Simple Past Tense

➧ Learn to use the simple past tense for regular and irregular verbs.
➧ Expand vocabulary with common past-time expressions.
➧ Practice talking about past events, like what you did last weekend.

Regular Verbs in the Past Tense

Examples
➧ Walk - Walked
➧ Play - Played
➧ Study - Studied

Rule
For regular verbs, add -ed to the base form of the verb.

This is a consistent pattern that applies to most verbs in English.

Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Examples
➧ Go - Went
➧ Eat - Ate
➧ See - Saw

Tip
Irregular verbs don't follow a set pattern, so they must be memorized.

➧ Yesterday
➧ Last week
➧ Two days ago
➧ In 2010

Example
I visited my friend yesterday.

Think about last weekend - what did you do, and when did you do it?

Which of these past-time expressions can you use to describe your activities?