Past Simple - Regular Verbs - Formation, Use, Examples & Video

Q: How is the ‘-ed’ ending pronounced?

Three ways: /t/ after unvoiced sounds (worked), /d/ after voiced sounds (played), and /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted, needed).

Q: Past simple or present perfect?

Use the past simple with a finished time (I saw him yesterday) and the present perfect when the time is unfinished or unstated (I've seen him).

I Swear English › Verb Tenses › Past Simple - Regular Verbs

How to form the past simple

How To Form The Past Simple:

To form the past simple affirmative of the present simple take a subject (I, you, the dog, my friends...) and after that put the compliment of the verb with ...ed added to the end (jumped). Like this we get I jumped. To construct negative sentences, take a subject (I, you, the dog, my friends...), then put the auxiliary did, next put not and finally put the compliment of the verb (jump). Do not add ...ed to the end of the verb. Like this we get I did not jump. To make questions use the auxiliary did, followed by a subject, followed by the compliment (no ...ed) of the verb. Did I jump? If you wish you can put a question word before to give: When did I jump? How far did I jump? The table below shows the form of the past simple:

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I jumped	I did not jump	Did I jump?
You jumped	You did not jump	Did you jump?
He jumped	He did not jump	Did he jump?
She jumped	She did not jump	Did she jump?
It jumped	It did not jump	Did it jump?
We jumped	We did not jump	Did we jump?
You jumped	You did not jump	Did you jump?
They jumped	They did not jump	Did they jump?

The following video explains how to form the past simple:

When to use it

Completed actions in the past, at a finished time. I visited Paris last year.
A sequence of past events, one after another. She woke up, got dressed and left.
Past habits and states. We lived in Spain when I was a child.

Signal words & time expressions: yesterday, last week, last year, two days ago, in 2010, when I was young, then

Watch the video lesson

Video transcript

How to form the past simple for regular verbs. To make affirmative, positive statements, take a subject I, then take the compliment, the verb in the infinitive without to and add ...ed. So for this example we are going to use the verb to jump. So jump plus ...ed jumped. So past simple affirmative of jump, I jumped. Notice the pronunciation jumped not jump...ed, jumped, yea? Jump...ed is a very common mistake, particularly among my students. So be careful of that. So I jumped, second person you jumped, he jumped, she jumped, it jumped, we jumped, you jumped, they jumped. So no changes, it's easy. To make negatives use the auxiliary verb did, OK? And then after that put not. So take your subject I, then your auxiliary did, then your not and then the compliment of the verb, the infinitive without to. But this time no ...ed. So to make a negative statement in the past, I did not jump, This can be shortened to I didn't jump. For second person you did not jump, you didn't jump. He didn't jump, she did not jump, it did not jump, we did not jump, you did not jump, they did not jump. To make questions swap, change the place of the subject and the did, change positions. So, to make a question in the past simple, the interrogative, did I jump? Did you jump? Did he jump? Did she jump? Did it jump? Did we jump? Did you jump? Did they jump? Ok? So that's how to form the past simple with regular verbs in English. I'll see you in the next videos which will talk about when to use the past simple and when and how to use irregular verbs in the past simple. See you soon.

Common mistakes to avoid

Not quite…	Better
I ~~didn't went~~ out.	I didn't go out. — after did / didn't, use the base verb, not the past form.
~~When you did arrive?~~	When did you arrive? — the auxiliary did comes before the subject in questions.

Frequently asked questions

How is the ‘-ed’ ending pronounced?

Three ways: /t/ after unvoiced sounds (worked), /d/ after voiced sounds (played), and /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted, needed).

Past simple or present perfect?

Use the past simple with a finished time (I saw him yesterday) and the present perfect when the time is unfinished or unstated (I've seen him).

Continue the course

This lesson is part of our free English Verb Tenses course — work through it in order or jump to what you need next.

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