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

The simple past tense is one of the most useful and commonly used verb tenses in English. It allows us to talk about actions, events, or situations that began and ended in the past. Whether describing what you did yesterday, telling a story, or recalling an experience, the simple past helps make your communication clear and specific. In this lesson, students will learn how to form and use the simple past with both regular and irregular verbs, create negative and question forms, and recognize common time expressions that signal past events.

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

Student Quiz

Answer Key

Conclusion

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