Past

 

Simple Past 

Definition of the simple past tense

The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action duration is not important.

Examples

• John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
• My father died last year.
• He lived in Fiji in 1976.
• We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions

• frequency: often, sometimes, always
  1- I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
  2- I often brought my lunch to school.
  
  
• a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
  1- We saw a good film last week.
  2- Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
  3- She finished her work atseven o'clock
  4- I went to the theatre last night
  
  
• an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
  1- People lived in caves a long time ago.
  2- She played the piano when she was a child.

Note 
The word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Forming the simple past tense

Patterns of simple past tense for regular verbs

Affirmative
Subject	+ verb + ed
I	skipped.
Negative
Subject	+ did not	+ infinitive without to
They	didn't	go.
Interrogative
Did	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Didn't	you	play?

To Walk

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn't walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
He walked	He didn't walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn't walk	Did we walk?
They walked	They didn't walk	Did they walk?

Simple past tense of to be, to have, to do

Subject	Verb
	Be	Have	Do
I	was	had	did
You	were	had	did
He/She/It	was	had	did
We	were	had	did
You	were	had	did
They	were	had	did

Notes on affirmative, negative, & interrogative forms

Affirmative

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.

• I was in Japan last year
• She had a headache yesterday.
• We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "did".

Examples

• They weren't in Rio last summer.
• We didn't have any money.
• We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
• We didn't do our exercises this morning.
• Were they in Iceland last January?
• Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
• Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

Simple past, irregular verbs

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.

to go

• He went to a club last night.
• Did he go to the cinema last night?
• He didn't go to bed early last night.

to give

• We gave her a doll for her birthday.
• They didn't give John their new address.
• Did Barry give you my passport?

to come

• My parents came to visit me last July.
• We didn't come because it was raining.
• Did he come to your party last week?

Past continuous

Functions of the past continuous

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and were still going on when another event occurred.

It is used:

• to describe the background in a story written in the past tense
  1- The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. 
  2- The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly.
  3- She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars.
  4- When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river.
  
  
• to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action
  I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang.
  
  
• to express a change of mind:
  I was going to spend the day at the beach, but I've decided to get my homework done instead.
  
  
• with 'wonder', to make a very polite request:
  1- I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

Examples

• They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
• Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
• When we arrived, he was having a bath.
• When the fire started I was watching television.

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.

Forming the past continuous

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

Subject	+was/were	+base + ing
They	were	watching
Affirmative
She	was	reading
Negative
She	wasn't	reading
Interrogative
Was	she	reading?
Interrogative negative
Wasn't	she	reading?

To play, past continuous

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I was playing	I was not playing	Was I playing?
You were playing	You were not playing	Were you playing?
He was playing	He wasn't playing	Was he playing?
We were playing	We weren't playing	Were we playing?
They were playing	They weren't playing	Were they playing?

Past perfect

Functions of the past perfect

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the second or more recent event:

Event A	Event B
John had gone out	when I arrived in the office.
Event A	Event B
I had saved my document	before the computer crashed.
Event B	Event A
When they arrived	we had already started cooking.
Event B	Event A
He was very tired	because he hadn't slept well.

Forming the past perfect

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Subject	+had	+past participle
Affirmative
She	had	given
Negative
She	hadn't	asked.
Interrogative
Had	they	arrived?
Interrogative Negative
Hadn't	you	finished?

To decide, past perfect

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had decided	I hadn't decided	Had I decided?
You had decided	You hadn't decided	Had you decided?
She had decided	She hadn't decided	Had she decided?
We had decided	We hadn't decided	Had we decided?
They had decided	They hadn't decided	Had they decided?

Past perfect + just

'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.

• The train had just left when I arrived at the station.
• She had just left the room when the police arrived.
• I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

Past perfect continuous

Functions of the past perfect continuous

The past perfect continuous corresponds to the present perfect continuous, but with reference to a time earlier than 'before now'. As with the present perfect continuous, we are more interested in the process.

Examples

• Had you been waiting long before the taxi arrived?
• We had been trying to open the door for five minutes when Jane found her key.
• It had been raining hard for several hours and the streets were very wet.
• Her friends had been thinking of calling the police when she walked in.

This form is also used in reported speech. It is the equivalent of the past continuous and the present perfect continuous in direct speech:

• Jane said, "I have been gardening all afternoon." = Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.
• When the police questioned him, John said, "I was working late in the office that night." = When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office that night.

Forming the past perfect continuous

The past perfect continuous is composed of two elements - the past perfect of the verb to be (=had been) + the present participle (base+ing).

Subject	+had been	+verb + ing
I	had been	walking
Affirmative
She	had been	trying
Negative
She	hadn't been	sleeping
Interrogative
Had you	been	eating?
Interrogative negative
Hadn't they	been	living?

To buy, past perfect continuous

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had been buying	I hadn't been buying	Had I been buying?
You had been buying	You hadn't been buying	Had you been buying?
She had been buying	She hadn't been buying	Had she been buying?
We had been buying	We hadn't been buying	Had we been buying?
They had been buying	They hadn't been buying	Had they been buying?