Lesson 10. Past Tense

Grammar

Past Tense of Verbs

The past tense of verbs, also called the simple past tense, describes a past action, event, or emotional state. Most verbs form the past tense by adding the suffix ed to the end of a verb. For example the past tense of walk is walked.

Examples

Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Many very common verbs in English have an irregular past tense. This lesson will cover a few of these very common irregular verbs. The next lesson will cover some more irregular verbs as well.

To Be

The verb be is the most irregular verb in English. It has two forms in the past tense. The following table shows the past tense for the verb be.

Examples

Other Irregular Verbs

The following table shows some very common verbs that are irregular in the past tense. Lesson 11 will cover even more irregular verbs.

Examples

They went to the store last week.
He thought about it.
I slept all night.
We did the work.
They found it.
She found the book.
I did the dishes.
They slept on the floor.

Questions and Negative Statements with the Past Tense

For both questions and negative statements, the past tense of the helper verb do is used along with the main verb, similar to how do is used as a helper verb when asking questions or making negative statements in the present tense.

Note: Did not is often shortened to didn't.

Examples

Did they go to the store?
They did not go to the store.
They didn't go to the store.
Did you sleep all night?
I did not sleep all night.
Did she find the book?
She did not find the book.
Did you buy it?
We did not buy it.
They did not do it.

A very small number of verbs, such as be, do not use a helper verb when asking a question or making a negative statement. The following examples show how to ask questions and make negative statements with the verb be.

Were you tired?
I was not tired.
I wasn't tired.
Was the house for sale?
The house was not for sale.
The house wasn't for sale.
Were the dishes clean?
The dishes were not clean.
The dishes weren't clean.

Practice

Change each sentence so that it uses the past tense.

Example - Question: I do the work. Answer: I did the work.

I want to go to the store.		I wanted to go to the store.
The boy is sad.		The boy was sad.
She doesn't want a coffee.		She didn't want a coffee.
Do you have a pen?		Did you have a pen?
They walk to the park.		They walked to the park.

Check

Reading English

English Vocabulary

Chapter 2: Granville Island

Ana and Alejandro have been exploring Granville Island, a shopping district that contains a public market, marina, restaurants, theaters and small shops.

As they are walking along the waterfront, Alejandro sees an ice cream shop. “Hey Ana, let’s get some ice cream,” he says.

“That’s a good idea,” she agrees.

They walk into the shop and look at the different types of ice cream on display.

“What kind of ice cream cone are you going to get?” Ana asks her brother.

“I think I’ll get a chocolate cone. How about you?”

“They all look good, but I’m going to get the caramel swirl.”

“Hello,” the lady behind the counter says. “Have you decided what you would like?”

“I’ll have a caramel swirl ice cream cone,” Ana says.

“And I’ll have a chocolate one,” Alejandro adds.

The lady prepares the ice cream cones and hands them to Ana and Alejandro. “That’ll be six dollars,” she says.

They pay the lady and then walk back outside. There are a few small tables in front of the store, but they decide to keep walking. Soon they come to a large open area with several large benches.

“Let’s sit here,” Ana says.

They sit down on one of the benches and watch all the people walking by. In front of them is a small inlet glistening in the sun, and beyond that is Downtown Vancouver. Several people are kayaking on the water. A small pedestrian ferry is slowly approaching.

They sit quietly in the warm sun for a while, eating their ice cream cones. When Alejandro finishes his cone, he says “This is so relaxing. I could sit here all day.”

“It’s a beautiful view of the city from here. I wish I was in one of those sailboats though, slowly sailing away.”

“That would be nice!”

“Let’s go to the market and get some vegetables for tonight’s dinner,” Ana says after a few minutes.

They get up and walk into the market. Inside, the smell of fresh bread and coffee fills the air. People are talking, laughing, and calling out orders. They wander around the crowded market for a while, looking at all the things for sale. Eventually they find a produce vendor.

“What do we need to get?” Alejandro asks.

“We need some carrots, red peppers, onions, strawberries, and blueberries.”

They collect the items and bring them up to the cashier.

“Hello,” says the man at the cash register. “Did you find everything you need?”

“Yes. I think we have everything we need,” Ana replies.

“That’ll be $24.45.”

Ana pays the man and Alejandro picks up the bag with the food in it.

“Thank you,” Ana says as the man hands her the change, “Have a nice day.”

“You, too.”

Ana and Alejandro walk out of the market into the bright, sunny day and head home.