Use the Past Simple for an action that started and finished in the past. The time is over, and the result belongs to the past too. In I watched a film last night, the watching is complete. In She moved to Chicago in 2020, the move happened once and is finished. The sentence points to a past moment, not to a present connection. For verb forms and how verbs work in English, see Verbs and Introduction.

The Past Simple often appears with time expressions that show a finished period. Common signals include yesterday, last week, last year, two days ago, in 2010, when I was a child, and at 6:00 this morning. These expressions tell the listener the time is over. In We visited my aunt last weekend, last weekend closes the time. In He started work in April, in April names a finished point in the past.

Regular verbs make the past tense with -ed. Add -ed to the base form: walk becomes walked, play becomes played, and watch becomes watched. The past form is the same for I, you, he, she, it, we, and they: I walked, they played, she watched. Regular verbs are covered again in Regular Verbs.

Some regular verbs change their spelling before -ed is added. Verbs ending in silent e only add d: love becomes loved, move becomes moved. Verbs with one stressed syllable and a short vowel usually double the final consonant: stop becomes stopped, plan becomes planned. Verbs ending in consonant + y change y to i and add ed: study becomes studied, carry becomes carried. If a verb ends in vowel + y, keep the y: play becomes played.

The ending -ed has three pronunciations. Say /t/ after voiceless sounds: walked, finished, helped. Say /d/ after voiced sounds: played, cleaned, called. Say /ɪd/ after t or d: wanted, needed. The spelling stays the same, but the sound changes with the final sound of the verb. For more verb form patterns, Past Participles is also useful.

Three ed ending sounds

Word	Notation	Description	Example
walked	t sound	Use the t sound after a voiceless final sound such as k or p.	He walked home after dinner.
played	d sound	Use the d sound after a voiced final sound such as y or g.	They played cards all evening.
wanted	id sound	Use the id sound after t or d at the end of the verb.	She wanted a quiet room.

The past forms of be are was and were. Use was with I, he, she, and it: I was tired, she was late. Use were with you, we, and they: you were right, they were at home. In questions, the form moves before the subject: Were they ready? In negatives, add not: was not, were not. The verb be is irregular, so it does not take -ed. Its use depends on the subject, not on the main verb system in Verbs.

Many frequent verbs have a special past form that does not end in -ed. Go becomes went, eat becomes ate, make becomes made, have becomes had, and say becomes said. These forms must be learned as complete words. The base form and past form are different, so go and went are two separate forms of the same verb. In We ate at 8:00, the past form is ate, not eat.

Other common irregular verbs also change their vowel or final sounds in the past. Take becomes took, think becomes thought, bring becomes brought, buy becomes bought, and teach becomes taught. Some follow a similar pattern with a changed vowel or a new ending, but they do not use -ed. Compare keep and kept, or feel and felt. These forms are irregular because the past tense is not built from a regular spelling rule.

Use did not plus the base verb for negatives: I did not work, she did not call, they did not leave. In speaking, did not often becomes didn't. For questions, use did before the subject and the base verb after it: Did you see him?, Did they arrive late? The main verb stays in the base form because did already shows past time. Do not say did saw or did went. The same pattern appears in many sentences about finished events and can be checked alongside Present Simple for contrast.

Past Simple can describe repeated actions in the past when the context makes the habit clear. In When I was a student, I always walked to school, the meaning is repeated past action, not a single event. Words like always, every day, often, and usually can support this meaning. The situation usually has a past time frame, such as when I lived in Madrid or before I had a car. The action is finished now, but it happened many times then.

Use the Past Simple for a finished past time: I saw that movie yesterday, She finished her work last night. Use the Present Perfect when the time is unfinished or when the result is connected to now: I have seen that movie says only that the experience happened before now. In American English, a finished time usually takes the Past Simple, not the Present Perfect: I ate lunch already is normal, while I have eaten lunch already is less natural in that variety. When the sentence names a past time like in 2018 or last week, choose the Past Simple.

Past Simple often appears in short stories and reports about completed events. Use sequence words to show the order clearly: first, then, after that, later, finally. For example: First, I locked the door. Then I took the train. After that, I met Anna. Finally, we had dinner. The verbs stay in the Past Simple because each event is finished. These time words guide the listener through the order of the actions without changing the tense.