Past Simple
[A2] Past Simple in English grammar teaches how to form the simple past with regular and irregular verbs, and how to use it in statements, negations, and questions. This module covers usage, rules, pronunciation, and common time expressions.
Purpose
The Past Simple is used to talk about finished actions and situations in the past. The time is understood as “before now,” and the action or state is complete. It is common when you say when something happened or when the sequence of events is clear from context.
一般用过去简单时来谈论过去已经完成的动作和情形。时间被理解为“现在之前”，动作或状态已完成。当你说明某事发生的时间，或从上下文就能看出事件序列时，这种时态很常用。
Time Markers
Past Simple often appears with finished-time expressions that point to a completed past period. These markers help listeners place the action at a specific past time or within a finished past timeframe. You can also use Past Simple without a marker when the past time is clear from the conversation.
过去时常与指向已完成过去时间段的完成时间表达搭配出现。这些标记帮助听众将动作置于特定的过去时间，或在已完成的过去时间范围内。若对话中清楚地指明了过去的时间，也可以在没有标记的情况下使用过去时。
Word/Phrase | 🇨🇳 中文 单词/短语 | Definition | 🇨🇳 中文 定义 | Example | 🇨🇳 中文 示例 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 yesterday | 🕒 昨天 | one day before today | 🕒 今天之前的一天 | I called you yesterday. | 🕒 我昨天给你打过电话。 |
| last week | 🕒 上周 | in the week before this one | 🕒 在这个周之前的那一周 | We met last week. | 🕒 我们上周见过面。 |
| in 2019 | 🕒 2019年 | at a specific year in the past | 🕒 过去某一具体年份 | She moved to London in 2019. | 🕒 她在2019年搬到伦敦。 |
| two hours ago | 🕒 两小时前 | a finished time before now | 🕒 自现在以前的一个完成时间 | He left two hours ago. | 🕒 他两小时前离开了。 |
| when I was a child | 🕒 当我还是孩子时 | during a finished past life period | 🕒 在一个已结束的过去时间段内 | When I was a child, I loved comics. | 🕒 我小时候喜欢漫画。 |
Regular Verbs
Most verbs form the Past Simple by adding -ed to the base form. Spelling changes happen with verbs ending in -e, verbs ending in consonant plus -y, and some one-syllable verbs that double the final consonant. The pronunciation of -ed can change, but the spelling is still -ed.
大多数动词通过在基本形式后加 -ed 来构成过去式。以 -e 结尾的动词、以辅音字母后接 -y 的动词，以及某些单音节动词在末尾辅音字母重复时，会发生拼写变化。-ed 的发音可能会变化，但拼写仍然是 -ed。
填空题
Irregular Verbs
Many common verbs have an irregular Past Simple form that must be memorized because it does not follow the -ed pattern. The Past Simple form stays the same for all subjects. Learning the most frequent irregular verbs quickly improves accuracy and comprehension.
许多常用动词具有不规则的过去式形式，必须记忆，因为它并不遵循 -ed 的规律。过去简单时的形式对所有主语都保持不变。快速掌握最常用的不规则动词可以显著提高准确性和理解力。
Affirmative Form
Affirmative Past Simple uses the past form of the main verb: regular -ed forms or irregular forms. The verb form does not change with I, you, he, she, it, we, or they. Word order is the same as in the present: subject + verb + object or complement.
肯定形式的过去简单时使用主要动词的过去式：规则的 -ed 形式或不规则形式。动词形式在 I、you、he、she、it、we、they 时不变。词序与现在时相同：主语 + 谓语 + 宾语或补语。
Negative Form
Negative Past Simple is formed with did not or didn’t plus the base form of the main verb. The main verb does not take -ed in negatives because did already shows past time. This pattern is the same for all subjects.
