The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk
about things that happened or existed before now.
The simple past tense shows that you are talking about
something that has already happened.
show action that occurred and was completed at a particular time in the past
The simple past tense of regular verbs is marked by the ending -d or -ed
You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about
something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun, or
prepositional phrase.
How to Formulate the Simple Past
For regular verbs, add -ed to the root
form of the verb (or just -d if the root
form already ends in an e)
Fortunately, there is a formula for making simple
past verbs negative, and it’s the same for both
regular and irregular verbs (except for the verb to
be). The formula is did not + [root form of verb].
You can also use the contraction didn’t instead of
did not.
Wolfgang did not brag too much about his hula hoop
skills. Wolfgang’s girlfriend didn’t see the contest.
For the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did.
When the subject of the sentence is singular, use was
not or wasn’t. When the subject is plural, use were not
or weren’t.
The third-place winner was not as happy as
Wolfgang. The fourth-place winner wasn’t happy
at all. The onlookers were not ready to leave after
the contest ended. The contestants weren’t ready
to leave either.
How to Ask a Question
The formula for asking a question in
the simple past tense is did + [subject]
+ [root form of verb].
Did Wolfgang win the gold medal or the silver
medal? Where did Wolfgang go to celebrate?
Did the judges decide fairly, in your opinion?
When asking a question with the verb to be,
you don’t need the auxiliary did. The formula is
was/were + [subject].
Was Wolfgang in a good
mood after the contest?
Were people taking lots of
pictures?