We use the past simple for finished actions and situations in the past: I visited my grandmother yesterday. Regular verbs add -ed (work → worked). Irregular verbs have their own past form (go → went).
In negatives and questions, we use did + the base verb: I didn't go. Did you go?
Common time words: yesterday, last night, last week, last year, two days ago, in 2019, when I was a child.
| Form | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | subject + past form | I worked late. She went home. |
| Negative | subject + didn't (did not) + base verb | I didn't work late. She didn't go home. |
| Question | Did + subject + base verb? | Did you work late? Did she go home? |
| Short answers | Yes, + subject + did. / No, + subject + didn't. | Yes, I did. / No, she didn't. |
| Wh- question | question word + did + subject + base verb? | Where did she go? |
The past form is the same for every person: I, you, he, she, it, we, they worked. There is no -s in the past.
Be is different. Use was (I, he, she, it) and were (you, we, they), and don't use did: I wasn't tired. Were you at home?
| Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| Most verbs: add -ed | work → worked, watch → watched, clean → cleaned |
| Verb ends in -e: add -d | live → lived, like → liked, dance → danced |
| Consonant + y: change y to -ied | study → studied, try → tried, carry → carried |
| Vowel + y: add -ed | play → played, enjoy → enjoyed, stay → stayed |
| One vowel + one consonant at the end of a stressed syllable: double the consonant | stop → stopped, plan → planned, prefer → preferred |
We don't double the consonant when the last syllable is not stressed: visit → visited, open → opened, listen → listened.
British and American spelling are different for some verbs ending in -l: travel → travelled (UK) / traveled (US), cancel → cancelled (UK) / canceled (US). Both are correct.
| Sound | When | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| /t/ | after the sounds /p/, /k/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/ and /f/ | stopped, worked, kissed, washed, watched, laughed |
| /d/ | after vowel sounds and the sounds /b/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /l/, /m/, /n/ | played, lived, opened, called, robbed |
| /ɪd/ | after /t/ and /d/ | wanted, needed, visited, decided |
-ed only adds an extra syllable after a t or d sound. Worked and played have one syllable; wan-ted has two.
Irregular verbs don't use -ed, so you need to learn their past forms. The third column is the past participle, which you need for the present perfect (I have seen) and the passive (It was made).
| Base verb | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was / were | been |
| become | became | become |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| build | built | built |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| cost | cost | cost |
| cut | cut | cut |
| do | did | done |
| draw | drew | drawn |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| feel | felt | felt |
| find | found | found |
| fly | flew | flown |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
| get | got | got (UK) / gotten (US) |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| grow | grew | grown |
| have | had | had |
| hear | heard | heard |
| hold | held | held |
| keep | kept | kept |
| know | knew | known |
| learn | learned / learnt (UK) | learned / learnt (UK) |
| leave | left | left |
| lend | lent | lent |
| let | let | let |
| lose | lost | lost |
| make | made | made |
| mean | meant | meant |
| meet | met | met |
| pay | paid | paid |
| put | put | put |
| read | read (sounds like red) | read (sounds like red) |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| ring | rang | rung |
| run | ran | run |
| say | said | said |
| see | saw | seen |
| sell | sold | sold |
| send | sent | sent |
| sing | sang | sung |
| sit | sat | sat |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| spend | spent | spent |
| stand | stood | stood |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| teach | taught | taught |
| tell | told | told |
| think | thought | thought |
| throw | threw | thrown |
| understand | understood | understood |
| wake | woke | woken |
| wear | wore | worn |
| win | won | won |
| write | wrote | written |
Use the past simple when you say or know when it happened: I lost my keys yesterday. Use the present perfect when the time isn't important and the result matters now: I've lost my keys. (I can't find them now.) More practice: Present Perfect vs Past Simple.
❌ Did you went to the party?
✅ Did you go to the party? (After did, use the base verb.)
❌ I didn't saw him.
✅ I didn't see him. (After didn't, use the base verb.)
❌ She goed to school.
✅ She went to school. (Go is irregular: go → went.)
❌ I was go to the park yesterday.
✅ I went to the park yesterday. (Don't put was before a normal verb.)
❌ Did you be at home?
✅ Were you at home? (With be, use was/were, not did.)
❌ He studyed all night.
✅ He studied all night. (Consonant + y → -ied.)
❌ I have seen him yesterday.
✅ I saw him yesterday. (With a finished time like yesterday, use the past simple.)
Choose the correct answer.
Every Muse English lesson has a podcast and a short story full of past simple verbs. Listen, then shadow the sentences out loud.
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