Introduction

In this lesson you are going to learn to identify and produce the simple past tense of
regular verbs in sentence form.
Examples: Janet studied French in high school.
My sisters walked to the post office.
You danced with Elizabeth.
I liked that movie.
What is the Simple Past Tense?
 The simple past tense is used to describe actions or events in the past.
The simple past refers to a specific time or event in the past.
Examples of specific time expressions in the past:*
Yesterday on Tuesday (last Tuesday) two days ago
last night in the last class last year
this morning (before now) in 1999 last week
a few minutes ago last weekend yesterday morning
at 9:00 (before now) all night (before today) on October 10 (before now)
*Note: A special time expression is not necessary in all sentences in the simple past
tense.

Form the Simple Past Tense with Regular Verbs

 The final two letters of all regular verbs are ed.

 Rule 1 The final letter of some base verbs is e

- In this situation add d to form the past tense.
Example: Steve danced very well in the disco last night.
More examples: arrived (base form = arrive)
lived (base form = live)
liked (base form = like)

Rule 2 The final letter of some base verbs is not e

- The final letters of some base verbs is a consonant + y
- In this situation, eliminate the y and write ied.
(Remember! "Consonants" = b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,w,x)
Example: Martin studied Latin in high school.
More examples: marry = married
try = tried
cry = cried
 Rule 3 The final two letters of some base verbs = vowel + y
- In this situation, put ed after the y
Example: The children played with the big dog.
More examples: stay = stayed
enjoy = enjoyed

Rule 4 The final three letters in some one-syllable words are CVC.
CVC = consonant + vowel + consonant

- In this situation, write the final consonant two times ("double

it").

- Then, add ed.

Example: Lily shopped for shoes yesterday.
More examples: hop = hopped
rub = rubbed

Rule 5 Verb with more than one syllable

- The final letter or letters are consonants.

- Put ed at the end of the word.

Example: John watched football last Sunday.

More examples: appear = appeared
listen =listened

Subjects and Simple Past Tense Verbs

 All subjects have the same regular verb form in the simple past tense.

Example:
Subject Past Verb Other Information
I walked to the school.
You walked to the school.
(singular or plural)
walked to the school.
He
(John, My father)
She walked to the school.
(Barbara, My
mother)
It walked to the school.
(The dog, The cat)
We walked to the school.
(My brother and I,
My friends and I)
They walked to the school.
(The kids, My friends)

Go to this link and practice!

http://flang1.kendall.mdc.edu/1/128