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Past Simple

1 min
A1
CEFR A1·tenses
Time frame
completed past
PastNowFuture

Formula

I / You / He / She / It / We / They
(walked, played, worked)

Examples

Positive
I walked to school yesterday.
Negative
I did not see the movie.
Question
Did you go to the party last night?

Common Time Markers

yesterday
last week
in 2020
ago
last night

Usage

  • •Completed actions in the past
  • •Past events at a specific time
  • •Actions that happened one after another

More Examples

  • We visited Paris last summer.

    Completed trip at a specific time

  • She didn't call me yesterday.

    Negative completed action

  • Did he finish his homework?

    Question about a past action

  • I woke up, ate breakfast, and left the house.

    Actions that happened one after another

  • They lived in Germany for two years.

    Situation that is now finished

Common Mistakes

  • ✗Using "did" + past tense: "Did you went?" should be "Did you go?".
  • ✗Irregular verbs: "I goed" should be "I went"; "She buyed" should be "She bought".

Tips

  • ✓Memorise common irregular verbs (go→went, buy→bought, see→saw).
  • ✓Use time markers like "yesterday" or "last week" to confirm Past Simple is correct.

Advanced Notes

The critical difference from Present Perfect is that Past Simple requires a finished time frame — "I saw her yesterday" (specific) vs "I've seen her" (unspecified). British and American English diverge here: British speakers often prefer Present Perfect for recent events ("I've just eaten"), while Americans use Past Simple ("I just ate"). Irregular verb mastery is the main bottleneck for learners at this level.

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Compare With

Present Perfect(B1)Past Continuous(A2)