Past Simple | Tenses | Grammar | English

The Past Simple describes completed actions in the past and is used for sequences, habits, and single events. This guide focuses on regular and common irregular verbs and useful time expressions.

Usage

Use the Past Simple for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the past, for habitual past actions, and for narrating past events in order.

When do we use the Past Simple? Select all that apply.

to describe ongoing actions in the past

to talk about past habits

to narrate a sequence of past events

to describe completed actions at a specific time

to talk about future plans

Regular Verbs

Regular verbs form the Past Simple by adding -ed to the base form. This pattern applies to most verbs and makes past actions easy to signal.

Formation

For regular verbs, add -ed to the base form: walk → walked, play → played, and pronounce the ending clearly.

	Base Form	Past Simple	Base Form	Past Simple
	walk	walked	jump	jumped
	play	played	watch	watched

Examples

	English Sentence	English Meaning
	☕ I washed the dishes after breakfast.	I cleaned the dishes.
	🧹 She mopped the kitchen floor yesterday.	She cleaned the floor with a mop.
	🗑️ They washed the car before going out.	They cleaned the car with water.
	🧼 He scrubbed the bathtub last night.	He cleaned the bathtub thoroughly.
	🧽 We polished the windows this morning.	We made the windows shiny.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed pattern and must be learned individually. They often change form in unpredictable ways.

Common Irregulars

Common irregular verbs include go → went, have → had, do → did, and see → saw. These appear frequently in everyday speech and writing.

Base Form	Past Simple	Base Form	Past Simple
go	went	do	did
have	had	see	saw
come	came	get	got

Examples

	English Sentence	English Meaning
	🧴 I put the soap on the sponge.	I placed the soap on the sponge.
	🚿 She took a quick shower after gardening.	She had a shower.
	🔥 They made a fire to burn the leaves.	They started a fire.
	🧺 He brought a basket of clothes to the line.	He carried the clothes.
	🧷 We hung the towels on the rack to dry.	We placed the towels to dry.

Time Expressions

Time expressions signal when an action happened and often appear with the Past Simple. They help place events clearly in the past.

Summary

The Past Simple describes finished actions, habitual past events, and sequences. Regular verbs add -ed, irregular verbs must be learned, and time expressions clarify timing.

Last updated: Fri Oct 24, 2025