past simple

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Forms

With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

call » called; like » liked; want » wanted; work » worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses: Use We use the past tense to talk about:

something that happened once in the past:

I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.

something that happened again and again in the past:

When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

something that was true for some time in the past:

I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

we often use phrases with ago with the past tense:

I met my wife a long time ago.

Questions and negatives
We use did to make questions with the past tense:

When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?

But look at these questions:

Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?

For more on these questions see our question forms page

We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past tense:

They didn’t go to Spain this year. We didn’t get home until very late last night. I didn’t see you yesterday.