Past Simple

Express an action that finished in the past.  

Regular verbs are easy to conjugate, just add “ed”:

play→ I played all night

team → they teamed up to defeat the boss

The problem comes with irregular verbs:

do  → I did my homework last night

pay → I paid $20 for ‘early bird’ registration

buy → I bought the FGC yearbook

sell  → I sold my stick

take → I took the train

catch → I caught the train (I nearly missed it)

post → I posted a photo of my food at the restaurant

study  → I studied the tech

won  → she won the match

Generally, irregular verbs ending in

  • -y  → ied  e.g. try  →  tried
Negative form

subject + didn’t + [infinitive without to]

o: I didn’t play anything yesterday

x: I didn’t played

I didn’t go to the event

Question form

Did + subject + [infinitive without to]

Q. Did you eat the pizza?

A. Yes, I did / No I didn’t / Yes, I ate all of it, and your ice cream too.

Q. Did Ralf know about this?

A. Are you stupid? Of course he did!

Question form II

What/When/How etc + did + subject + [infinitive without to]

Q. When did you arrive?

A. (I arrived at) around eleven.

Q. What did you do last weekend?

A. I went to the cinema, hung out with friends, chilled on the sofa, ate crisps.

Be careful with “to be”, the past is “was”

Q. Was she on the stream

A. Yes, she was there.

Q. Where were you born?

A. I was born in Berlin.