Meaning
The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity that started in the past and ended in the past. For example:
Mary played the piano beautifully.
Verbs in past tense
Regular and irregular verbs.
- Regular verbs in past tense
We add –ed or –d at the end of the verbs and the past form of the verbs is only used in positive sentences when we tell past events.
For example:
Jack visited his grandparents yesterday.
My mother baked a chocolate cake yesterday afternoon.
- Irregular verbs in past tense
Irregular verbs are only used in positive sentences. Look at the following table and examples. You can see how the irregular verbs change in past tense.
For example:
| PRESENT | PAST | examples |
|---|---|---|
| eat | ate | The children ate their dinner quickly. |
| tell | told | She told a funny story. |
| send | sent | Mary sent her boss an email yesterday . |
