Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia

PAIEP U. de Santiago

SIMPLE PAST
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Objetivos

 Conocer el uso del pasado simple.

 Operar las diversas formas verbales del pasado simple.

Contenidos

1. Past Simple / Pasado Simple

Materiales

 A paperback or online dictionary.

Past Simple
 As the name suggests, past simple is used to indicate events or situations that
happened in the past. Whenever you use past simple, you must take into account
that the action you are referring to is over. This is important because in future
handouts we will see that there are more than one type of past tenses. Let’s see the
example below to see how it works:

A. Tom: Look! It’s raining again.

B. Ann: Oh no, not again. It rained all day yesterday too.

 In the example above, we can see the use of simple past. This time we are referring
to the rain. The verb is used in its –ed form and you have a time marker: yesterday.
Remember that in English we have verbs which are regular and irregulars. Regular
verbs always finish with – ed, while irregular verbs have a different form. Check the
examples below and compare.

- I very much enjoyed the party. (regular)

- Mr. Edwards died ten years ago. (regular)
- When I lived in Manchester I worked in a bank. (regular)
- Chile won the American Cup in 2015. (irregular)
- Ms. Daisy went to Europe in a business trip. (irregular)

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Material elaborado por el Comité Editorial PAIEP – Área inglés
Primera Edición - 2016
En caso de encontrar algún error, contáctate con PAIEP-USACH al correo: joaquin.eguren@usach.cl
 Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia
PAIEP U. de Santiago

 In case you don’t remember which verbs are regular or irregular, you can visit the
following webpage and check the most commonly used irregular verbs in English.
Click here to check the webpage.

 In the case of verb be (am / is / are) the past form is was / were.

- I was angry because Carlos and Sofía were late.

- She was happy because she won a scholarship.

 All the examples we have seen are in affirmative form. Affirmative means that they
state something. Now we will see how to make the simple past into negative. For
doing so, the only thing we need to add is the expression didn’t.

- I didn’t go to the party because I was tired.

- Argentina didn’t win the 2015 American Cup.
- They didn’t play today as they had to study for a PEP.

 In the negative form we must add the expression didn’t and do not modify the verb.
All verbs in the example above are in their base forms. We use go and not went, win
and not won, play and not played. This is basically because the word didn’t indicate
past and we do not need to change the verb as we would have a double negative.

 Finally, in the case of questions we use the expression did.

A. Ana: Did you go out last night, Jorge?

B. Jorge: Yes, I went to the cinema. But I didn’t enjoy the film.

 As you may notice, questions in English follow a different order. Check the example
below and compare.

- I wrote a letter this weekend to complain about the quality service.

- Did you write the letter to complain about the quality service?

2
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Primera Edición - 2016
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 Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia
PAIEP U. de Santiago

 As you can see, questions in the simple past start with the word did. After the word
did we use the subject (the word which is making the action) and then we include the
verb in its base form. In the case of verb to be we used was or were depending on
the subject.

- Was Matias at work yesterday?

- Did you have time to call her?
- Were you happy about the result?
- Did you enjoy your holiday?

Exercises

1. In this exercise you have to read a sentence about the present and then write a
sentence about the past.
Examples: Tom usually gets up at 7.30. Yesterday, he got up at 7:30.

1. Tatiana usually wakes up early. Yesterday morning _____________________.

2. Tatiana usually walks to work. Yesterday _____________________________.
3. Tatiana is usually late for work. Yesterday ____________________________.
4. Tatiana usually has a sandwich for lunch. Yesterday ____________________.
5. Tatiana usually goes out in the evening. Yesterday evening ______________.
6. Tatiana usually sleeps very well. Last night ___________________________.

2. This time you have to put one of these verbs in each sentence:

Hurt – teach – spend – sell – throw – fall – catch – buy – cost

Example: I was hungry, so I bought something to eat in the shop.

1. Tom’s father _______________ him how to drive when he was 17.

2. Don ___________ down the stairs this morning and ____________ his leg.
3. We needed some money so we ___________ our car.
4. Ann _______________ a lot of money yesterday. She ___________ a dress
which __________ $50.
5. Jim ______________ the ball to Sue who ___________ it.
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 Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia
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3. In this exercise you have to write questions. A friend has just come back from
holiday and you are asking him about it.

Examples: Where / go? Where did you go?

Food / good? Was the food good?

1. How long / stay there? _____________________________________________

2. Stay in a hotel? ___________________________________________________
3. Go alone? _______________________________________________________
4. How / travel? _____________________________________________________
5. The weather / fine? ________________________________________________
6. What / do in the evenings? _________________________________________
7. Meet any interesting people? ________________________________________

4. This time you have to put the verb into the correct form. All the sentences are
past.

Example: I didn’t go (not/go) to work yesterday because I wasn’t (not/be) very

well.

1. Tom ____________ (not/shave) this morning because he ________ (not/have)

time.
2. We _____________ (not/eat) anything because we ____________ (not/be)
hungry.
3. I _____________ (not/rush) because I ____________ (not/be) in a hurry.
4. She _________________ (not/be) interested in the book because she
____________ (not/understand) it.

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 Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia
PAIEP U. de Santiago

Answer Key
1. In this exercise you have to read a sentence about the present and then write a
sentence about the past.

1. He woke up early.
2. He walked to work.
3. He was late for work.
4. He had a sandwich for lunch.
5. He went out.
6. He slept very well.

2. This time you have to put one of these verbs in each sentence:

1. Taught
2. Fell – hurt
3. Sold
4. Spent – bought – cost
5. Threw – caught

3. In this exercise you have to write questions. A friend has just come back from holiday
and you are asking him about it.

1. How long did you stay there?

2. Did you stay in a hotel?
3. Did you go alone?
4. How did you travel?
5. Was the weather fine?
6. What did you do in the evenings?
7. Did you meet any interesting people?

4. This time you have to put the verb in the correct form. All the sentences are past.

1. Didn’t shave … didn’t have

2. Didn’t eat … weren’t
3. Didn’t rush … wasn’t
4. Wasn’t … didn’t understand

5
Material elaborado por el Comité Editorial PAIEP – Área inglés
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 Programa de Acceso Inclusivo, Equidad y Permanencia
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Sources
- Raymond Murphy. English Grammar in Use; A self – study reference and practice
book for intermediate students. (1985).

6
Material elaborado por el Comité Editorial PAIEP – Área inglés
Primera Edición - 2016
En caso de encontrar algún error, contáctate con PAIEP-USACH al correo: joaquin.eguren@usach.cl