Simple Past Tense Learn English Grammar
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Hi, everybody!
My name is Alisha, today we’re gonna be talking
about simple past tense.
We’re gonna talk about how to make simple
past tense statements in English.
So let’s get started!
Okay, so first, let’s talk about when we should
use the simple past tense.
Simple past tense statements for today are
for actions that started and ended in the
past, so these are things that both started
or began and ended in the past, both of those
must be true to use simple past tense.
The second point for today is these are actions
which happened at a specific point in time,
so a specific point in time can be yesterday,
it can be an hour ago, it can be last year,
it can be when you were a kid, all of these
are a specific point in time, but the key
is that we know when the action happened.
So specific point in time is point two for
this grammar point.
Third, we can use simple past tense for repeated
actions in the past.
So things you did every week or every month,
or every year, every summer, every hour, if
you like, but one point about this, make sure
to include a frequency indicator if you want
to talk about an action that repeated in the
past.
Frequency indicator, for example, I just mentioned
a few, every week, every month, every year.
So frequency, meaning how often, an indicator
shows how often you did that.
So you can use repeated actions with past
tense to show, let’s see, something you did
a lot in the past, for example.
So to give you a visual, the past is down
here, now is this point here, and future is
up here.
When we use the simple past tense it’s an
action that started and ended in the past
somewhere before now, that’s one.
It’s at a specific point in time, so this
action and this action, we know when they
happened, it could be this morning, it could
be yesterday, for example, but we know when
these actions happen.
Third, we can use for repeated action, so
maybe these actions repeat, but we know when
the repetition happened, we know when we repeated
these actions, so it’s okay to use simple
past tense to describe those.
Okay, so now we know when we should use simple
past tense, we know why we should use simple
past tense, but how do we make simple past
tense statements?
So, when you want to use the simple past tense
to explain an action that happened in the
past, you need to conjugate your verb, you
need to change your verb.
So that means when you’re using a regular
verb, you do verb + ed.
So verb + ed is the basic form for simple
past tense verbs, but keep in mind this is
only for regular verbs, not all verbs are
regular verbs.
So, for example, some common ones are talk,
which becomes talked; start which become started;
and enjoy which becomes enjoyed.
Please be careful, however, you’ll notice
that the past tense form of verbs has a few
different pronunciations, so, for example,
start becomes started, it has an ID sound
it’s not an ED sound, but an ID sound.
You might hear a word like walked, also, which
has a sort of T sound about it; walk becomes
walked; started becomes started; an ID sound.
And then there’s also a sound like in breathed,
a very soft D sound.
So there are three past tense verb sounds
to listen for, an ID sound, started; a soft
D sound like breathed; and then a more hard
T sound like walked.
So pay attention to that when you’re trying
to make these past tense verb conjugations.
Ok, but some verbs are irregular verbs.
Irregular verbs do not have a simple rule
for understanding past tense conjugation.
How to change them in past tense, there’s
no rule for these, you simply have to practice,
you have to remember them, read them, listen
to them until you can remember the correct
conjugation, the correct way to change these
verbs into the past tense.
So, for example, some common ones are eat,
which becomes ate; speak becomes spoke; and
make becomes made.
If you see a verb somewhere that seems a little
odd, or you’re not sure what the present tense
form would be, you can check a dictionary
and try to remember it from there.
So, now we’ve talked about simple past tense,
irregular and regular verbs, let’s try to
use them to make some sentences.
I’ve prepared a few example sentences, so
let’s take a look.
Okay, first sentence, He ______ a towel and
sunglasses to the beach.
So the verb here is bring, I want to use the
verb “bring.”
Bring, however, is an irregular verb, so I
can’t use the ED rule for regular verbs; the
correct conjugation is brought.
He brought a towel and sunglasses to the beach.
This is the correct conjugation here, so bring
is an irregular verb.
Okay, let’s go to the next sentence.
They ______ to the gym every day last week.
