Lesson 10. Past Tense

语法

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.

例子

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.

例子

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.

例子

They went to the store last week.	他们上周去商店。
He thought about it.	他想到了。
I slept all night.	我睡了一夜。
We did the work.	我们做了这项工作。
They found it.	他们发现了它。
She found the book.	她找到了这本书。
I did the dishes.	我洗了洗碗。
They slept on the floor.	他们睡在地板上。

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.

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

例子

Did they go to the store?	他们有没有去商店？
They did not go to the store.	他们没有去实体店？
They didn't go to the store.	他们没有去实体店？
Did you sleep all night?	你睡了一夜？
I did not sleep all night.	我只睡了夜晚的一部分。
Did she find the book?	有她发现这本书？
She did not find the book.	她一直没有找到这本书。
Did you buy it?	你买了吗？
We did not buy it.	我们还没有买它。
They did not do it.	他们没有这样做。

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?	你累了吗？
I was not tired.	我不累。
I wasn't tired.	我不累。
Was the house for sale?	房子出售吗？
The house was not for sale.	房子不是出售。
The house wasn't for sale.	房子不是出售。
Were the dishes clean?	菜肴是干净吗？
The dishes were not clean.	菜肴不干净。
The dishes weren't clean.	菜肴不干净。

练习

Change each sentence so that it uses the past tense.

榜样 - 问题: I do the work. 回答: 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.

校验

阅读英语

词汇

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.