In English Past Indefinite Tense, or simply Past Simple, the rules are not too complicated. The main thing is to thoroughly understand them. In addition, this tense is one of the most common in English. So Past Simple is
simple past tense, used mainly to describe completed actions in the past, as well as to describe events that were repeated once.
The Past Simple rules state that the main array of past tense verbs is formed with by adding the ending –ed to the stem of the regular verb (regular):
We played different games. – We played various games.
There are, however, several special cases of adding this ending. Consider them:
| Infinitive ending | Verb endings in Past Simple | Examples |
| –e or –ee | only -d | love - loved (love - loved), agree - agreed (agree - agreed), type - typed (print - printed) |
| Single vowel preceded by short stressed (excluding w and x) | The consonant at the end of the infinitive is doubled | hug - hugged (hugged - hugged), stop-stopped (stop - stopped), admit - admitted (recognize - admitted) |
| Vowel -y | -y is replaced with -i | worry - worried (worry - worried), copy - copied (copy - copied), |
Irregular verbs (irregular) have three forms, each of which will have to be memorized. One thing reassures - there are not so many such exceptions in English:
I read "Harry Potter" yesterday. – I read Harry Potter yesterday.
Interrogative sentences in the considered tense are formed with the participation of the auxiliary verb did (verb do in the second form), which takes place before the noun (subject). The main verb remains unchanged:
Did we play? – Did we play?
When composing special questions, the helper verb did is also placed before the subject, and the necessary interrogative pronoun is placed before the auxiliary verb:
When did he come? – When did he come?
Why did you cry? – Why were you crying?
Negation has a common English rule. Past Simple is no exception here:
We did not play. – We didn't play.
Instead of "did not", the turnover "didn't" is most often used for abbreviation.
Let's give a table with examples of the use of Past Simple (rules for compilingaffirmative, interrogative and negative forms with regular and irregular verbs):
| Affirmative sentences | ||
| Face | Number | |
| Unit | Plural | |
| 1 | I loved/went | We loved/went |
| 2 | You loved/went | You loved/went |
| 3 | He, She, It loved/went | They loved/went |
| Interrogative sentences | ||
| 1 | Did I love/go? (yes, I did) | Did we love/go? (yes, we did) |
| 2 | Did you love/go? (yes, you did) | Did you love/go? (yes, you did) |
| 3 | Did he, she, it love/go? (yes, he, she, it did) | Did they love/go? (yes, they did) |
Negative offers |
||
| 1 | I didn't love/go | We didn't love/go |
| 2 | You didn't love/go | You didn't love/go |
| 3 | He, She, It didn't love/go | They didn't love/go |
Sowe examined the formation of Past Simple, but the rules for using this tense are given below.
1) Expression of a permanent action or sign of an object, its property or a well-known fact that once took place in the past:
She was so good friend. – She was such a good friend.
The school replaced here. – There was a school here.
2) Expression of single actions in the past. In this case, auxiliary words and phrases like yesterday (yesterday), last week, year (last week, last year), a month ago (a month ago), in 1991 (in 1991), on Monday (on Monday) and others:
I saw him a month ago. – I saw him a month ago.
He visited his granny last week. – He visited his beloved grandmother last week.
3) Expression of regularly performed actions in the past:
He never came late. – He was never late.
4) Expressing several consecutive actions in the past in the order in which they took place:
He opened the box and saw the mail. – He opened the box and saw the letter.
It only remains to add that the Past Simple rule does not imply such a thing as a “verb type”. Therefore, the translation in this case is carried out based on the general context of the sentence or a series of sentences.
That's all we wanted to tell about Past Simple. The rules for its use, we hope, will not cause you any difficulties. Good luck!