过去时的否定形式由 did not（或 didn’t）加上动词的基本形式组成。主谓动词在否定句中不带 -ed，因为 did 已经表示了过去时间。这个规律对所有主语都相同。
Rule | 🇨🇳 中文 规则 | Example | 🇨🇳 中文 示例 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Use did not or didn’t plus base verb | 📌 使用 did not 或 didn’t 加基本动词 | I didn’t watch the film. | 📌 我没有看这部电影。 |
| Do not use a past verb form after didn’t | 📌 在 didn’t 之后不使用过去时动词形式 | She didn’t go home early. | 📌 她没有早早回家。 |
| Place not after did in formal writing | 📌 在正式写作中把 not 放在 did 之后 | They did not agree. | 📌 他们没有达成一致。 |
填空题
Questions
Most Past Simple questions use did plus the subject plus the base form of the verb. Like negatives, the main verb stays in the base form because did carries the past meaning. Wh- questions use a question word first, then did, then subject, then base verb.
大多数过去时的疑问句以 did 加主语，再加动词原形来构成。与否定句一样，主动词保持原形，因为 did 本身表示了过去的含义。Wh- 疑问句先用疑问词，然后是 did，再是主语，最后是动词原形。
Rule | 🇨🇳 中文 规则 | Example | 🇨🇳 中文 示例 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes no questions use Did plus subject plus base verb | 📌 Yes/No 疑问句使用 Did 加主语再加动词原形 | Did you enjoy the trip? | 📌 你喜欢这次旅行吗？ |
| Wh questions use Wh word plus did plus subject plus base verb | 📌 Wh 疑问句使用 Wh 词 + did + 主语 + 基本动词 | Where did he park? | 📌 他把车停在哪儿？ |
| Short answers use did or didn’t | 📌 简短回答使用 did 或 didn’t | Yes, I did. No, I didn’t. | 📌 是的，我做了。 不，我没做。 |
Verb Be
The verb be is special in the Past Simple: it does not use did in negatives or questions. Use was with I, he, she, it and were with you, we, they. For questions, invert was or were with the subject; for negatives, add not after was or were.
在过去时中，be 动词具有特殊之处：否定句和疑问句不使用 did。与 I、he、she、it 搭配使用 was，而与 you、we、they 搭配使用 were。疑问句时，将 was 或 were 与主语倒装；否定句中在 was 或 were 之后加 not。
Subject | 🇨🇳 中文 主语 | Form | 🇨🇳 中文 形式 | Example | 🇨🇳 中文 示例 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 I | 👤 我 | was | 👤 was | I was tired. | 👤 我很累。 |
| you | 👤 你 | were | 👤 were | You were late. | 👤 你迟到了。 |
| he | 👤 他 | was | 👤 was | He was at home. | 👤 他在家。 |
| she | 👤 她 | was | 👤 was | She was happy. | 👤 她很开心。 |
| it | 👤 它 | was | 👤 was | It was cold. | 👤 它很冷。 |
| we | 👤 我们 | were | 👤 were | We were surprised. | 👤 我们感到吃惊。 |
| they | 👤 他们 | were | 👤 were | They were ready. | 👤 他们准备好了。 |
Completed States
Past Simple can describe past states and repeated or habitual actions that are finished. It is common with stative verbs like know, like, want, and have when the meaning is a past state. For past habits, Past Simple often appears with frequency words or with time periods that are finished.
过去时可以描述过去的状态以及已经完成的重复或习惯性动作。对于表示过去状态的静态动词如 know、like、want、have 时，这种意义很常见。对于过去的习惯，过去时常与频率词或已结束的时间段一起出现。
Narrative Sequence
Past Simple is the main tense for telling stories and describing a sequence of completed events. It helps you present actions in the order they happened, often one after another. This is frequent in anecdotes, news reports, biographies, and instructions about past events.
过去简单时是讲故事和描述一系列已完成事件的主要时态。它帮助你按发生的顺序呈现动作，通常一个接一个。这在趣闻、新闻报道、传记以及关于过去事件的指令中很常见。
