Past Simple
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify and use regular and irregular past tense forms in English correctly.
Introduction:
Most English verbs form the past tense by adding -ed to the base form. Examples:
- call → called
- like → liked
- want → wanted
- work → worked
However, English also has a number of irregular verbs that do not follow this pattern.
Irregular Verbs:
Here are some common irregular verbs in English, along with their past tense forms:
| Base form | Past tense |
|---|---|
| be | was/were |
| begin | began |
| break | broke |
| bring | brought |
| buy | bought |
| build | built |
| choose | chose |
| come | came |
| cost | cost |
| cut | cut |
| do | did |
| draw | drew |
| drive | drove |
| eat | ate |
| feel | felt |
| find | found |
| get | got |
| give | gave |
| go | went |
| have | had |
| hear | heard |
| hold | held |
| keep | kept |
| know | knew |
| leave | left |
| lead | led |
| let | let |
| lie | lay |
| lose | lost |
| make | made |
| mean | meant |
| meet | met |
| pay | paid |
| put | put |
| run | ran |
| say | said |
| sell | sold |
| send | sent |
| set | set |
| sit | sat |
| speak | spoke |
| spend | spent |
| stand | stood |
| take | took |
| teach | taught |
| tell | told |
| think | thought |
| understand | understood |
| wear | wore |
| win | won |
| write | wrote |
Usage of Past Tense:
We use the past tense to talk about:
A Specific Event in the Past:
Example: "I met my wife in 1983."
Repeated Actions in the Past:
Example: "When I was a boy, I walked a mile to school every day."
A Continued Truth in the Past:
Example: "I lived abroad for ten years."
Using 'Ago' with Past Simple:
The word "ago" is often used with the past simple tense to indicate how far back in the past something happened.
Example: "I met my wife a long time ago."
Exercises
Fill in the blanks
- I .... (be) very busy yesterday.
- She .... (write) a letter to her friend last week.
- They .... (go) to the movies two days ago.
- The young man .... (take) out his wallet and .... (pay) the bill.
- When Lucy .... (go) to the interview, she .... (wear) her best suit.
- We .... (leave) the motorway and .... (drive) for an hour on quiet country roads.
- I .... (think) I .... (know) my irregular verbs, but now I'm not so sure!
- As soon as I .... (meet) Doris, I .... (know) she .... (be) someone special.
- Tolstoy .... (write) some great novels, but he never .... (win) a Nobel Prize.
- The nurse .... (put) the little boy to bed and .... (peak) to him softly.
- When they .... (hear) the fire alarm, everybody .... (run) out of the building.
- Last year, the company .... (build) a new factory, which .... (cost) millions of dollars.
- When Jose .... (break) his arm, the doctor .... (give) him two weeks off work.
Remember the words from the previous activity
- When Lucy .... to the interview, she .... her best suit.
- When they .... the fire alarm, everybody .... out of the building.
- The young man .... out his wallet and .... the bill.
- Last year the company .... a new factory, which .... millions of dollars.
- As soon as I .... Doris, I .... she .... someone special.
- The nurse .... the little boy in bed and .... to him softly.
- When Jose .... his arm, the doctor .... him two weeks off work.
- Tolstoy .... some great novels but he never .... a Nobel Prize.
- I .... I .... my irregular verbs but now I'm not so sure!
- We .... the motorway and .... for an hour on quiet country roads.