Past Simple Tense: Rules, Irregular Verbs and Examples

Quick Answer: The past simple describes finished actions at a specific time in the past: "I visited my grandmother yesterday." Regular verbs add -ed (walk, walked) and irregular verbs change form (go, went). Negatives and questions use did plus the base verb: "I didn't see it." "Did you see it?"

Key takeaways

• Regular verbs add -ed or -d: worked, lived; consonant + y becomes -ied: studied.
• Irregular verbs must be learned: go, went; see, saw; buy, bought.
• After did or didn't, use the base verb: "Did you go?" not "Did you went?"
• Be has its own past forms, was and were, and never uses did.
• The -ed ending has three sounds: ⁄t⁄ (worked), ⁄d⁄ (played) and ⁄ɪd⁄ (wanted), and only verbs ending in a t or d sound add a syllable.
• Finished time words such as yesterday, last week and ago signal the past simple.

When Do You Use the Past Simple?

1. Finished actions at a specific time.

• I called my mother last night.
• They moved to Izmir in 2018.
• She graduated two years ago.

2. A sequence of past actions, as in a story.

• He woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast and left for work.

3. Past habits and states.

• When I was a child, I played outside every day.
• We lived in a small village.

For past habits, English also has a special form, used to: "I used to play outside every day."

Time expressions for the past simple

yesterday, last night, last week, last year, two days ago, a long time ago, in 2015, on Monday, when I was ten.

How Do You Form Regular Verbs?

Most verbs simply add -ed: work, worked; play, played; watch, watched.

Spelling rules

Rule	Examples
Most verbs: add -ed	clean, cleaned; open, opened
Ends in -e: add -d	like, liked; live, lived
Consonant + y: change y to i, add -ed	study, studied; carry, carried
Vowel + y: just add -ed	play, played; enjoy, enjoyed
One syllable, consonant-vowel-consonant: double the last letter	stop, stopped; plan, planned
Two syllables, stress on the end: double	prefer, preferred; admit, admitted

British English doubles the final l (travelled, cancelled), while American English usually does not (traveled, canceled). Read more in our English spelling rules guide.

How Do You Pronounce -ed?

Sound	After	Examples
⁄t⁄	voiceless sounds: p, k, s, sh, ch, f	stopped, worked, washed, laughed
⁄d⁄	voiced sounds and vowels	played, lived, cleaned, called
⁄ɪd⁄	t and d sounds	wanted, needed, started, decided

A common error is to pronounce every -ed as an extra syllable. "Worked" has one syllable, not two. Only verbs ending in a t or d sound get the extra syllable.

Irregular Verbs

Many of the most common English verbs are irregular. There is no rule; you simply learn them. Here are twenty essential ones.

Base	Past simple	Base	Past simple
be	was, were	have	had
go	went	do	did
say	said	make	made
get	got	know	knew
take	took	see	saw
come	came	think	thought
give	gave	find	found
tell	told	buy	bought
eat	ate	drink	drank
write	wrote	leave	left

For the full list with past participles, see our irregular verbs list.

The verb be

Be has two past forms: was for I, he, she, it and were for you, we, they.

• I was tired. They were at home.
• Negative: I wasn't tired. They weren't at home.
• Question: Was she late? Were you happy?

With be, we do not use did. Wrong: "Did you be at home?" Right: "Were you at home?"

How Do You Make Negatives and Questions?

For every verb except be, use did. The main verb goes back to its base form, because did already shows the past.

Type	Structure	Example
Positive	subject + past verb	She went to the cinema.
Negative	subject + did not + base verb	She didn't go to the cinema.
Yes or no question	Did + subject + base verb	Did she go to the cinema?
Wh- question	Wh- + did + subject + base verb	Where did she go?

• Wrong: She didn't went. Right: She didn't go.
• Wrong: Did you saw it? Right: Did you see it?

Short answers: "Did you like it?" "Yes, I did." or "No, I didn't."

Telling a Short Story

Here is a short paragraph using only the past simple:

Last Saturday I woke up late. I made a big breakfast and called my friend Deniz. We decided to go to the beach. The weather was perfect, so we stayed there all afternoon. We didn't swim because the water was cold, but we had a great time.

Try writing your own five-sentence story about last weekend. It is one of the best ways to practice.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes?

Mistake	Wrong	Right
Double past	I didn't saw him.	I didn't see him.
-ed on an irregular verb	I goed.	I went.
Missing the past form	Yesterday I go to work.	Yesterday I went to work.
Did with be	Did you be tired?	Were you tired?
Present perfect with finished time	I have seen him last week.	I saw him last week.

Practice Quiz

Put the verb in the past simple.

1. We (watch) ___ a film last night.
2. She (not / come) ___ to the party.
3. (you / buy) ___ a new phone?
4. I (be) ___ very tired yesterday.
5. They (study) ___ for the exam all weekend.
6. He (write) ___ a letter to his grandmother.
7. Where (you / go) ___ on holiday?

Answers: 1. watched 2. didn't come 3. Did you buy 4. was 5. studied 6. wrote 7. did you go

Ready to practice with instant feedback? Start the free LearnLingo course, where the past simple appears early in the A1 path with lots of speaking and listening practice.

People Also Ask

How do you make the past simple in English?

For regular verbs, add -ed to the base form: work becomes worked. Irregular verbs have special forms that you need to learn, such as go and went or eat and ate.

How do you make negatives and questions in the past simple?

Use did not or did with the base form of the verb. For example: I did not go, and Did you go? The main verb does not change to the past form.

How is the -ed ending pronounced?

It has three sounds: t as in worked, d as in played, and id as in wanted. The id sound only comes after verbs ending in a t or d sound.

Related Reading

• Irregular Verbs List with Examples
• The Present Perfect Tense, Explained Simply
• Used To: Talking About Past Habits
• All English Tenses: An Overview