Time Past Simple (simple past tense in English)

What is the Past Simple in English? Time Past Simple Tense — is most of the time, which transfers the action in the past, so it occurs in the English language very often. It can be used in any context, whether a literary text or spoken language. In the description of all the events that occurred in the past, there is a place for the Past Simple Tense.

As forms Past Simple: the rules with examples

Affirmative time Past Simple is a verb meaning, t. E. In the affirmative auxiliaries not. It stands in the second form: regular verbs to the infinitive is added to the end — ed, a form of irregular verbs must be sought in the second column of the table of irregular verbs:

I worked. — I worked.

She worked. — She worked.

We went. — We walked. (the second form of the verb to go)

He forgot. — He forgot. (the second form of the verb to forget)

The Past Simple of negative and interrogative form occurs by means of an auxiliary verb did (the second form of the verb to do) and the infinitive of the verb meaning.

Did you work yesterday? — Yesterday you worked?

I did not work yesterday. — Yesterday I was not working.

Note that the ending — ed at the meaning of the verb is present only in the affirmative time Past Simple! For simplicity, you can remember that — ed in questions and negation meaning of the verb to «jump» on did, so there are already two letters d:

I play ed golf in the morning. — In the morning I was playing golf.

Di d you play golf in the morning? — You played golf in the morning?

No, I di d not play golf in the morning. — No, I’m not in the morning to play golf.

Terms of use and word-clues Past Simple

Use the Past Simple Tense can describe almost any past action, so all the other past tenses in English is often confused with it. But this time has its specific use cases, which are presented below.

Time Past Simple use:

1. To transfer actions in the past, which has nothing to do with this in this context. It may be a fact or a simple single action is complete:
   

   The Titanic sank in 1912. — The Titanic sank in 1912.

   I went to Germany two years ago. — I went to Germany two years ago.

   She spoke to him in a low voice. — She spoke to him softly.

   We stayed in this hotel last summer. — We stayed in the hotel last year.

2. To transmit a sequence of actions that occurred in the past, one after another, ie in chronological order.
   

   I woke up, took a shower, got dressed and went out to have breakfast in a café. — I woke up, took a shower, got dressed and went to breakfast in the cafe.

   He came in, sat on the sofa and started waiting. — He came in, sat down on the sofa and waited.

3. To send repeated actions in the past. This action has repeatedly happened in the past, it was customary, or constant, but now it is no longer committed. (Thus we repeat that any action expressed using time Past Simple, ended once and for all, and it can only speak as a fact in the past.)
   

   I took English courses when I was twelve. — I went to English classes when I was 12 years old. (do not go)

   When we were friends, he came to me everyday to discuss his ideas. — When we were friends, he came to see me every day to discuss their thoughts. (we are no longer friends, he would not come to me)

   The analogue of this function is time Past Simple grammatical construction are used to and the modal verb would.

As a rule, the simple past tense in the English language in the proposal specify the time when the act was done or accomplished. For this purpose, in the words of Past Simple auxiliary markers like yesterday (yesterday), two weeks ago (two weeks ago), last September (last September), in 2010 (in 2010), on Monday (Monday), during my holidays (during the holidays). During the term may indicate clause with the unions time.

I saw him yesterday. — I saw him yesterday.

Now he’s a successful businessman, but he was a simple clerk many years ago. — Now he is a successful businessman, but many years ago he was a clerk.

Our team won the game last Sunday. — Our team won the game last Sunday.

We discussed many important matters during the meeting. — During the meeting we discussed many important issues.

We visited many museums when we were in London. — We visited a lot of museums, when they were in London.

Now you know how to use the simple past tense in English — Past Simple. Despite the fact that it only has three functions, it is one of the most common English times.

This topic is closely related to the other as described in the articles that need to pay attention:

• «Elapsed time in the English language»
• «Time Past Continuous (Past a long time)»
• «Time Past Perfect (Past perfect tense)»
• «Time Past Perfect Continuous»

After reading them, we recommend to pass the following test: «test group times Past».

 

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Grammar