Past Simple

There are many ways to talk about the past in English, but the simple past is the most
common way. The simple past in English is equivalent to the past imperfect and indefinite
preterite of Spanish. In the simple past there are regular verbs and irregular verbs.
Grammatical Rules: (form)
To form the simple past whit regular verbs, we use the infinitive and add the ending “-ed”.
The form is the same for all people (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).
Examples:
Want  Wanted
Learn  Learned
Stay  Stayed
Exceptions:
1.- for verbs that end an “e”, we only add “d”. Examples: Change  Changed
2.- if the verb ends in a short vowel and a consonant ( except “y” or “w”), we double the
final consonant. Example: Stop  stopped , commit  committed.
3.- whit verbs that end in a consonant and a “y”, the “y” is changed to an “i”. Examples:
study  Studied, Try  Tried.
Note:
There are many irregular verbs in English, unfortunately, there is no established norm to
train them. See a list of irregular verbs here. Below are the three most common irregular
verbs and those that act as auxiliary verbs.

Simple past verb:

Was (I, he, she, it)  Be
Were (you, we, they)

Pronunciation:
We pronounce the ending “-ed” differently depending on the letter that goes to the end of the
infinitive. In general, the “e” is silent.

1.- with the infinitives ending in “p”, “f”, “k” or “s” (unvoiced consonants, except “t”) we
pronounce the ending “-ed” as a “t”.
Examples: looked [ lukt ], kissed [ kisst ]
2.- with infinitives that end in “b”, “g”, “l”, “m”, “n”, “v”, “z” (voiced consonants, except
“d”) or a vowel, we pronounce only the “D”
Examples: yelled [ jeld ], cleaned [ klind ].

3.- with the infinitives that end in “d” or “t”, we pronounce the “e” as an “i”
Examples: ended [ endid ], waited [ weitid ].

Structure:
1.- Affirmative sentences:
Subject + main verb in past + complement.
Example: She was a doctor, the keys were in the drawer, I wanted to dance, they learned
English, we believed him, I bought a blue car.
2.- Negative sentences:
To be:
Subject + “to be in past” + “not” + complement.
Example: She was not a doctor; the keys were not in the drawer.

Note: the verb “to have got”, which in the present simple follows the same rules as the verb
“to be”, cannot be used in the past. To indicate possession in the past, we use the verb “to
have”.

All other verbs:

Subject + auxiliary verb (to do) + “not” + main verb (in infinitive) + complement.
Examples: I did not want to dance, They did not learn English, we did not believe him, I did
not buy a blue car.
Note: in negative sentences, the auxiliary verb goes in the past (“did”) and the main verb
stays in the infinitive.

3.- Interrogative sentences:

To be:
“was/were” + subject + complement + ?.
Examples: Was she a doctor?, were the keys in the drawer?

All other verbs:

Auxiliary verb (to do), + subject + main verb (in infinitive) + complement + ?.
Examples: Did you want to dance?, did they learn English?, did you believe him?,

Note: as in the negative sentences, the auxiliary verb goes in the pas (“did”) and the main
verb stays in the infinitive.
Uses:
1.- the simple past is used to talk about a concrete action that began an ended in the past. In
this case it is equivalent to the indefinite Spanish preterit. Generally, we use it whit adverbs
of time like “last year”, “yesterday”, “last night”.
Examples: Tom stayed at home last night., kate worked last Saturday., I did not go to the
party yesterday.
2.- The past simple is used for a series of actions in the past.
Examples: I received the good news and immediately called my husband., I studied for an
hour in the morning, worked all afternoon and did not return home until 10 at night.
3.- We also use it for repeated or habitual actions in the past, as the imperfect Spanish
imperfect is used.
Examples: We always traveled to Cancun for vacation when we were young., I walked 5 Km
every day to work.
4.- We use it for narrations or actions of long periods in the past, such as the imperfect
Spanish past tense.
Examples: I worked for many years in a museum., She did not eat meat for years
5.- It is used to talk about generalities or past events.
Examples: The Aztec lived in Mexico., I played the guitar when I was a child.

Pamela Mercedes Guano Árbito

2nd “H”