Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense refers to an action that was done in the past. Use this tense to show an event or action that took place at a specific time in the past and now it’s over.

Pattern: Subject + Past tense form of Verb + Object 

To create past tense form of verb, you can follow below mentioned rules 

1. If verb ends with “e” 
   • append “d” in the end
2. If verb ends with only one CONSONANT, and before that is only one VOWEL
   • double CONSONANT before adding “ed”
3. If verb ends with “y” and before that is CONSONANT 
   • change “y” to “i” and append “ed”
4. Otherwise
   •  append “ed” in the end

For example,

He was here last year.
You had a black pencil
I worked in the IT sector.
The milk used to cost 10 rupees per liter some years ago.
She smiled at me.
The fox tried again
Why did you cry?
I stopped at your home. 

Important: There are some verbs which do not follow above rules 

Remember:

1. Past tense of “to be” is “was and were”
2. Past tense of “have and has” is had
3. Yesterday, last week, last year etc. are used to show past tense

Read our next article on Past Continuous Tense
Read our previous article on Present Perfect Tense
Read about 12 Basic Verb Tenses with Examples