A1 Lesson 6

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SIMPLE PAST

To understand the Simple Past, we can compare it to the Simple Present (the mechanism and
the rules). Simple Past: we use to talk about past facts, past routines, etc.

There are two options to use Simple Past:

1st- Using the ‘Verb to Be’.

2nd- Using any other verb.

Using the ‘Verb to Be’

1st- In the simple present, there are three options for using the verb to be: Am (I), Are (you,
we, they), and Is (he, she or it). What happens in the simple past is that you replace ‘am’ and
‘is’ for was, and ‘are’ for were. See the table below with all the personal pronouns:

Pronoun Present Past


I AM WAS
YOU ARE WERE
HE/SHE IS WAS
IT IS WAS
YOU ARE WERE
WE ARE WERE
THEY ARE WERE

Now, let’s look at this example using the verb to be in the simple past in affirmatives, negatives
and interrogatives.

Affirmative: They were very happy yesterday.

Negative: They were not (weren’t) very happy yesterday.

Interrogative: Were they very happy yesterday?

Note that the same rules that applied for the simple present and present continuous apply for
the simple past as well!

Using any other verbs (regular verbs)

To use the regular verbs in the past tense we simply add ‘’ed, ied or d’’ at the end of the verb
in the present form. Examples:

“I finished the project because I worked until late last night.”

“I waited for 4 hours at the airport for my connection.”

There are some rules when it comes to spelling regular verbs in the simple past, regarding their
endings and the use of “ed, ied, or d”. Check it out on the table below:

Spelling Rules Examples


Verbs ending with e – add ‘d’ at the end Shared, Cared, Lived
Ending in vowel + y – add ‘ed’ Played, Stayed, Employed
Ending in consonant + y – add ‘ied’ Carried, Tried, Cried
One syllable, single vowel and Ending in single Nodded, Ripped, Tipped
consonant – double the consonant and add ‘ed’
Two syllables, ending with a single consonant – Committed, Preferred, Transferred
double the consonant and add ‘ed’.

Remember that in the simple present we used the auxiliary verb ‘do’ to compose negatives
and interrogatives? Well, the same thing applies here, except the verb ‘do’ and ‘does’ in the
past becomes did. Like this:

Affirmative: I worked a lot last week.

Negative: I did not (didn’t) work last week.

Interrogative: Did I work last week?

NOTE: when we have the auxiliary verb “Did” present in the sentence, it is not necessary to put
the verb in the past.

IRREGUAR VERBS

We have seen how to use the verb to be and regular verbs in the past, as well as making
negatives and interrogatives with them. Not all verbs in the English language are regular,
however. Some verbs like previously mentioned ‘do’ and ‘be’ are irregular, that is, they change
their form when written in the past tense, sometimes almost completely. Here are some
examples of commonly used irregular verbs.

Common Irregular Verbs (Simple Past)

Simple Present Simple Past Simple Present Simple Past


Be Was/were Come Came
Become Became Do Did
Begin Began Drink Drank
Break Broke Eat Ate
Build Built Feel Felt
Buy Bought Forget Forgot
Choose Chose Get Got
Give Gave Meet Met
Go Went Read Read
Have Had Run Ran
Know Knew Say Said
Lose Lost See Saw
Make Made Sen Sent
Sleep Slept Think Thought
Speak Spoke Understand Understood
Spend Spent Wake Woke
Take Took Wear Wore
Tell Told Write Wrote

GOING TO

Enough about the past, let’s talk about the future! We use “going to” to express the idea of
something in the future, but this is a previously planned action:

Structure: SUBJECT + TO BE + GOING TO + COMPLEMENT

Example: They are going to present their results.

To compose negative and interrogatives we conjugated the verb ‘to be’ present in the
sentence, like this:

Affirmative: She is going to an exchange program in the United States.

Negative: She is not (isn’t) going to an exchange program in the United Sates.

Interrogative: Is she going to an exchange program in the United States?

SEASONS

WEATHER

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