Past Simple

1. Past Simple is the tense that refers to actions completed in the past.
2. Past Simple requires the second form of the verb.
3. Verbs may be regular or irregular. This is reflected in their second form.

When do I use Past Simple?

Past Simple is used for actions that started and finished in the past.

 one action in the past: I watched TV yesterday.

 a series of actions in the past: I woke up, then I had breakfast and read the newspaper.
 historical facts: The Second World War started in 1939.
 generalizations in the past: People watched less TV 10 years ago.

How do I recognize Past Simple?

Past Simple is often marked by explicit or implicit adverbs or time expressions.

 yesterday, yesterday morning, the day before yesterday

 last evening, last week, last month, last September, last summer, last year
 one week ago, two months ago, three years ago
 specific dates or months (if they are in the past): on the 1st of March, in May
 implicit reference (it is obvious that we are referring to the past): As a teenager, he played
video games a lot.

Regular and irregular verbs

English verbs may be regular or irregular. This is linked to their second form. For Past Simple, we
need the second form of the verb, which is formed like this:

 Regular verbs have regular second forms. They take an -ed at the end of the first
form. e.g.: (to) watch - watched

 Irregular verbs have irregular second forms. These can only be learned by heart or by

practice. e.g.: (to) drink - drank
 See the first list of irregular verbs - these are used more frequently. When you are ready,
see the second list of irregular verbs.

Affirmative / Interrogative / Negative

Regular verb: to watch

Affirmative Singular Plural

1st person I watched TV yesterday. We watched TV yesterday.

2nd person You watched TV yesterday. You watched TV yesterday.

He watched TV yesterday.
rd
3  person She watched TV yesterday. They watched TV yesterday.
It watched the birds yesterday.

Interrogative Singular Plural

1st person Did I watch TV yesterday? Did we watch TV yesterday?

2nd person Did you watch TV yesterday? Did you watch TV yesterday?

 Did he watch TV yesterday?
rd
3  person Did she watch TV yesterday? Did they watch TV yesterday?
Did it watch the birds yesterday?

Negative Singular Plural

1st person I did not watch TV yesterday. We did not watch TV yesterday.

2nd person You did not watch TV yesterday. You did not watch TV yesterday.

He did not watch TV yesterday.

rd
3  person She did not watch TV yesterday. They did not watch TV yesterday.
It did not watch the birds yesterday.

Irregular verb: to drink

Affirmative Singular Plural

1st person I drank whiskey yesterday. We drank whiskey yesterday.

2nd person You drank whiskey yesterday. You drank whiskey yesterday.

 He drank whiskey yesterday.
rd
3  person She drank whiskey yesterday. They drank whiskey yesterday.
It drank milk yesterday.

Interrogative Singular Plural

1st person Did I drink whiskey yesterday? Did we drink whiskey yesterday?

2nd person Did you drink whiskey yesterday? Did you drink whiskey yesterday?

Did he drink whiskey yesterday?
rd
3  person Did she drink whiskey yesterday? Did they drink whiskey yesterday?
Did it drink milk yesterday?

Negative Singular Plural

1st person I did not drink whiskey yesterday. We did not drink whiskey yesterday.

2nd person You did not drink whiskey yesterday. You did not drink whiskey yesterday.

3rd person He did not drink whiskey yesterday. They did not drink whiskey yesterday.

 She did not drink whiskey yesterday.
It did not drink milk yesterday.

How do I form Past Simple?

Affirmative

Subject + Verb II + (...)

e.g.: I (subject) watched (verb) TV yesterday.

1st person, sg. → I watched TV 1st person, sg. → I drank whiskey

yesterday. yesterday.
rd
3  person, sg. → She watched TV 3rd person, sg. → She drank whiskey
yesterday. yesterday.

Remember that:

 At Past Simple, the verb remains unchanged for all persons, singular and plural (including
the 3rd person sg.).

Interrogative

Did + Subject + Verb I + (...) + ?

e.g.: Did I (subject) watch (verb) TV yesterday?

1st person, sg. → Did I watch TV 1st person, sg. → Did I drink whiskey

yesterday? yesterday?
rd
3  person, sg. → Did she watch TV 3rd person, sg. → Did she drink whiskey
yesterday? yesterday?

Remember that:

 In interrogative sentences, the auxiliary did contains the past form of the verb structure. The
main verb (to watch or to drink) is used in its FIRST form.
  The auxiliary did is the same for all persons, singular and plural.

 The short answer for a Past Simple question is:

o Affirmative: Yes, I did (for all persons – Yes, I did; Yes, you did; Yes, he did etc.)
o Negative: No, I didn't = No, I did not (for all persons – No, I didn't; No, you didn't;
No, he didn't etc.)

Negative

Subject + Did Not + Verb I + (...)

e.g.: I (subject) did not watch (verb) TV yesterday.

1st person, sg. → I did not watch TV 1st person, sg. → I did not drink whiskey
yesterday. yesterday.
rd
3  person, sg. → She did not watch TV 3rd person, sg. → She did not
yesterday. drink whiskey yesterday.

