How Do You Make the Simple Past Tense?
All you need to do is add ~ed to the base form of the verb. (That's the form you find in the dictionary.) Sometimes you have to double the last letter and sometimes you change ~y to ~i, but I'll save that for another blog. (There will be more anticipation for that blog entry than there was for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.) There are also some important pronunciation rules, but we'll save those for later, too. This, in a nutshell, is the simple past tense.
- talk + ~ed = talked
- play + ~ed = played
- try + ~ed = tried
- swat + ~ed = swatted
Of course it's not that simple. There are also many irregular verbs in English. That means the past form of the verb is NOT made by adding ~ed to the end. For example:
- take / took
- drink / drank
- catch / caught
- fly / flew
Although the official count of irregular verbs in English is around 470, the list of really useful ones is probably around 100. (Click here for pretty good irregular past tense dictionary.) Unfortunately, the only way to learn them is by repetition.
How Do You Make Questions and Negative Sentences in the Simple Past Tense?
If you use the wonderful irregular past tense dictionary I linked to above, you will notice that the past form of do is did. For a negative sentence, just like the simple present tense, all you need to do is drop don't in front of the main verb and let the greedy fellow grab the ~ed from the main verb.
- I watched TV last night. (Drop in don't.)
- I don't watched TV last night. (Let don't take away the ~ed.)
- I didn't watch TV last night. (And, voila, a perfect negative sentence.)
A simpler, but less fun way to explain it is to simply put didn't in front of the base form of the main verb, like this.
- played / didn't play
- closed / didn't close
- ate / didn't eat
Questions work the same way. Just put did in front of the subject, followed by the base form of the main verb.
- I liked / Did you like...?
- We studied / Did you study...?
- She took / Did she take...?
Common Errors
There are two common errors to watch out for with questions and negative sentences in the simple past tense. First, just like the Double ~s mistake in the 3rd person singular ("He doesn't likes" or "Does she has...?"), students often leave a Double ~ed in their sentences. This is especially common with irregular past tense verbs.
- XXX I didn't went to the beach. XXX
- XXX Did you bought a new TV? XXX
The second common mistake, especially among East Asian language learners, is the Random "Be" Verb. This means that instead of using did or didn't to make a question or negative statement (or do, don't, does or doesn't in the simple present tense), students often use the be verb. For example:
- XXX I wasn't sleep well last night. or I wasn't slept well last night. XXX
- XXX Were you eat lunch? or Were you ate lunch? XXX
When Do You Use the Simple Past Tense?
This is easy. You use the simple past tense when something happened in the past and is COMPLETELY FINISHED. There are many tense markers that indicate the past tense, such as:
- Yesterday, it rained all day.
- We took our final exams last week.
- Kevin left about an hour ago.
Simple, right? When students first begin learning English, they generally use the simple past tense well. However, problems begin when students learn the present perfect tense (have done). Then, instead of using the simple past tense, students want to use the past perfect tense (had done).
- I cleaned my apartment last weekend.
- XXX I had cleaned my apartment last weekend. XXX
Vernon Dursley had been changing his mind every twenty-four hours for the past four weeks, packing and unpacking and repacking the car with every change of heart. Harry's favorite moment had been the one when Uncle Vernon, unaware that Dudley had added his dumbbells to his case since the last time it had been unpacked, had attempted to hoist it back into the boot and collapsed with roars of pain and much swearing.This is because they are written in REPORTED SPEECH, in which the simple present tense is changed to the simple past tense and the simple past tense is changed to the past perfect, like this:
- "I have a cold." / He said that he had a cold.
- "I had a cold last weekend." / He said that he had had a cold last weekend.
I wish I had one of those memory-eraser thingamabobs from Men in Black. The first thing I would do in every new class is erase the past perfect (had done) from my students' brains.
YOU DON'T NEED THE PAST PERFECT!!!! FORGET THAT IT EVEN EXISTS!!!! DON'T USE HAD DONE.....EVER!!!!
Another common error is using the past continuous (was doing) instead of the simple past tense. For example:
- XXX Yesterday, I was hanging out at the beach with my friends. XXX
- Yesterday, I hung out at the beach with my friends.
Yesterday is done, finished, kaput. USE THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE!!!!! (Can you tell that I'm a little frustrated by this?)
When you are describing something that is clearly in the past, at least 90% of the time, you should use the simple past tense. The past continuous (be doing) and the past perfect (had done) are so rare, they almost shouldn't be taught, at least until the advanced level. My advice is to ALWAYS use the simple past tense in past situations and be wrong less than 10% of the time. When in doubt, use the KISS* principle.
Keep It Simple S**
================================================================*Although KISS is perhaps the greatest rock band ever, they have nothing to do with the simple past tense.
** Insert your favorite S word here. (Silly, Skyler, Simon, Stupid, etc.) The last one is my favorite.
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