past simple for beginners

Simple Past for Beginners Read the following discussion using the simple past tense Robert: Hi Alice, what did you do last weekend?. Robert: Who did you play?. Robert: What did you do a

Simple Past for Beginners

Read the following discussion using the simple past tense

Robert: Hi Alice, what did you do last weekend?

Alice: I did a lot of things On Saturday, I went shopping.

Robert: What did you buy?

Alice: I bought some new clothes I also played tennis.

Robert: Who did you play?

Alice: I played Tom

Robert: Did you win?

Alice: Of course I won!

Robert: What did you do after your tennis match.

Alice: Well, I went home and took a shower and then went out.

Robert: Did you eat in a restaurant?

Alice: Yes, my friend Jacky and I ate at 'The Good Fork'

Robert: Did you enjoy your dinner?

Alice: Yes, we enjoyed our dinner very much thank you We also drank some

wonderful wine!

Robert: Unfortunately, I didn't go out this weekend I didn't eat in a restaurant

and I didn't play tennis

Alice: What did you do?

Robert: I stayed home and studied for my test!

Alice: Poor you!

Where did you go yesterday?

The flight left at 8 o'clock.

They didn't come last night

Finished past actions, definite past

Common past time expressions include:

last (week, year, night), yesterday, ago, in 1987, when I was a child.

Structure

In the positive form, for regular verbs, add an -ed to the verb Many verbs are irregular Some of the most common are: go -went, buy - bought, take - took, come

- came, have - had, eat - ate, drink - drank There are many irregular verbs so you will need to start learning them now

I You arrived late last night (regular verb)

He She It We You They came back late last night (irregular verb)

Use the conjugated helping verb 'did' + not (didn't) + the base form of the verb to make negatives

I You He She It We You They

didn't go to New York last week

Use the conjugated helping verb 'did' + subject + the base form of the verb in question forms

When Did

I You He She It We You They

leave yesterday?

Try this past simple quiz

Past Simple Quiz

1 Tom ………(buy) a new house last month

2 When ………(they/arrive) last week?

3 She ……… (not/understand) the question yesterday

4 Fred ……….(take) a lot of pictures on his holiday last summer

5 What ……… (you/get) for your birthday?

6 They ……… (not remember)to get the bread this morning!

7 Alice……… (play) tennis this morning

8 Where……… (you/go) last weekend?

9 I ……… (want) to buy that computer, but it was too expensive