How to form simple past verbs in English and when to use them

English may not have as many verb forms as other languages you know-but those few forms come with a lot of complications!

The simple past is no different: There is a lot to learn, from irregular verbs to forming questions and negative sentences. Plus you have to understand the difference between the simple past and other tenses.

Here's everything you need to know about how to form the simple past in English, how it's pronounced, and when to use it!

In this post:

When is the simple past used?

How do you form the simple past?

Verbs with irregular simple past forms

Negation of simple past

Questions in the simple past

Pronunciation of the simple past

Simple past vs. simple present perfect

When is the simple past used?

In English, the simple past is used to talk about things that started and ended in the past. For example:

• I called my mom last night.
• We played basketball yesterday.
• They went to the store two days ago.

How do you form the simple past?

Most commonly, the simple past follows a simple formula:

For example:

However, If the base form of a regular verb already ends with an -e, you only need to add a -d for the past:

If the base form of a regular verb ends with a consonant followed by a -y, change the -y to -i and then add -ed:

Finally, if the base form of a regular verb ends with consonant-vowel-consonant, you usually double the last consonant and then add -ed:

Past forms of irregular verbs

One of the tricky parts of the simple past is that there are many irregular verbs, for which the past form of the verb does not follow the regular -ed pattern. Some common irregular verbs and their past tense forms include:

In addition to the irregular verbs above, the verb to be is also irregular. I and he/she/it take the past form was,while you, we, you (plural) and they all take the past form were:

Negation of simple past

To form negative sentences in the simple past, add the words did not before the base form of the verb. Did not is also often written as the contraction didn't:

Questions in the simple past

You can ask questions using the simple past. Usually with questions in this tense, you add the word did. However, you don't need to add did for questions using was or were. Here are the most common types of questions and resources to study them more:

Yes/no questions

Q: Did you close the door?
A: Yes, I closed the door.

Q: Was Zari excited?
A: Yes, Zari was definitely excited.

Wh- questions

Q: Where did they watch the movie?
A: They watched the movie at home.

Q: When was Oscar in Italy?
A: He was in Italy last year for an art symposium?

Tag questions

You didn't buy more cheese, did you?
She didn't lose her keys, did she?

Pronunciation of the simple past

The -ed at the end of regular verbs in the simple past is pronounced differently depending on the last sound in the base verb. (Remember to think about the last sound and not the last letter!)

If the base form of the verb ends with a voiceless sound (this means you don't vibrate your vocal folds), the -ed is pronounced as "t." Voiceless sounds include "p," "f," "s," "sh," "ch," and "k." For example, the -ed at the end of pushed, watched, and kissed are all pronounced "t."

If the base form of the verb ends with a voiced sound (this means you vibrate your vocal folds), the -ed is pronounced as "d." Voiced sounds include all vowel sounds as well as "b," "m," "w," "v," "th" (as in the), "z," "r," "y" (as in you), "n," and "g." For example, the -ed at the end of played, loved, and rained are all pronounced "d."

Finally, if the base form of the verb ends with the sound "d" or "t," the -ed is pronounced as its own syllable, "id." For example, the -ed at the end of decided, hosted, and pretended are all pronounced "id."

Simple past vs. simple present perfect

The simple past isn't the only way to talk about events in the past in English-there's also the simple present perfect.

So how do you know when to use one form or the other?

Meanwhile, the simple present perfect (have/has + past participle) is used for events that started in the past but have some connection to the present (perhaps they're still continuing today, might happen again, or are affecting something in the present).

Depending on which one you use, the meaning of your sentence will change:

Keywords to look for

There are certain words that often appear with the simple past and others that more commonly appear with the simple present perfect. These signal words are great clues to help you know which tense works best with your sentence.

Simple past signal words

• yesterday
• last ___:
  • last night
  • last week
  • last month
  • last year
• ___ ago:
  • two days ago
  • two weeks ago
  • two months ago
  • two years ago

Simple present perfect signal words

• already
• ever
• never
• once
• so far
• just
• yet
• up to now
• recently

Irregular verbs: past and past participle forms

In general, learning the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs will help you be a confident English speaker! Use the following table to help you:

Make the simple past simple to learn!

Maybe in the past you were confused about the simple past, but with practice and this handy guide, you will be a simple past star! ⭐