错误Past tense

Simple Past Tense

The

Simple Past Tense

, often just called the

Past Tense

, is easy to use in English.

In general, the

Past Tense

is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.

How to form the Past Tense in English

For example: The past tense of the verb

want

is

wanted

.

Wanted

is used as the past tense for all subjects/pronouns.

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I wanted

You wanted

He wanted

She wanted

It wanted

We wanted

They wanted

So you just have to learn one word to be able to use it in the past tense. In this case we just needed to learn the one

word

wanted

which can be used for all subjects (or people).

Past Tense Regular Verbs

To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add

–

ED to the end of the verb.

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play

–

played

cook

–

cooked

rain

–

rained

wait

–

waited

Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense

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Last night I

played

my guitar loudly and the neighbors

complained

.

She

kissed

me on the cheek.

It

rained

yesterday.

Angela

watched

TV all night.

John

wanted

to go to the museum.

Negative sentences in the Past Tense

We use

didn't (did not)

to make a negative sentence in the past tense.

This is for regular AND irregular verbs in English.

(Exception is

To Be

and Modal Verbs such as

Can

)

Compare the following:

Present: They

don't

live in Canada.

Past: They

didn't

live in Canada.

The main verb (

live

in the example above) is in its base form (of the infinitive). The auxiliary

DIDN'T

shows that the

sentence is negative AND in the past tense.

NOTICE: The only difference between a negative sentence in the present tense and a negative sentence in the

past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.

Both

don't

and

doesn't

in the present tense become

didn't

in the past tense.

Compare the negative sentences in the examples below:

Present: You

don't

need a mechanic.

Past: You

didn't

need a mechanic.

Present: You

don't

walk to work.

Past: You

didn't

walk to work.

Present: He

doesn't

speak Japanese.

Past: He

didn't

speak Japanese.

Examples of negative sentences in the Past Tense

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I

didn't

want to go to the dentist.

She

didn't

have time.

You

didn't

close the door.

He

didn't

come to my party.

They

didn't

study so they

didn't

pass the test.

We

didn't

sleep well last night.