Simple past ( I did )

UNIT 11 Simple past (I did)

Study this example:

Tom: Look! It's raining again.
Ann: Oh no, not again. It rained all day yesterday too.

Rained is the simple past tense. We use the simple past to talk about actions or situations in the past.

• I enjoyed the party very much.

• Mr. Brown died ten years ago.

• When I lived in Athens, I worked in a bank.

Very often the simple past ends in -ed:

• We invited them to our party, but they decided not to come.

• The police stopped me on my way home last night.

• She passed her exam because she studied very hard.

But many important verbs are irregular. This means that the simple past does not end in -ed:
 
leave---->left           We all left the party at 11:00.

go---->went              Last month I went to Rome to see a friend of mine.

cost---->cost            This house cost $75,000 in 1980.


The past of the verb be (am/is/are) is was/were:

  I/he/she/it was                               we/you/they were
I was angry because                      Tom and Ann were late.

In simple past questions and negatives we use did/didn't  + the base form (do/open, etc.)

it rained                    did it rain?                  it didn't rain

Ann: Did you go out last night, Tom?
Tom: Yes, I went to the movies. But I didn't enjoy it.

• When did Mrs. Johnson die 

• What did you do over the weekend?

• We didn't invite her to the party, so she didn't come.

• Why didn't you call me on Tuesday?

Note that we normally use did/didn't with have:

• Did you have time to write the letter?

• I didn't have enough money to buy anything to eat.

But we do not use did with the verb be (was/were)

• Why were you so angry?

• Was Mark at work yesterday?

• They weren't able to come because they were very busy.