We normally use the Simple Past Tense to talk about events, actions or situations which occurred in the past and are now finished.

They may have happened recently:Sam phoned a moment ago.

or in the distant past:The Goths invaded Rome in A.D. 410.

A time reference must be given:I had a word with Julian this morning.

or must be understood from the context:I saw Fred in town. (i.e. when I was there this morning)

I never met my grandfather. (i.e. he is dead)

Affirmative (S + VERB: WAS/ WERE)

I was You wereWe wereThey were She wasHe wasIt was

E.g.: I was with my friends yesterday. They were eating last night.

Verb to be

Negative (S + VERB: WAS/ WERE + NOT)

I wasn´t You weren´tWe weren´tThey weren´t She wasn´tHe wasn´tIt wasn´t

E.g.: He wasn`t late. We weren`t at the party.

Verb to be

Interrogative (VERB: WAS/ WERE + S + C)

 Was I……?Were you……….?  she….?Was he…? it….?  we…?Were you…? they..? 

E.g.: Was she ill? Were you in bed last month?

Verb to be

REGULAR VERBSIn English, you add “-ed” to the end of many verbs to make the Past tense.

Affirmative (S + VERB + ED)

I You We workedThey playedShe watchedHe It E.g.: I worked a lot yesterday.

He played football last year.

Negative (S + DIDN´T + VERB)

IYouWe work They + didn´t + play She watchHeIt

E.g.: I didn`t play the guitar with my friends. It didn`t sound well.

Interrogative (DID + S + VERB +?)

I YouDid + We + work? They play? She watch? He It E.g.: Did you buy milk?

Did he pay the bills?

With most verbs, the simple past is created simply by adding -ED. However, with some verbs, you need to add -D or change the ending a little. Here are the rules:

Verbs ending in -e add -d: e.g. phone/phoned, smile/smiled.

Verbs not ending in -e add -ed: e.g. ask/asked, clean/cleaned, follow/followed, video/videoed/stop/stopped.

Verbs spelt with a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter double the consonant: beg/begged, rub/rubbed/occur/occurred.

In two-syllable verbs the final consonant is doubled when the last syllable contains a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter and is stressed: pre'fer/preferred, re'fer/referred. Compare: 'benefit/benefited, 'differ/differed and 'profit/profited

When there is a consonant before -y, the "y" changes to "i" before we add -ed: e.g. carry/carried, deny/denied, fry/fried, try/tried. Compare: delay/delayed, obey/obeyed, play/played, etc.

IRREGULAR VERBS Others verbs are very different. They are called “irregular verbs”.