So here, I’m showing you a repeated action,
here I’m using every day, this is a frequency
indicator, how often did I do that action;
and last week shows the specific point in
time.
So I’m using both of these two points, in
addition to a simple past, the basic simple
past structure here.
So the verb that we want to use here is “go,”
but go is an irregular verb so we can’t use
go-ed, for example.
Go changes to went in the past tense, so went
is the correct answer for this sentence here.
Okay, let’s try the next one.
I ______ to tell my boss about my schedule.
So the verb I want to use here is “forget.”
Forget is a very useful word, I think, to
remember.
But again, forget is not a regular verb, forget
is an irregular verb, so we cannot use the
ED form.
Forget in the past tense becomes forgot.
Ok, so, I forgot to tell my boss about my
schedule is the correct sentence here.
Alright!
Let’s go to something a little bit different,
here’s a negative sentence.
I don’t think they _______ a reservation at
the restaurant.
Ok, so here I’m using a phrase, I want to
use the phrase “make a reservation,” to make
a reservation.
So the verb here is “make,” this was one of
my example verbs for the irregular form.
So make becomes made.
I don’t think they made a reservation at the
restaurant is the correct verb form to use
here.
All right, the next sentence, we ______ junk
food almost every day last month.
So here, again, I have every day, but I have
almost here, so almost every day, not every
day but close to every day.
And then last month, last month is my specific
point in time in this case.
So here we have junk food, that means that
the verb we want to use is probably eat, and
we learned that eat is an irregular verb,
there’s no rule for conjugating this, we just
know that eat becomes ate.
We ate junk food almost every day last month.
Great.
Okay.
So next sentence has two spaces for verbs,
actually.
Okay, so the next sentence that I’ve prepared
I included because a lot of my students asked
about how to report information.
When you want to report information, share
something that you heard from a friend, a
past tense action, you need to conjugate the
reporting verb, for example, say becomes said,
or hear becomes heard.
You need to conjugate this verb and you need
to conjugate the information that you heard.
So there are two past-tense conjugations that
should happen when you report information.
Let’s take a look.
So here we have She _____ she _____ a great
time at the party.
So, here, she ____ a great time at the party,
so we used the expression “to have a great
time.”
To have a great time, again, have is an irregular
verb so we conjugate it to had.
She had a great time at the party.
Okay, but then to report your speech, so someone
gave you information, past tense, give becomes
gave you information, so the verb for giving
information, a neutral way to pass information
is “say.”
So to conjugate say into the past tense, it’s
an irregular verb, so we use said.
Say becomes said, so she said she had a great
time at the party.
Okay.
Please be careful of your pronunciation with
the word said, a lot of people I’ve heard
use say-d.
Say-d is not correct, so please use said.
It sounds like SED, the pronunciation, but
it’s said, SAID is the spelling.
Say becomes said.
She said she had a great time at the party.
Ok, so last one.
Okay, so the last example sentence for today
includes spaces for a few different verbs.
I included this because I wanted to show you
that you can use a lot of different information
in one sentence, just by connecting your past
tense verbs together.
So let’s take a look.
Okay.
Yesterday I _____ late, _____ shopping, and
_____ to my mother.
Okay, so the verbs I want to use for this
sentence are sleep, “go,” and “speak.”
These are all irregular verbs, there are no
regular verbs in this sentence.
So sleep in past tense becomes slept; go in
past tense becomes went; and speak in past
tense becomes spoke.
So here, in one sentence, I have explained
three things about my day yesterday.
Yesterday I slept late, I went shopping, and
I spoke to my mother.
So you can explain a lot of things with past
tense and a few connecting words, in this
case, I’ve just used “and” to connect the
last two things in this sentence.
So please keep this in mind when you’re sharing
information about your past events.
So today we talked about the simple past tense,
and we talked about how to conjugate both
regular and irregular verbs.
It might seem a little bit difficult to understand
which verbs are regular and which verbs are
irregular, but with some practice it will
become easier.
So I hope that you enjoyed this video, if
you have any questions or comments, please
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