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Simple Past Tense With Verbs Other Than 'Be'

Intermediate

With the simple past tense, you will be able to talk about actions that you completed in the past.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

Regular Verbs

I cook every day.
I cooked yesterday.
They walk 5 kilometers every week.
They walked 5 kilometers last week.
You dance very well.
You danced last night.

Irregular Verbs

He writes a letter to his mother every Friday.
He wrote a letter to his mother on Friday.
They sleep in their bedroom.
They slept well.
She reads before sleeping.
She read a book yesterday.
He teaches English now.
He taught English last year.
I see a cat.
I saw a cat.

Grammar Focus

How do we form the simple past tense?

To change most verbs into the simple past tense, add -ed to them: verb + -ed.

I work. → I worked.
She plays soccer. → She played soccer.
We talk. → We talked.

Irregular verbs do not follow the "verb + '-ed'" rule. Here are some of the most common irregular verbs:

I go. → I went.
He comes. → He came.
You give presents. → You gave presents.
They have a dog. → They had a dog.

Tip

Many irregular verbs change to an 'a' sound in their past tense form: run → ran; drink → drank; swim → swam.

Why use the simple past tense?

Use the simple past tense to talk about:

A completed action in the past: "I saw Susan two weeks ago."
A repeated action in the past: "My grandma often baked cookies for us."
Things that were true in the past: "I played soccer when I was a child."

We almost always use an adverb of time after the simple past tense:

I worked yesterday.
She played soccer last week.
We talked five minutes ago.
He came to Japan in 1969.

Exercise 2

Sentence Practice

Specific Point in Time

We had a wonderful time last night.
They had a meeting yesterday.
I got a smartphone last year.

Non-Specific Point in Time

Once upon a time, a princess lived in this village.
I saw Susan the other day.
It rained at some point today.

Frequency

She watched movies sometimes.
He went to Japan occasionally.
They invited us over for dinner every week.

Period of Time

I listened to rock music as a teenager.
It rained the entire afternoon.
We danced all night long.

Exercise 3

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with the verb in past tense form.

We often (play) together when we were kids.

I (wait) for him for two hours.

They (go) to Japan last year.

My uncle (come) to our house often when I was a child.

The baby (cry)the whole night.

She (drink) beer for the first time last night.

We (take) a taxi home yesterday.

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Change the sentences below to past tense.

Example

I learn French. → "I learned French."

I have a party with my friends.

He likes rain.

We take some pictures.

She looks nice.

You speak Korean.

I use an umbrella.