We can judge the chronology of events by time. There are three forms of tense in Russian: past, present and future. In English, with the help of a verb, you can not only designate an action, but also show how it proceeds.
Linguists in English distinguish 12 temporary forms, the study of which begins with practicing the Past Simple exercises. When forming time, regular and irregular verbs are used.
The Past Simple Tense form of regular verbs is formed by adding the suffix –ed to the indefinite form of the verb in all persons: to travel – I travelled; to wash - he washed; to warm - we warmed. For example:
I lived in New York.
Not lived in New-York.
She lived in New-York.
We lived in New York.
You lived in New York.
They lived in New-York.
Irregular verbs
The tenses of irregular verbs are not formed according to the general rule. They just need to be remembered!
Exercises for Past Simple in textbooks might look like this.
Open the brackets using Past Simple verbs:
- Their children (to listen) to music and (to play)tennis.
- My mother (to cook) breakfast in the kitchen.
- In the evening our family (to have) dinner, (to watch) TV and (to go) to bed.
- I (to get) up at five o'clock yesterday.
Sentences with negation are formed with the help of the verb to do, which is in the past tense. As you know, the verb to do is auxiliary, so we add the particle not, put the verb in an indefinite form and after the auxiliary verb we put the particle not:
- I did not want/build.
- He did not want/build.
- She did not want/build.
- It did not want.
- We did not want/build.
- You did not want/build.
- They did not want/build.
Interrogative sentences are made with a question word, an auxiliary verb in the past tense, a subject and an indefinite semantic verb (without to):
- Where did he work last summer?
- When did she visit her friends?
- Did it work?
- Did we work?
- What did you do in the park?
- Did they work?
Assignments for Past Simple
The verb to be, being an auxiliary verb in some tenses, in Past Simple performs the functions of a semantic verb, but sentences are formed without an auxiliary verb to do.
Conjugation of the verb to be (to be) in Past Simple exercises:
- I was a student.
- He was an engineer.
- She was a doctor.
- It was a nice car!
- We were at home.
- You were in Brasilia.
- They were in London.
In test papers, exercises on Past Simple: can be like this:
Insert the verb to be in the Past Simple
Our father … not at home last week. He … on a business trip. My brother … too noisy and our mother … very angry.
Often the past simple is used to describe a repetitive, ordinary action in the past:
Last winter we spent a lot of time in Portugal. We spent a lot of time in Portugal last winter.
2. Also in textbooks there are such exercises on Past Simple:
Write sentences in past tense:
On Sunday I get up at ten. I go for a walk with my dog and buy a newspaper and milk. Then I make juice, go to the living room and have breakfast. After that I go to swim.
3. There are more interesting Past Simple exercises.
Make English translation:
It was a wonderful day. I was walking in the park and met Maria. She was reading a book. We talked and went to the cinema.
In textbooks there are Past Simple exercises and with opening brackets, with making sentences and adding a verb in the past form to sentences.
