Simple Past Tense

What is the Simple Past Tense?

We use the simple past for complete actions in the past. In the simple past there are regular verbs and irregular verbs.

How do we form affirmative sentences?
Subject + Verb in past + Complement
Examples: 

-They learned English at school.

-I wanted to sing in the contest.

-I bought a blue car last week. How do we form negative sentences? Subject + Auxiliary "did" + not + verb in infinitive + Complement Examples:  -They did not learn English at school. -I did not want to sing in the contest. -I did not buy a car last week. You can write the contraction of "did not": didn't How do we form questions? Auxiliary "Did" + Subject + verb in infinitive + Complement + ? Examples:  -Did they learn English at school? -Did you sing in the contest? -Did Charles buy the car last week? You can also form questions with "WH" words. Examples:  -What did you do yesterday? - Who did you go to the party with? - Why did you call me? - When did Mary get that job?

The verb "to be" in past

- Affirmative form

Subject + was/were + complement.

Examples: 

-I was at home yesterday. - Martha was short when she was 5 years old. - Lina and her brother were very fussy. - We were friends when we were children. - Negative form Subject + was/were + not + complement. Examples:  -I was not at home yesterday. - Martha was not tall when she was 5 years old. - Lina and her brother were not very fussy. - We were not friends when we were children.

Remember: You can write the contraction of "was not": wasn't

"were not": weren't