Mastering the Simple Past Tense: A Complete Lesson with Practice and Worksheet

simple past tense

Grammar Rules: Simple Past Tense

  • Purpose: The simple past tense is used to talk about actions or events that happened and finished in the past.

  • Structure:

    • Regular verbs: Add –ed to the base form (e.g., work → worked).

    • Irregular verbs: Change form (e.g., go → went, buy → bought).

  • Negative form: Use did not (didn’t) + base verb (e.g., She didn’t go to school.)

  • Question form: Use Did + subject + base verb (e.g., Did you see the movie?)

  • Time expressions: Common with yesterday, last week, ago, in 1999, etc.

  • Examples:

    • I walked to school yesterday.

    • They went to Paris last summer.

    • Did you watch the game last night?


 

Practice Together

Fill in the blanks using the simple past tense of the verbs in brackets.

  1. She ________ (visit) her grandmother last weekend.

  2. We ________ (not see) the movie yesterday.

  3. ________ you ________ (finish) your homework last night?

  4. They ________ (go) to the park and ________ (play) soccer.

  5. I ________ (be) really tired after the trip.


 

Answer Key (for Practice Together)

  1. visited

  2. did not (didn’t) see

  3. Did you finish

  4. went; played

  5. was


 

Practice Alone

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