Remember that:

 In negative sentences, the auxiliary did contains the past form of the verb structure. The
main verb (to watch or to drink) is used in its FIRST form.

 The short form of did not is didn't. e.g.: I didn't watch TV.

Surprise!

 The second form of the verb is also called the past simple form.

 Past Simple is only used for finished actions. If an action started in the past, but is not
finished at present, we do not use Past Simple.
Past Continuous
Past Continuous

We form Past Continuous like this: Was/Were + [Verb + ING]

 The verb to be is in the past: was or were, depending on the person/number.

 We add the termination -ing to the main verb.

Note that: Past Continuous is also called Past Progressive because it refers to actions that were, at a
certain moment in the past, in progress.
When do I use Past Continuous?

We use Past Continuous when we refer to interrupted actions in the past.

e.g.: He was talking to Jeremy when I took that photo.

He was talking to Jeremy → the interrupted action (Past Continuous)

when I took that photo. → the action that causes the interruption (Past Simple)

Use cases:

 a past action interrupted by another past action:

He was talking to Jeremy when I took that photo.

 a past action interrupted by a specific time:

They were watching a movie yesterday at 10 p.m.

 parallel actions in the past:

The girls were preparing the meat while the boys were chopping sticks for the fire.

 to describe the atmosphere in the past:

When I arrived at Ruby's place, Ruby was playing with the cats, Clara was making a cake
and Brian and Jeremy were discussing politics.

Affirmative / Interrogative / Negative

Read the table below to see how we form Past Continuous in the affirmative, interrogative and
negative.

  Affirmative Interrogative Negative

1st person
I was eating pizza. Was I eating pizza? I was not eating pizza.
Singular
 2nd person You were listening to You were not
Were you listening to music?
Singular music. listening to music.

He was not talking to

He was talking to Clara Clara.
Was he talking to Clara?
rd
3  person She was talking to She was not talking to
Was she talking to Jeremy?
Singular Jeremy. Jeremy.
Was the dog sleeping?
The dog was sleeping. The dog was not
sleeping.

1st person We were washing the We were not

Were we washing the dishes?
Plural dishes. washing the dishes.

2nd person You were cleaning the You were not

Were you cleaning the room?
Plural room. cleaning the room.

3rd person They were surfing the Were they surfing the They were not

Plural Internet. Internet? surfing the Internet.

When & While

The conjunctions when and while are used very often in sentences that contain verbs in the Past
Continuous.

When is followed by Past Simple.

He was talking to Jeremy when I took that photo.

While is followed by Past Continuous.

The girls were preparing the meat while the boys were chopping sticks for the fire.

Surprise!

We can use contractions only in negative Past Continuous sentences:

 I/He/She/It wasn't sleeping yesterday evening at 10 o'clock.

 You/We/You/They weren't sleeping yesterday evening at 10 o'clock.

* In Romanian, Past Continuous is translated using imperfectul.

Past Perfect Simple
How do I form Past Perfect?

had + the 3rd form of the main verb

e.g.: Ruby had left when Brian arrived.

Note: The auxiliary verb had never changes.

When do I use Past Perfect?

We use Past Perfect:

 to refer to an action that happened before another action in the past:
Ruby had left when Brian arrived.
1. Ruby had left (before Brian arrived).
2. Brian arrived (at a moment in the past, after Ruby had left).

 to form the Third Conditional, which we will learn at level Advanced.

Conjunctions

There are three conjunctions that often help us recognize Past Perfect: when, before and after.

Ruby had left when Brian arrived.

or
Brian arrived when Ruby had left.

Ruby had left before Brian arrived.

Brian arrived after Ruby had left.

Affirmative / Interrogative / Negative

  Affirmative Interrogative Negative

1st person I had studied French before I Had I studied French before I I had not studied French

Singular moved to France. moved to France? before I moved to France.

You had read that book You had not read that

2nd person Had you read that book before
before she gave it to you as a book before she gave it to
Singular she gave it to you as a present?
present. you as a present.

3rd person Mary called the plumber after Had George fixed the sink before George had not fixed the
Singular George had fixed the sink. Mary called the plumber? sink before Mary called
Jeremy arrived home after Had Clara finished cooking dinner the plumber.
Clara had finished cooking before Jeremy arrived? Clara had not
dinner. Had it stopped raining when we finished cooking dinner
It had stopped raining when left? when Jeremy arrived.
 It had not
we left. stopped raining when we
left.

We had not ever been to
1st person We had never been to that Had we ever been to that
that restaurant before last
Plural restaurant before last night. restaurant before last night?
night.

You had not had that TV

2nd person You had had that TV for ten Had you had that TV for ten years
for ten years before it
Plural years before it broke down. before it broke down?
broke down.

They had not found a

They had found a different
3rd person
hotel when the receptionist
Plural
finally called them.
Had they found a different hotel
different hotel when the
when the receptionist finally called
receptionist finally called
them?
them.

Listen to the audio tutorial in this lesson to find out how we use contractions with the Past Perfect
tense.

* In Romanian, Past Perfect is translated using mai mult ca perfectul.

Past Perfect Continuous