Simple Past Tense Structure and Formation

Simple Past Tense Structure

• Consists of Subject + Verb (in simple past tense) + Object (optional)

Verb Formation

• Regular verbs: add "-ed" to the base form to create the simple past tense
• Example: walk (base form) → walked (simple past tense)
• Irregular verbs: have irregular forms in the simple past tense and must be memorized
• Example: go (base form) → went (simple past tense)

Examples

• Regular verb:
  • She played tennis yesterday
  • They finished their homework last night
• Irregular verb:
  • He ate breakfast two hours ago
  • We went to the park yesterday

Negative Form

• Form the negative with "did" + "not" + base form of the verb
• Example:
  • She did not play tennis yesterday
  • They did not finish their homework last night

Interrogative Form

• Form questions by inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb "did"
• Example:
  • Did she play tennis yesterday?
  • Did they finish their homework last night?

Usage

• Use the simple past tense to talk about completed actions or events that happened at a specific time in the past
• Often used with time expressions like:
  • yesterday
  • last week
  • two days ago
  • in 1999
  • etc.