Past Simple Tense: Rules & Examples

1. Structure

✓ Affirmative

Subject + Verb (V2 / -ed)

👉 I played tennis yesterday.

👉 She went to Paris in 2015.

✗ Negative

Subject + did not + Verb (V1)

👉 We didn't play tennis.

👉 He didn't go to Paris.

? Question

Did + Subject + Verb (V1)?

👉 Did you play tennis?

👉 Did she go to Paris?

2. Past Verbs (V2 / -ed)

Type	Rule	Example
Regular	Add -ed	work ➔ worked
Regular (-e)	Just add -d	like ➔ liked
Irregular	Learn 2nd column	go ➔ went see ➔ saw

3. Time Markers

yesterday

last week/month

2 days ago

in 2010

when I was a child

Where to put them?

At the end (most common): I bought a car last year.
At the beginning (for emphasis): Yesterday, I stayed at home.

4. Use Cases Explained

1. Finished Action

An action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

I saw a great movie yesterday.

2. Sequence of Events

A list of completed actions that happened one after another in a story.

I woke up, washed my face, and left.

3. Past Habits

Things you did regularly in the past, but not anymore.

I played tennis every day when I was young.

4. Past Facts or States

Facts or situations that were true in the past.

He was a teacher before he became a writer.

📖 Context Practice: The Museum Mystery

Last night, a mysterious man entered the city museum. He walked slowly through the dark halls and stopped in front of the golden mask. He took a small tool from his pocket and opened the glass box. The alarm did not ring. He grabbed the mask and ran towards the exit. Two minutes later, the police arrived at the scene, but they found nothing. Did anyone see him? A security guard heard a strange noise, but he thought it was just the wind.

Vocabulary Focus:

Grab – to take something quickly and roughly.

Scene – the place where an incident or crime happened.

Past Simple

How it looks on a timeline: