Present and past tenses
Tense is the form of a verb that shows the time the action occurred
Present and past tenses
Present tense names an action that is occurring now or occurs regularly.
John wins an award.Also expresses general truths…
Michelle is funny.
If the subject is a singular noun like he, she or it, an –s is added to the
verb.I walk
you talkhe talksthey run
PAST TENSENames an action that already happened
Denny joined the team.
Add an –ed to show that it is past tense.
Tale of mr. mortonTale of Mr. Morton in Song
Past Simple – things that have finishedlook
lookslooked
talkstalked
He passeshe pass +edhe passed
Yesterday he passed his exams.
She workswork +ed
She worked in a shop when she lived in Florida.
When doesn’t this work?
WHEN DOES THIS NOT WORK?When the infinitive word ends in
–e, add –dShe changes the nappy
Another exception –When the infinitive verb ends in a
consonant, preceded by one vowel.
Consonant letter is a letter that is NOT a vowel (letters a,e,i.o or u are
vowels)
STOPdouble last consonant
and add -edI stop
Yesterday, I stopped
Another exampleTo planplanned
I planned a trip to New York last year.
Another exception is when an infinitive ends in –cThen you add –ked
For examplepanic =kedThey panic
Yesterday they panicked.She wrecked the car.
Last exceptionInfinitive ends in –y
y turns into i and add –edshe carries
carrycarried
Yesterday she carried the suitcase to the airport
When to use? When something has happened in the
past and has finishedfor example: A few years ago I worked in
the supermarket
2. Indicate a time in the pastWe lived in Holland in 1991.
3. Habit in the pastI collected stamps when I was a child
4. Telling a storyOnce upon a time there was a
farmer, who lived in a small village
So, when to use past simple?When something is completely
finished
Have a look at the grammar sheet and try some exercises
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