Lesson 5

Simple Past Tense Theory

USE

Affirmative Form
We use Simple Past Tense to talk about:

1. Something that happened once in the past. Examples:

• I met my wife in 1983.
• We went to Spain for our holidays.
• They got home very late last night.

2. Something that happened again and again in the past. Examples:

• When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day.
• We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
• They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

3. Something that was true for some time in the past. Examples:

• I lived abroad for ten years.
• He enjoyed being a student.
• She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

Negative Form
We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the Simple Past Tense. Examples:

• She didn’t go to Spain this year.
• We didn’t get home until very late last night.
• I didn’t see you yesterday.

Question Form

We use did to make questions with the Simple Past Tense. Examples:

• When did he meet his wife?
• Where did you go for your holidays?
• Did she play tennis when she was younger?
• Did you live abroad?

Irregular Verbs

Here you have a List of English Irregular Verbs which could help you at the moment of creating sentences in Simple Past Tense.