The simple past tense of the verb to be: This page will present the simple past tense

of the verb to be:

its form and its use.

Examples: I was in London in 1999. Pam was in London in 1999, too. We were together. She was my girlfriend.

The affirmative form:

I, he, she, it you, we, they

was. were.

THE INTERROGATIVE FORM:

Examples: o o o Were you in London last year? Was Pam with you? Were you together?

THE NEGATIVE FORM:

Examples: o o o I wasn't in Paris in 1999. Pam wasn't in Paris in 1999. We weren't in Paris.

Was Were

I, he, she, it? you, we, they?

I, you, he, she You, we, they

was not. wasn't. were not. weren't.

REMEMEBER:
1. wasn't is the short form of was not. You can say either:
I was not in Paris, or I wasn't in Paris.

2. weren't is the short form of were not. You can say either:
we were not in Paris, or we weren't in Paris

Put the verb "to be" into the simple past: 1. I was in Canada last summer holiday. 2. My sister was with me. 3. We were in Montreal. 4. She was very happy. 5. I was happy, too. Put the verb "to be" into the simple present or the simple past: 1. I am /'m an engineer. 2. Last year I was a student in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 3. I was in love with a beautiful girl at that time. We were friends 4. Now, I live in New York and I am /'m married to her.

The simple past tense is used to talk about actions that happened at a specific time in the past. You state when it happened using a time adverb. This work will present the simple past tense:
its form and its use.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and composer. He lived from 1756 to 1791. He started composing at the age of five years old and wrote more than 600 pieces of music. He was only 35 years old when he died. The verbs "was, lived, started, wrote, died" are in the simple past tense.

Before you continue the lesson read the following passage and try to see how the verbs are formed and

Notice that:

lived, started,died are regular past forms. was, wrote are irregular past forms.

used.

The verbs "lived, started, died" are regular past

forms. The rule is the following:

Verb + ed Examples:

The verbs "was, wrote" are irregular past forms. "Was" is the simple past of "to be"; "wrote" is the simple past of "write". There is no rule for these verbs. You should learn them by heart.

The Affirmative form of the simple past:

Examples: I played tennis with my friends yesterday.

I, you, he, she, it, we, they

played. wrote did.

I finished lunch and I did my homework.

The interrogative form of the

Examples:

Did you play basketball yesterday?

simple past:

Did you watch television?

Did I, you, he, she, it, we, they Play? write do?

Did you do the homework?

Examples:

The negative form of the simple past:

play write do

I didn't like the food in the wedding last Saturday.

I didn't eat it.

I, you, he, she, it, we, they

did not didn't

didn't is the short form of did not. You can say either: I did not play basketball, or I didn't play basketball.

 Put the verbs into the simple past: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Last year I (go) went to England on holiday. It (be) was fantastic. I (visit) visited lots of interesting places. I (be) was with two friends of mine . In the mornings we (walk) walked in the streets of London. In the evenings we (go) went to pubs. The weather (be) was strangely fine. It (not / rain) did not rain a lot. But we (see) saw some beautiful rainbows. Where (spend / you) did you spend your last holiday?
Infinitive 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Simple Past met drove spoke put wrote sang did sat stood ran Write the past forms of the irregular verbs.

meet drive speak put write sing do sit stand run

COMPLETE THE TABLE IN SIMPLE PAST.

Affirmative He wrote a book. He sang. She was pretty.

Negative He did not write a book. He did not sing She was not pretty.

Interrogative Did he write a book? Did he sing? Was she pretty?

 Put the sentences into simple past. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. We move to a new house. We moved to a new house. They bring a sandwich. They brought a sandwich. He doesn't do the homework. He did not do the homework. They sell cars. They sold cars. Does he visit his friends? Did he visit his friends?

Choose "Was or "Were:

1. 2. 3. The teacher was nice. The students were very clever. But one student was in trouble.

Write sentences in simple past. 1. 2. 3. Janet / the bus / miss Janet missed the bus. She / her room / tidy She tidied her room. Nancy / watch / not / television Nancy did not watch television.

4.
5.

We were sorry for him.

He was nice though.

4.

She / read / book She read a book.

Irregular Verbs

SIMPLE PAST QUESTIONS

Questions in simple past are the same as in the simple present. There are 2 types:
Did Was/Were STRUCTURE

Examples:
Did you eat yesterday? Did they go to the store last week?

