Simple past tense

Sakshi Education

We have seen that different verb forms are used for actions that occur at different timings. The most common verbs that we use in our conversation are of two types as we discussed earlier.

PRESENT	PAST
1.walk	walked
2. come	came
3. eat	ate
4.write	wrote
5. cut	cut

Observe the variation in the above verb forms.

The past tense of the first verb is formed by adding –ed.
For second, third and fourth verbs the word has changed.
For the fifth there is no change.

Examples:

I eat. (present)
I ate. (past) completed action. Past tense is used…

For completed action

Icompleted my work.
I did my work.
He did not attend the party.
They went to a movie yesterday.
We visited Taj Mahal last year.

For habits in the past

Iused to drink milk. ( now he does not drink)
They used to have uniform previously. ( we do not have now)

When ‘used to’ is used the next verb should be in present verb.
For something that went regularly in the past but not now. Certain adverbs of time like always, never, often etc are used in past tense to convey the sense that they happened in the past but not now.

My son always skipped breakfast during his school days. (past)
My son always skips breakfast./ My son skips breakfast. ( present)
He never completed his homework in time. ( past)
He never completes his homework in time. ( present)

Past condition

It was our campus.(now it is not)
He was a leader. (now he is not)
Mr. Paul was a German. (he was not alive/ talking about his past)
They were not at the party. ( past condition)
When I was a child…..( presently I’m an adult)

For facts in the past but now

She was dark two years back, now she is fair.
I did not like pizzas.

For certain action continued for a period in the past

My family lived in Vizag for five years.
They played cricket all the day.

Observe the difference between present perfect and past tense Present perfect

I completed my work yesterday.

Any event/ description started in past should be told in past tense.

I went to the market, bought apples and went to a movie.
They are much exited about the gathering and went to picnic. (X)
Ram: Where did you go yesterday?
Ravi: I want to buy apples, so I went to market. (X)
I wanted to buy apples, so I went to market.

Negative sentences
When ‘did’ is used in the sentence the verb that follows is in present tense. Action verbs in past negative should be used with ‘did’

I did not work.
I was not worked.(X)
They did not go to the movie.
They were not went to the movie. (X)

‘Be forms’ (was, were) do not go along with ‘do forms’ ( do, does, did)

They were not players.
He was not in time for the exam.

Questions
Questions in past tense begin with questioning words + ‘did’ / did/‘be forms’ (was/were)

Study the conversation
Siddu: Where did you go last week?
Abhi : We went to Delhi.
Siddu: How long did you stay there?
Abhi : We stayed there for two days.
Siddu: Was it too cool?
Abhi : It was terrible winter with lowest temperature.
Siddu: Did you visit Rastrapathi Bhavan?
Abhi : Yes, it was a good experience. It is beautiful.( because it is beautiful always)
Siddu: It is good. Bye.

Practice
Fill in the blanks with suitable present/ past tense verbs.