Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly form the simple past tense for regular English verbs.
Lesson Explanation
The simple past describes a completed action in the past. Regular verbs form the simple past by adding -ed:
walk → walked play → played
Verbs ending in -e just add -d: like → liked. Verbs ending in a consonant plus -y change y to i before adding -ed: study → studied. Verbs ending in a single consonant after a single vowel double that consonant: stop → stopped.
Importantly, the simple past form is the same for every pronoun — unlike the simple present (Part 2, Lesson 1), there is no special form for he/she/it: I walked, he walked, they walked — all identical.
Practice Questions
1. Write the simple past of “walk.”
View Answer
walked
2. Write the simple past of “like.”
View Answer
liked
3. Write the simple past of “study.”
View Answer
studied
4. Write the simple past of “stop.”
View Answer
stopped
5. Why does “stop” become “stopped,” not “stoped”?
View Answer
It ends in a single consonant after a single vowel, so the consonant is doubled.
6. Why does “study” become “studied”?
View Answer
It ends in a consonant + y, so the y changes to i before adding -ed.
7. Complete: “She ___ (play) yesterday.”
View Answer
played
8. Complete: “He ___ (play) yesterday.”
View Answer
played
9. Does the simple past form change for he/she/it, the way simple present does?
View Answer
No — the simple past form is the same for every pronoun.
10. What does the simple past tense describe?
View Answer
A completed action in the past.
11. Complete: “We ___ (walk) to school yesterday.”
View Answer
walked
12. Complete: “They ___ (study) last night.”
View Answer
studied