The Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense, in English, is used to represent an action/event that took place in the past. With many verbs, the simple past tense is formed by adding an ‘ed’ or a ‘d’ to the end of the base verb. However, there are other verbs which behave differently and take different spellings when used in the simple past form.

Definition of Simple Past Tense

The ‘simple past tense’, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is defined as “the form of a verb used to describe an action that happened before the present time and is no longer happening. It is usually made by adding -ed.” The Collins Dictionary defines the ‘simple past tense’ as “a tense used to refer to the past.” The Macmillan Dictionary defines the simple past tense as “the tense used to talk about habitual actions, behaviour, or situations that happened or existed before now.”

Structure of the Simple Past Tense

Learning the structure of the simple past tense can be made simple if you analyse how the tense is used in the positive, negative, interrogative and negative interrogative formats. Look at the table below to have a better understanding of the same.

Structure of Simple Past Tense
Positive	Negative	Interrogative	Negative Interrogative
Subject + Verb in the past form (base form of the verb + ed/d for regular verbs or past tense form of the irregular verbs)	Subject + Didn’t + Verb in the base form	Did + Subject + Verb in the base form	Didn’t + Subject + Verb in the base form
Example: You spoke really well. I had my breakfast.	Example: You did not speak really well. I did not have my breakfast.	Example: Did you speak really well? Did I have my breakfast?	Example: Didn’t you speak really well? Didn’t I have my breakfast?