The past simple

The past simple, also called the simple past, is the tense you reach for most when you talk about the past. It describes something that started and finished at a known time before now. The good news is that the form barely changes: unlike many languages, English uses one past simple form for every person.

How to form the past simple

For regular verbs, you add -ed to the base form. That is the whole rule, and it is the same for I, you, he, she, it, we and they.

So I worked, she worked, they worked are all identical. There is no extra -s for he or she the way there is in the present.

Spelling rules for -ed

The -ed ending has a few spelling adjustments worth learning:

A vowel + y does not change: play becomes played, not "plaied". And the doubling rule only applies after a short, stressed vowel, so stop becomes stopped but open stays opened (the stress is on the first syllable). British English also doubles a final -l after a single vowel whatever the stress: travel becomes travelled and cancel becomes cancelled (American English writes traveled, canceled).

The three pronunciations of -ed

The spelling is always -ed, but it is said in three different ways depending on the sound before it:

Only the third group adds an extra syllable. Wanted has two beats; worked has one.

Irregular verbs

Many common verbs do not follow the -ed rule. You simply have to learn their past forms, but the comfort is that the form is still the same for every person: I went, you went, he went, they went.

The most frequent verbs in English are usually irregular, so these are worth memorising early. There is no shortcut: go becomes went, not "goed". The full list, with the past participles you will need later, is on the irregular verbs page.

Was and were: the past of "be"

The verb be is the one exception that does change by person. It has two past forms:

I was at home. They were late. She was a teacher. The negatives are wasn't and weren't, and questions invert the verb: Was he there? Were you tired? Note that be does not use did; it makes its own questions and negatives.

Questions and negatives: the auxiliary "did"

For every verb except be, you form questions and negatives with the auxiliary did (the past of do). This is the part learners most often get wrong. (The one exception is a question where the question word is the subject: Who called you? and What happened? need no did.)

The key rule: once you use did, the main verb returns to its base form. The past tense is already carried by did, so the main verb does not need it too.

• Question: Did you go? Did she finish? Did they know?
• Negative: I didn't go. He didn't finish. We didn't know.

So it is Did you go? and never "Did you went?". The form "did + past verb" puts the past in two places at once, which English does not allow.

Time expressions that signal the past simple

Certain words point to a finished past time and almost always take the past simple:

• yesterday (I saw him yesterday.)
• last week / last year (We met last week.)
• in 2010 (She graduated in 2010.)
• two days ago (He called two days ago.)
• ago in general (They moved here ten years ago.)

If a sentence pins the action to a specific finished time like these, the past simple is the natural choice.