The Grammar Lesson: Past

The Past Simple tense is sometimes called the "preterite tense". We can use several tenses and forms to talk about the past, but the Past Simple tense is the one we use most often.

In this lesson we look at the structure and use of the Past Simple tense, followed by a quiz to check your understanding.

How do we make the Past Simple tense?

There are two basic structures for the Past Simple tense:

1. Positive sentences

subject	+	main verb
		Past Simple

2. Negative and question sentences

subject	+	auxiliary do	+	main verb
		conjugated in Past Simple
did	base

Look at these examples with the main verbs go (irregular) and work (regular):

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I			went	to school.
You			worked	very hard.
-	She	did	not	go	with me.
We	did	not	work	yesterday.
?	Did	you		go	to London?
Did	they		work	at home?

From the above table, notice the following points...

For positive sentences:

• There is no auxiliary verb.

• The main verb is conjugated in the Past Simple, invariable: -ed (or irregular)

For negative and question sentences:

• The auxiliary is conjugated in the Past Simple, invariable: did

• The main verb is invariable in base form: base

• For negative sentences, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb.

• For question sentences, we exchange the subject and the auxiliary verb.

Emphatic did

Normally, for positive sentences we do not use the auxiliary did. But if we want to emphasize (stress) something, or contradict something, we may use it. For example: "I didn't use a spellchecker but I did use a dictionary." Here are some more examples:

• "Why didn't you go to the party?" / "I did go."

• It did seem a bit strange.

• After drinking it I did in fact feel better.

Past Simple with main verb be

The structure of the Past Simple with the main verb be is:

subject	+	main verb be
		conjugated in Past Simple
was, were

Look at these examples with the main verb be:

	subject	main verb be
+	I, he/she/it	was		here.
You, we, they	were		in London.
-	I, he/she/it	was	not	there.
You, we, they	were	not	happy.
?	Was	I, he/she/it		right?
Were	you, we, they		late?

From the above table, notice the following points...

• There is no auxiliary verb, even for questions and negatives.

• The main verb (be) is conjugated in the Past Simple: was, were

• For negative sentences, we insert not after the main verb.

• For question sentences, we exchange the subject and the main verb.

How do we use the Past Simple tense?

We use the Past Simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long.

Here are some short events with the Past Simple:

The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday. She went to the door. We did not hear the telephone. Did you see that car?
past	present	future
The action is in the past.

Here are some long events with the Past Simple tense:

I lived in Bangkok for 10 years. The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years. We did not sing at the concert. Did you watch TV last night?
past	present	future
The action is in the past.

Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the Past Simple tense when:

• the event is in the past

• the event is completely finished

• we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event

In general, if we say the past time or place of the event, we must use the Past Simple tense; we cannot use the present perfect.

Here are some more examples:

• I lived in that house when I was young.

• He didn't like the movie.

• What did you eat for dinner?

• John drove to London on Monday.

• Mary did not go to work yesterday.

• Did you play tennis last week?

• I was at work yesterday.

• We were not late (for the train).

• Were you angry?

Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the Past Simple. We may start with the Past Continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the Past Simple tense for the action. Look at this example of the beginning of a story:

"The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold. The door opened and James Bond entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet, and ordered a drink at the bar. He sat down in the corner of the lounge and quietly drank his..."