Simple Past

◎What you'll master

• Use the simple past for finished actions at a finished time (yesterday, last week, in 2019).
• Spell regular -ed correctly: studied, stopped, preferred, opened.
• Recall the most common irregular verbs (go → went, take → took, buy → bought).
• Form negatives and questions with did / didn't + base verb.
• Avoid the classic slip: no present perfect with a finished-time word.

The core idea

The simple past names a finished action at a finished time. The moment is over — yesterday, last week, in 2019, two hours ago. If you could ask "When?" and give a past answer, this is the tense.

Regular verbs: -ed & its spelling

Add -ed. Watch the spelling: consonant + y → -ied (study → studied); a short stressed vowel doubles the consonant (stop → stopped, prefer → preferred, but open → opened because the stress isn't on the last syllable).

Irregular verbs — you just learn them

The common ones don't follow -ed and must be memorised: go → went, buy → bought, think → thought, cut → cut, become → became, leave → left, fly → flew. Notice a few (cut, put, hit, let) don't change at all.

Negatives & questions — the -ed disappears

Use did / didn't + the base form. The past is carried by did, so the main verb loses its ending.

Your irregular verb list

Most past-tense slips come from irregular verbs — the ones that don't take -ed. Here are the 60 most common, base form → past simple. Download it, print it, and keep it beside you while you practise. (When you reach Present Perfect, we'll add the past-participle column.)