ESEN
Blog
Past Simple in English: Regular Verbs, Irregular Verbs, Negative, and Questions
Used for actions that finished in the past: regular verbs add -ed, irregular verbs change form.
Written by Bryan López, Profesor de inglés · Updated
The Past Simple is used for actions that already finished in the past: I worked yesterday. Regular verbs add -ed (work → worked), irregular verbs change form without following any rule (go → went).
Regular vs. irregular
Spelling of -ed for regular verbs
Publicidad
Practice the Past Simple with real audio
Interactive exercises, real pronunciation, and the full lesson taught in English.
Negative and questions (regular and irregular alike)
Some common irregular verbs
go → went, have → had, do → did, see → saw, eat → ate, make → made. They don't follow any spelling rule, you have to memorize them one by one.
Common mistakes learners make
Adding -ed to an irregular verb out of habit, saying "goed" instead of "went." It's also common to use the past form of the main verb after did in negatives and questions: "Did you went?" is wrong, the verb stays in its base form because did already carries the past marker: "Did you go?"
Publicidad
Frequently asked questions
How do you form the Past Simple with regular verbs?
By adding -ed at the end of the verb: work → worked, play → played.
What are irregular verbs in the Past Simple?
They're verbs that change form without following any spelling rule: go → went, have → had, see → saw. You have to memorize them.
How do you make the Past Simple negative?
With didn't + the base form of the verb, for any subject and any verb: I didn't go, she didn't work.
How do you ask questions in the Past Simple?
With did at the front + subject + base verb: Did you go? Did she work?
Why do you say "Did you go?" and not "Did you went?"
Because "did" already carries the past marker. The main verb stays in its base form in questions and negatives, never in the past tense.
Does the verb to be follow the same rules?
No, the verb to be in the past (was/were) has its own rules for negatives and questions, different from did/didn't.
Practice the Past Simple with real audio
Interactive exercises, real pronunciation, and the full lesson taught in English.