Past Simple
The past simple, is a verb tense used to describe actions, events, or states that occurred and were completed in the past. First let's look at the regular verbs which simply add ed to the end in the affirmative. Notice that for the negative the second verb doesn't change. For example it's "I didn't walk", not "I didn't walked"
| Positive | Negative | Negative short form |
|---|---|---|
| I walked | I did not walk | I didn't walk |
| You talked | You did not talk | You didn't talk |
| She, he, it worked | She, he, it did not work | She, he, it didn't work |
| We cooked | We did not cook | We didn't cook |
| They danced | They did not dance | They didn't dance |
For irregular verbs, things are more challenging. Verbs can change a lot. For these verbs you will need to do a lot of memorization. Notice again that in the negative the verb doesn't change.
| Positive | Negative | Negative short form |
|---|---|---|
| I ate | I did not eat | I didn't eat |
| You fought | You did not fight | You didn't fight |
| She, he, it taught | She, he, it did not teach | She, he, it didn't teach |
| We sang | We did not sing | We didn't sing |
| They built | They did not build | They didn't build |
Some irregular verbs that end in t don't change and look exactly like the root form.
| Positive | Negative | Negative short form |
|---|---|---|
| I put | I did not put | I didn't put |
| You set | You did not set | You didn't set |
| She, he, it cost | She, he, it did not cost | She, he, it didn't cost |
| We cut | We did not cut | We didn't cut |
| They hit | They did not hit | They didn't hit |
Here's another short list of irregular verbs
- buy changes to bought
- catch changes to caught
- see changes to saw
- go changes to went
- have changes to had
- get changes to got