Last week" tells you when it happened and for how long.)
• Her daughter hid under the bed for three hours.
(Using "for" is a common way of describing how long an activity lasted.)

The Simple Past Tense

Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens.

We use the simple past tense to talk about things that happened in the past.

Examples:

The children visited the zoo last week.
The plane landed a few minutes ago.
Jerry dried his clothes in the sun.

Regular Verbs

For most verbs, the simple past tense is created by adding a d, ed or ied at the end of the word. These are called regular verbs. There are also irregular verbs which do not follow this pattern.

The following are some of the rules for regular verbs.

For verbs ending in e add a d.

Example:

Present Tense	Past Tense
live	lived
love	loved
date	dated
agree	agreed
die	died
queue	queued
stare	stared
invite	invited

The simple past tense of some verbs do not end in ed. Such verbs are called irregular verbs. Since they are irregular, they do not follow any pattern and the best way to learn them would be to repeat and memorize them.

Usually we will try to remember the base form (infinitive), past tense and past participle.

Examples:

They go to the movies every weekend. (go - base form)
They went to the movie yesterday. (went - past tense)
They have gone to the movies. (gone - past participle)

The following is a list of commonly used irregular verbs. (Check out the videos below for more irregular verbs.)

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	born/borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
behold	beheld	beheld
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bade	bidden
bid	bid	bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
bust	bust	bust
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
clap	clapped	clapped
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
dare	dared	dared
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt	dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelt	dwelt
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
foresee	foresaw	foreseen
foretell	foretold	foretold
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
frostbite	frostbit	frostbitten
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
go	went	gone/been
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
handwrite	handwrote	handwritten
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
inlay	inlaid	inlaid
input	input	input
interlay	interlaid	interlaid
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written