1. Simple Past Tense Chapters 6 & 7, Book 5A New Welcome to English
(Second Edition)

2. Simple Past Tense We use this tense:
to talk about things that happened in the past.
e.g.
People rode in sedan chairs a hundred years ago.
People used lamps in the evenings fifty years ago.

3. Simple Past Tense
If there is no action in the sentence, we use ‘was’ or ‘were’ as the verb.
am / is / are  was / were
e.g.
I was short.

4. Simple Past Tense This tense has only one word.
There are two kinds of past tense verbs:
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs

5. Simple Past Tense Regular verbs Spelling rules Examples base form + ed
walk  walked
play  played
verbs ending in -e + d
like  liked
move  moved
carry  carried
study  studied
verbs ending in a consonant + y 
change y  i + ed
Some verbs ending in
a single consonant +
the second last letter is a vowel
 double the last letter + ed
plan  planned
stop  stopped

6. Simple Past Tense Irregular verbs Spelling rules Examples
no change in base form
put  put
cut  cut
different spelling from the base form
go  went
eat  ate
dig  dug
come  came

7. Base Form Simple Past Tense
Practice
Base Form Simple Past Tense
get
ride
use
travel
listen
try
stop
enjoy
light
got
rode
used
travelled
listened
tried
stopped
enjoyed
lit

8. Simple Past Tense Hint words: yesterday last night last Sunday
last year
ago
Now
yesterday
last night
last year
last Sunday
50 years ago

9. Practice 1 I _______ (sleep) late last night.
2 He _______ (go) to school by bus yesterday.
3 I _______ (have) a dancing lesson last Tuesday.
4 She _______ (watch) a film yesterday.
5 They _______ (learn) to play the piano five years ago.
6 We ________ (make) a big pizza last Sunday.
slept
went
had
watched
learnt
learned
made

10. Simple Past Tense Negative sentences
We add did not to make the sentence negative.
Don’t change the verb after did not.
e.g.
He had a computer lesson last week.
 + not
He did not have a computer lesson last week.

11. Practice 1 I __________ (not go) to school by bus yesterday.
2 She ___________ (not have) a dancing lesson last week.
3 Peter ____________ (not give) any flowers to his mum last Mother’s Day.
4 He ____________ (not watch) the dragon boat races last year.
did not go
did not have
did not give
did not watch

12. Simple Past Tense Questions We use did to make questions.
Don’t change the verb after did.
e.g.
Did people watch TV a hundred years ago?
No, they didn’t.
What did Billy drink last night?
He drank a cup of milk last night.

13. Simple Past Tense Questions
We can also use was or were to make questions.
e.g.
Were they at home last night?
Yes, they were.
Was he happy?
No, he wasn’t.

14. Practice 1 _____ (be) there any computers a hundred years ago?
No, there ______.
2 _____ you ______ (come) to school by MTR yesterday?
Yes, I ____.
3 When ____ Grandpa ____ (get) married?
He __________ when he was fifteen.
Were
weren’t
Did
come
did
did
get
got married

15. Practice 4 How ______ you _________ (travel) when you were young?
I _________ (travel) by bus.
5 _____ you _______ (listen) to the radio last night?
No, I _______.
6 ______ (be) there an MTR eighty years ago?
No, there ________.
did
travel
travelled
Did
listen
didn’t
Was
wasn’t

16. Revision 1 Sam always _____ (ride) his bike in the park.
2 It _____ (be) Mother’s Day last Sunday.
3 _____ you ______ (eat) a pizza last night?
No, I ______.
4 The children _______ (play) football every weekend.
rides
was
Did
eat
didn’t
play

17. Revision 5 My parents _____ (get) married twenty years ago. got
6 ______ (be) Sam and Susan in the office yesterday?
Yes, they ______.
7 Ken ___________ (not do) his homework last night.
8 It ______ (be, not) cold last month.
got
Were
were
did not do
wasn’t