Past simple

What you will practice

• Form regular and common irregular past verbs.
• Make questions and negatives with did.
• Keep the main verb unchanged after did.

Explanation

Finished events

A finished event uses the past simple, often with yesterday, last year, or a date. Regular verbs add -ed: walk becomes walked, and play becomes played. The form is the same for every subject: I walked, she walked, they walked. There is no extra ending for she.

did

Questions and negatives need did. Did you walk? and I didn’t walk. The main verb returns to the base form. Did you walked? and I didn’t went put the past marking in two places. Only did carries it. The short answer is Yes, I did or No, I didn’t.

Irregular verbs

Some frequent verbs do not use -ed. Learn these as pairs: go / went, see / saw, have / had, do / did. After did, even these verbs use the base form: Did you go?, not Did you went?. In a positive sentence the irregular past stands alone: She went home.

Examples

1. I walked to school.a finished walk
2. She went home.she went home
3. Did you see it?a yes/no question
4. I didn’t go.a negative
5. We had lunch.a finished meal

Common mistakes

• goed and seed are not English past forms. The forms are went and saw.
• Do not add -s or -ed to the verb that follows did.