SIMPLE PAST
Uses
We use it for narratives or actions from long periods in the past, such as the Spanish past imperfect.
I worked for many years in a museum.
We also use it for repeated or habitual actions in the past, as the Spanish past imperfect is used.
We always traveled to Cancun for vacation when we were young
The past simple is used for a series of actions in the past.
I received the good news and immediately called my husband
Generally, we use it with adverbs of time like “last year”, “yesterday”, “last night”
om stayed at home last night.
Did they walk to school this morning?
I didn’t go to the party yesterday.
Kate worked last Saturday.
Pronunciation
With infinitives that end in "d" or "t", we pronounce the "e" as an "i".
ended[endid]
waited[weitid]
With infinitives ending in "b", "g", "l", "m", "n", "v", "z" (voiced consonants, except "d") or a vowel, we pronounce only the " d ".
yelled[jeld]
cleaned[klind]
With infinitives that end in "p", "f", "k" or "s" (voiceless consonants, except "t") we pronounce the ending "-ed" as a "t".
looked[lukt]
kissed[kisst]
We pronounce the ending “-ed” differently depending on the letter that goes to the end of the infinitive. In general the "e" is silent
Form
With verbs that end in a consonant and an "y", the "y" is changed to an "i".
If the verb ends in a short vowel and a consonant (except "y" or "w"), we double the final consonant.
stop → stopped
commit → committed
For verbs that end in an "e", we just add "-d".
change → changed
believe → believed
To form the past simple with regular verbs, we use the infinitive and add the ending “-ed”. The form is the same for all people (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).
want → wanted
stay → stayed
learn → learned
BIBLIOGRAFIÁ Cursos_ingles.com. (s.f.). Obtenido de https://www.curso-ingles.com/aprender/cursos/nivel-intermedio/verb-tenses-past/past-simple
Structure
Interrogative Sentences
Verbo auxiliar (to do) + sujeto + verbo principal (en infinitivo)
Did you want to dance
Did you believe him
Did they learn English
To be
To be” + sujeto
Was she a doctor
All the verbs
Sujeto + verbo auxiliar (to do) + “not” + verbo principal (en infinitivo)…
I didn’t want to dance.
I didn’t buy a blue car.
We didn’t believe him.
They didn’t learn English.
The verb "to have got"
that in the present simple it follows the same rules as the verb “to be”, it cannot be used in the past tense. To indicate possession in the past, we use the verb "to have".
Negative Sentences
Sujeto + “to be” + “not”…
She wasn’t a doctor.
The keys weren’t in the drawer.
Affirmative Sentences
Sujeto + verbo principal
She was a doctor.
I bought a blue car
We believed him.
They learned English.
I wanted to dance.
The keys were in the drawer.
English has several irregular verbs in the past simple that are common verbs. There is no simple rule to deduce the past simple in English of these verbs and therefore they must be memorized. Here are some of the most common verbs to start with, but there are many more.
drive - conducir
drove
speak - hablar
spoke
eat - comer
ate
get - tomar/recibir
got
take - tomar
took
see - ver
saw
To have - tener
had
The past simple in English is equivalent to the past imperfect and past indefinite in Spanish. We use the past simple for complete actions in the past. The time period of these actions is not important as in Spanish. In the past simple there are regular verbs and irregular verbs.
