Simple past

This form is also called ‘past simple’.

Forms (regular verbs)

Affirmative	Question	Negative
I worked	did I work?	I did not work
you worked	did you work?	you did not work
he/she/it worked	did he/she/it work?	he/she/it did not work
etc	etc	etc

• Contracted negatives (see here): I didn’t work, you didn’t work, etc
• Negative questions (see here): did I not work? or didn’t I work?, etc
• For the affirmative past forms of common irregular verbs, (see here).
• Questions and negatives of irregular verbs are made in the same way as those of regular verbs (with did + infinitive).

note

For details of question structures, (see here).

For negatives, (see here).

For passive forms (e.g. Work was done), (see here).

Pronunciation of -ed

The regular past ending -ed is pronounced as follows:

• /d/ after vowels and voiced consonants (except /d/):
  /ð/, /b/, /v/, /z/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/
  tried /traɪd/ - lived /lɪvd/ - seemed /siːmd/ - failed /feɪld/
• /t/ after unvoiced consonants (except /t/):
  /θ/, /p/, /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /k/
  stopped /stɒpt/ - passed /pɑːst/ - laughed /lɑːft/ - watched /wɒtʃt/ - worked /wɜːkt/
• /ɪd/ after /d/ and /t/
  ended /ˈendɪd/ - started /ˈstɑːtɪd/

note

For adjectives like aged, naked, (see here).

Spelling of regular affirmative past tense forms

Rules	Examples
Most regular verbs: add -ed	work → worked stay → stayed show → showed wonder → wondered visit → visited gallop → galloped
Verbs ending in -e: add -d	hope → hoped decide → decided
Verbs ending in one stressed vowel + one consonant (except w or y): double the consonant and add -ed	shop → shopped plan → planned reˈfer → referred reˈgret → regretted
For last syllable not stressed: add -ed	ˈoffer → offered ˈvisit → visited
Verbs ending in consonant + -y: change y to i and add -ed	hurry → hurried cry → cried study → studied
For vowel + -y: add -ed	play → played

Verbs ending in -c have ck in the past (e.g. picnic → picnicked).

In British English, -l is doubled in the past after one short vowel even if the vowel is not stressed: ˈtravel → travelled.

Use

We use the simple past for many kinds of past events: short, quickly finished actions and happenings, longer situations, and repeated events.

• Daniel broke a window last night.
• I spent all my childhood in Scotland.
• Regularly every summer, Jessica fell in love.

The simple past is common in stories and descriptions of past events.

• One day the Princess decided that she didn’t like staying at home all day, so she told her father that she wanted to get a job …

The simple past is often used with words referring to finished times.

• I saw Jack yesterday morning. He told me …

In general, the simple past tense is the normal one for talking about the past; we use it if we do not have a special reason for using one of the other tenses.

note

For the simple past with a present or future meaning (e.g. It’s time you went), (see here).

For special uses in subordinate clauses, (see here).