Form: past simple
AffirmativeA declarative sentence indicating "yes"; also called a positive sentence. E.g.: John likes squash a lot.
| subjectThe person or thing that performs the action of a verb or that is described by a verb. E.g.: Andy has never been to Brunei. ("Andy") | verbA part of speech that expresses an action or a state. E.g.: John seldom plays tennis. (past tenseA grammatical category that is marked by verb inflection. To express when an event or action happens in time or when a state exists, we use tenses.) | |
|---|---|---|
| I You He/she/it We You They |
arrived | yesterday. |
In the case of regular verbs, the past simple is formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb for all persons. Note the changes in spelling:
- look, looked
- stay, stayed
- arrive, arrived (we only add -d if the verb ends in -e)
- try, tried (a final -y changes to -i- after a consonant)
- stop, stopped (we double the final consonant if the verb finishes in consonant-vowel-consonant)
A number of verbs have irregular past forms. A few examples are:
- buy, bought
- fly, flew
- hit, hit
- shine, shone
- swim, swam
See the Appendix for a list of the most common irregular verbs in English.
NegativeA declarative sentence indicating "no". E.g.: Tim has no friends.
In the negative, we use the auxiliaryA helping verb used with main verbs to express mood, voice and tense. E.g.: I can't stand when I am disturbed. ("can", "am") did + not, followed by the infinitive:
| subject | auxiliary | not | verb (simple infinitive) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I You He/she/it We You They |
did | not | arrive | in time. |
The contracted form didn't is often used instead of did not in spoken and in informalBelonging to colloquial or everyday speech E.g.: I want Mr Smith to call the guy that the committee has decided on. written language.
InterrogativeThe sentence type used to express a direct question. E.g.: What are you doing?
In the interrogative, we use the auxiliary did followed by the subject and the infinitive:
| (question wordA word that introduces a wh-question. E.g.: What are you doing?) | auxiliary | subject | verb (simple infinitive) |
|---|---|---|---|
| (When) | did | I you he/she/it we you they |
arrive? |
The verb be in past simple
In past simple the auxiliary did is not used if the main verbA verb that can express an action or state in itself. E.g.: John likes squash a lot. ("like") is be. Instead, the following forms are used:
| affirmative | negative | interrogative |
|---|---|---|
| I was at home. You were at home. He/she/it was at home. We were at home. You were at home. They were at home. |
I was not at home. You were not at home. He/she/it was not at home. We were not at home. You were not at home. They were not at home. |
Was I at home? Were you at home? Was he/she/it at home? Were we at home? Were you at home? Were they at home? |
The contracted forms wasn't and weren't are often used instead of was not and were not in spoken and in informal written language.
Comments and questions
Post new comment