Past Indefinite is the past indefinite tense, also called the Past Simple. It is used to express actions that have taken place or have already taken place in the past. Time is used in declarative sentences describing past events and states.
Forming the past simple requires students to know about the three main forms of the verb: the Infinitive (an infinitive form of the verb that is easily recognized by the particle to), Past Indefinite (the past indefinite form) and Past Participle (past participle).
Regular and irregular verbs
Depending on how verbs form Past Indefinite and Past Participle, they are divided into two groups: regular and irregular. Since the English language tends to simplify, most verbs belong to the regular group. There are also verbs thatsimultaneously have regular and irregular forms Past Simple and Past Participle:
to spell - spelled - spelled (correct) or to spell - spelt - spelt (incorrect)
to wake - waked - waked (correct) or to wake - woke - woken (wrong)
Frequently used irregular verbs are in special tables, they must be learned by heart. And when you meet a new verb, you should check the translation, transcription and what group of verbs it belongs to in the dictionary: is it correct or incorrect.
Past Indefinite Tense. Rules for the formation of the affirmative form for regular verbs
Most verbs in English belong to the regular group and form the past tense according to general principles. To form the affirmative form of the Past Indefinite Tense of regular verbs, -ed is added to the infinitive form without the particle to.
- to smoke - He smoked last year (He smoked last year).
- to kiss – Mary kissed her doll and closed little door in dollhouse
- to open - We opened the window yesterday (We opened the window yesterday).
- to clean – Students cleaned the rooms last week
Pronunciation - ed
- after deaf sounds -ed is pronounced like [t] - worked, cooked, finished;
- after sounds t, d - like [id] - ended, started;
- after other sounds (voiced and voiced), like [d] -changed, cleaned, arrived.
When -ed is added to the infinitive form of a verb, the following rules apply:
If the verb ends with silent -e, only -d is added
to close - closed (to close)
to love - loved (to love)
The ending -y changes to -i if the -y is preceded by a consonant
to try - tried (try, try)
to cry – cried (to cry)
If there is a vowel before -y, then -ed is added unchanged
to play - played (play)
to obey - obeyed (to obey)
One-syllable verbs with a short vowel double the consonant
to stop - stopped (stop)
to rob - robbed (rob)
If in a two-syllable verb the stress falls on the second syllable with a short vowel, the consonant is also doubled
to permit - permitted (allow)
to prefer - preferred (prefer)
The ending -l is doubled in British spelling rules, in which case the accent doesn't matter
to travel - travelled (to travel)
to cancel - cancelled
Educational rules for the affirmative form of irregular verbs
There are no specific rules for the formation of Past Indefinite irregular verbs, since they have retained the historical features of formation. To make it easier to remember irregular verbs, they are divided into several groups, depending on how they form these two forms.
Changesroot vowels (to dig - dug - dug, to meet - met - met, to drink - drank - drunk)
Children met their friend yesterday. The children met their friend yesterday.
Infinitive endings (to bend - bent - bent, build - built - built)
My father built that house in 1980.
Adding other endings (not –ed) and changing root vowels (to fall - fell - fallen)
Massive meteorite fell last night. A huge meteorite fell last week.
Some verbs don't change, they stay the same in all three forms (to put - put - put)
I put the book on the shelf yesterday. I put the book on the shelf yesterday.
Formation of an interrogative form
The interrogative form is formed using the verb to do (in Past Indefinite - did), which is placed before the subject.
- Did you play tennis last summer? Did you play tennis last summer?
- Did she graduate from the University in 2000? She graduated from university in 2000?
- Did we meet two years ago? We met two years ago?
Using the auxiliary verb did no longer requires any action with the semantic verb. We do not add -ed to regular verbs and do not refer to the table of irregular verbs. The form did is used in the singular and plural for all persons.
Formation of the negative form
The auxiliary verb did with the particle not is used to form the negative form of PastIndefinite tense.
- Our teacher did not explain the spelling of adjectives. Our teacher didn't explain the spelling rules for adjectives.
- She did not drink coffee yesterday. She didn't drink coffee yesterday.
