Talking about the Past
The past tense is used to describes an action or event that happened in the past. The most common way to form the past tense is to add ed to the end of a verb, or d if the verb ends in e. For example the past tense of walk is walked. There are many irregular verbs in English and they are covered in later lessons.
| Verb | Past Tense | |
|---|---|---|
| ask | asked | |
| decide | decided | |
| help | helped | |
| like | liked | |
| live | lived | |
| move | moved | |
| open | opened | |
| show | showed | |
| talk | talked | |
| want | wanted |
Examples
She talked about her vacation.
|
|
|
He closed the door.
|
|
|
We hoped for the best.
|
|
|
The clouds drifted away.
|
Advertisement
Conversations
English
Eric phones Tom to tell him about his vacation at a nearby lake.
Eric: Hi Tom. How's it going?
Tom: Good. How was your vacation?
Eric: Great! We went hiking in the forest, and kayaking around the lake. We were very lucky with the weather, it was sunny and warm every day.
Tom: How many people were there?
Eric: There were five of us.
Tom: Where did you stay?
Eric: We rented a cabin at the south end of the lake. It was right on the lake, with a small beach in front. It came with a kayak and wood for the fire pit on the beach. I had such a great time that I want to go again next summer. Maybe you can come with us next time.
Tom: That sounds great!
Vocabulary and Phrases
|
How many people were there?
|
|
|
at a nearby lake
|
|
|
We went hiking in the forest, and kayaking around the lake.
|
|
|
beach
|
|
|
cabin
|
|
|
to phone
|
|
|
to tell
|
|
|
fire pit
|
|
|
kayak
|
|
|
lucky
|
|
|
to rent
|
|
|
to come with
|
|
|
south
|
|
|
to stay
|
|
|
vacation
|
|
|
wood
|
Advertisement
Simple Past Quiz
Write the past tense of each verb.