In this post, you will discover how to use the past simple tense to talk about actions and events that already happened. With simple rules, examples, and engaging activities, this lesson makes English grammar for kids (and adults) fun and easy to understand. 🦊🎨🧁
Whether you want to say “I played,” “She visited,” or “We watched,” you’ll learn how to use regular and irregular verbs in the past — step by step! Great for ESL teachers, parents, and young learners who want to learn English grammar in an easy way.
We use the past simple to talk about actions that happened in the past – like yesterday, last week, in 2002 or two days ago.
We use the past simple to talk about:
• A completed action in the past
→ I watched a movie last night.
• A past habit or routine
→ He always walked to school when he was a child.
There are regular verbs and irregular verbs. This is very important in the affirmative form.
✅ Affirmative Sentences
subject + past simple verb
• I visited my cousin yesterday. (visit is a regular verb; visit - visited)
• They went to the cinema last night. (go is an irregular verb; go - went)
REMEMBER
Most verbs are regular. To make the past form, just add -ed to the base verb.
play - played clean - cleaned stop - stopped love - loved cry - cried
Some verbs do not follow the regular rules. You have to learn them!
go - went see - saw speak - spoken have - had eat - ate write - wrote
❌ Negative Sentences
subject + did not (didn't) + base verb
• I didn't go to school.
• She didn't play football.
❓ Questions
Did + subject + base verb?
• Did you visit your grandmother?
• Did he write the book?
🗨️ Short Answers
• Yes, I/you/he/she/it/ we/they did.
• No, I/you/he/she/it/ we/they didn’t.
COMMON MISTAKES
We never use the past simple form of the verb in negative and interrogative sentences.
• I didn’t
• Did you
Also, the verb “to be” is special:
✔️ I was tired yesterday.
❌ She wasn’t tired yesterday.
❓ Were you tired yesterday?
TIP
We use time expressions to show when the action happened:
• yesterday → She called me yesterday.
• last night / last week / last year → They went to Paris last year.
• … ago → He left two days ago.
• in 2005 / in January → I moved here in 2020.
• when I was a child → I played outside a lot when I was a child.