- They did not study last winter. They didn't study last winter.
In colloquial speech, the short negative form didn't is used.
I didn't watch TV yesterday. I didn't watch TV yesterday.
Short answers to questions for all singular and plural persons use the affirmative form - Yes, I did and the negative form - No, I didn't.
Did you go to school yesterday? Yes, I did./No, I didn't. Did you go to school yesterday? Yes/No.
Verb to be in past tense
The verb to be is an auxiliary verb and a linking verb in its role in the sentence and in its meaning. It serves to form temporary forms of semantic verbs and to form a compound nominal predicate.
The auxiliary verb to do is not used to form the interrogative and negative forms of the verb to be.
- Was she in an office yesterday? Was she at the office yesterday?
- Was your mother in bank two days ago? Was your mom at the bank two days ago?
- She was not at the party last week. She wasn't at the party last week.
The verb to be is also plural in Past Indefinite. The rules for its use are as follows: were is used with the first, second and third person plural (we - we, you - you, they - they).
- Were they at work last Sunday? Were they at work last Sunday?
- We were not in an office last week. We were out of the office last week.
In colloquial speech, short forms of the verb are used in the past tense: wasn't and weren't.
When is Past Indefinite used? Rules and Examples
Past Simple is used to express past actions with time indicators: yesterday, last Monday, three weeks ago, a year ago, in 2001
We visited his grandmother yesterday. We visited his grandmother yesterday.
We also use the Past Simple when asking about time with the question word when
When did you visit his grandmother? When did you visit his grandmother?
Past Indefinite is used when no time is specified but it is assumed to have expired
My husband once saw Amy Winehouse. My husband once saw Amy Winehouse (Since the singer has died and the husband can no longer see her, we use Past Indefinite Active).
In addition, the past simple tense is used in main sentences with direct speech. And when forming indirect speech in the subordinate clause, the future tense cannot be used, respectively, it goes into Future Indefinite in the Past or other tenses of the Future-in-the-Past group, depending on which future tense was used in the original sentence
She told: "Mr Smith will send a letter."
She told Mr Smith would send a letter. She issaid Mr. Brown would send a letter.
When we talk about past habitual or regularly repeated actions, we use Past Indefinite. The rules for using the equivalents used to and would are described below
Her sister always carried a little umbrella. Her sister always carried a small umbrella with her.
But more often used to in these cases.
Her sister used to carry a little umbrella. Her sister carried a small umbrella with her.
When is used to used in English?
To express habitual and repetitive actions or events in the past, along with the past tense, the turnover used to is used. This construction is used in colloquial and literary language. The phrase used to expresses both states and repeated actions in the past, unlike another past tense equivalent, the verb would, which can only be used to express actions in the past and never used to express states.
My friend used to drink 3 cups of coffee and smoke 20 cigarettes a day. My friend once drank three cups of coffee and smoked twenty cigarettes a day.
My grandmother used to walk ten kilometers when she was younger (Past tense action). My grandmother used to walk ten kilometers when she was younger.
My grandmother would walk ten kilometers when she was younger (Past Action). My grandmother used to walk ten kilometers when she was younger.
Myteacher used to live in London (Past tense state). My teacher lived in London.
It should be noted that would + Infinitive without to is often used with phrases indicating the time of action.
Affirmative, negative and interrogative forms used to
For the formation of the affirmative form of turnover, the verb use is used in the past tense with the particle to and the infinitive form of the semantic verb.
My son used to play chess on Sundays. My son played chess on Sundays (Now he doesn't play chess on Sundays, but goes to football or barbecues).
The negative form is formed with the past tense of the verb do and the particle not. The verb use is in the present tense, since the did form already signals the past. In colloquial speech, the short form of negation is more often used.
Our teacher did not use to give us a lot of homework/Our teacher didn't use to give us a lot of homework. Our teacher didn't give us much homework.
To form an interrogative form, the verb to do is also used in the past tense.
Did she use to embroider in the evening? Did she sew in the evenings?
The study of the Past Indefinite and its equivalents should be given due attention, as they are widely used in spoken and written general and business English.