STRUCTURE

Examples:

Was he tired last night?

Were they late this morning?

Put in the correct verb form into the gap. Use Simple Past. Example: ___ they ______ their friends? (to meet) Answer: Did they meet their friends?

Did you close the door? Did Claire finish the housework? Did he have a bath yesterday? Did the boy jump into the lake? Did Ronald visit the Tower of London? Did Peggy and Olivia look after the baby? Did she make the invitation cards herself? Did the girl drop the ketchup bottle? -> (to finish) -> (to have) -> (to jump) -> (to visit) -> (to look) -> (to make) -> (to drop)

-> (to close)

Did Tim buy the green T-shirt last Monday?

Did they practise karate this morning?

-> (to buy)

-> (to practise)

Put in the correct verb forms and the nouns into the gaps. Use Simple Past. Example: ____________ their friends? (they/to meet) Answer: Did they meet their friends?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Did the dog run after the cat? Did you take photos when you were on holiday? Did Steven listen to music yesterday evening? Did the ladies have a cup of tea in the caf? Did Nancy send text messages during the French lesson? Did Melissa and Ruth wear pullovers last Friday? Did your brother say hello to people in the street? Did the teacher open the windows in your classroom? Did the girls in your class play chess two weeks ago?

-> (the dog/to run) -> (you/to take) -> (Steven/to listen) -> (the ladies/to have) -> (Nancy/to send) -> (Melissa and Ruth/to wear) -> (your brother/to say) -> (the teacher/to open) -> (the girls in your class/to play)

10. Did your mother make breakfast last morning?

-> (your mother/to make)

 This is a sentence written in the simple, past tense: We walked to the park yesterday. Notice it has a subject [We], and a predicate, which includes a verb in the past tense [walked]. To write the negative form of this sentence in the past tense, use this simple formula:

DID is the past tenses of the verb DO. In this case, DID is used as an

auxiliary verb, and it indicates that the action takes place in the past. Since DID is
written in the past tense, the main verb is written in its basic form. The main verb is NOT conjugated.

We walked to the park yesterday. We did not walk to the park yesterday.
I went to the store yesterday. I did not go to the store yesterday

 Types of questions: There are two types of questions:

Yes or no questions Wh questions

STRUCTURE
WH questions in simple present use do or be: WH Questions with "do"

Question words who where why when how what which whose whom what kind what time how many how much how long how often how far how old how come person place reason

Meaning

Examples Who's that? That's Nancy. Where do you live? In Boston Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early When do you go to work? At 7:00 How do you go? By car What do you do? I am an engineer Which one do you prefer? The red one. Whose is this book? It's Alan's. Whom did you meet? I met the manager. What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs What time did you come home? How many students are there? There are twenty. How much time have we got? Ten minutes How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks. How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week. How far is your school? It's one mile far. How old are you? I'm 16. How come I didn't see at the party?

time manner object, idea or action choice possession object of the verb description time quantity (countable) amount, price (uncountable) duration, length frequency distance age reason

2.

If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and gives information about the subject), there are three options:

1. If you ask about the subject

of the sentence, simply add

the question word at the beginning:

Example:
James writes good poems. Who writes good pems?

Examples:

He can speak Chinese. What can he speak?

2. If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and gives information about the subject), there are three options:

If you ask about the predicate and there is no

If there is a helping (auxilary) verb that precedes the main verb (for example, can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxilary) verb.

helping (auxilary) verb and the verb is "to be", simply add the question verb and invert the subject and the verb.

Examples:
He can speak Chinese.
What can he speak? When are they leaving?

Example:
The play was interesting.
How was the play?

They are leaving tonight.

If there is no helping (auxilary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxilary "do" in the appropriate form.

Examples: They go to the movies every Saturday.

Where do they go to the movies?
When does he wake up? What did they send?

He wakes up early. They sent a letter.

Choose the correct question words. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Where do you live? Who 's that girl? How do you go to school? When do banks open? Why are you wearing that coat?

Write questions about the words in bold. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. They went to Spain. He writes novels. Lacy likes soccer. The girls watched a serial. He discovered the truth Where did they go? What does he write? Who likes soccer? What did the girls watch? What did he discover?