Home

Past Simple

Past Simple is the tense we use to talk about the past if we have no special reason to use a different past tense.

It is used to talk about a time that is 100% in the past. We often use it with words to show the past (e.g. yesterday, last week, two days ago).

Form

Positive Sentences

To make the past simple of regular verbs in positive sentences, you add ed to the end of the infinitive.

English has many irregular verbs. There are no rules for these, so you need to remember them.

Click on the button below for a complete list of irregular verbs.

Infinitive	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
burst	burst	burst
bust	bust/busted	bust/busted
buy	bought	bought
can	could	been able
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dove/dived	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelled/dwelt	dwelled/dwelt
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit	fit/fitted	fit/fitted
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forecast	forecast	forecast
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten/got
give	gave	given
go	went	been/gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hew	hewed	hewn/hewed
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
input	input/inputted	input/inputted
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt/kneeled	knelt/kneeled
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leant/leaned	leant/leaned
leap	leapt/leaped	leapt/leaped
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit/lighted	lit/lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mistake	mistook	mistaken
mow	mowed	mowed/mown
must	had to	had to
overcome	overcame	overcome
pay	paid	paid
plead	pleaded/pled	pleaded/pled
prove	proved	proven/proved
put	put	put
quit	quit/quitted	quit/quitted
read	read	read
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	sawed	sawed/sawn
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shear	sheared	sheared/shorn
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone	shone
shit	shit/shat	shit/ shat
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank/sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung
slink	slunk	slunk
slit	slit	slit
smell	smelt/smelled	smelt/smelled
sneak	sneaked/snuck	sneaked/snuck
sow	sowed	sown/sowed
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spell	spelt/spelled	spelt/spelled
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt/spilled	spilt/spilled
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat/spit	spat/spit
split	split	split
spoil	spoiled/spoilt	spoiled/spoilt
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang/sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank	stunk
strew	strewed	strewed/strewn
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck/stricken
string	strung	strung
strive	strove	striven
swear	swore	sworn
sweat	sweat/sweated	sweat/sweated
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swollen/swelled
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden/trod
understand	understood	understood
undertake	undertook	undertaken
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove	woven
wed	wedded/wed	wedded/wed
weep	wept	wept
wet	wetted/wet	wetted/wet
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

Negatives and Questions

In negatives and questions, you use the auxiliary verb did to make the past simple.

Positive	Negative	Question
I worked.	I did not work.	Did I work?
You worked.	You did not work.	Did you work?
He worked.	He did not work.	Did he work?
She worked.	She did not work.	Did she work?
It worked.	It did not work.	Did it work?
We worked.	We did not work.	Did we work?
They worked.	They did not work.	Did they work?

Use the information provided to write correct "Past Simple" sentences.

It is important to use a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and a full stop or question mark at the end.

Example:

he / go / to the shops
He went to the shops.

he / not / go / to the shops
He didn't go to the shops.

he / go / to the shops / ?
Did he go to the shops?

Questions