Simple Past Tense

Introduction

The simple past tense is your go-to tense for telling stories and talking about things that happened in the past! We use it for completed actions that occurred before now.

How to form it:

Regular verbs: Add -ed to the base form: walk → walked, play → played
Irregular verbs: These have special forms you need to learn: go → went, eat → ate, see → saw

Key idea: The action is finished. It doesn't matter if it was recent (yesterday) or long ago (100 years ago) – what matters is that it's complete!

Examples

Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.
My grandmother visited us last year.
He lived in Kandy in 2010.
We went to the beach yesterday.

Time Expressions with Simple Past

When you use simple past, you usually mention when something happened. Here are common time expressions:

Examples

Specific point in time: yesterday, last week, last month, last year, two days ago, in 2020

We watched a good film last week.

Yesterday, I went to Colombo.

She finished her work at seven o'clock.

I ate string hoppers this morning.

General past time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago, once upon a time

I saw her at the market the other day.

People used oil lamps a long time ago.

She called me ages ago.

For past habits: often, sometimes, always, usually

I sometimes walked home after school.

She often brought her lunch from home.

They always played cricket on Sundays.

How to Form Sentences

Affirmative (Positive) Sentences

I drank...
You drank...
We drank...
They drank...
He drank...
She drank...
It drank...

Note: In simple past, the verb form is the same for all subjects (no -s for he/she/it)!

Interrogative (Questions)

Did I drink...?
Did you drink...?
Did we drink...?
Did they drink...?
Did he drink...?
Did she drink...?
Did it drink...?

Note: Use "did" + base form of the verb for all subjects.

Negative Sentences

I didn't drink... (I did not drink...)
You didn't drink... (You did not drink...)
We didn't drink... (We did not drink...)
They didn't drink... (They did not drink...)
He didn't drink... (He did not drink...)
She didn't drink... (She did not drink...)
It didn't drink... (It did not drink...)

Note: Use "didn't" + base form of the verb for all subjects.