Past Simple
- The Past Simple mostly helps us describe general information in the past. What does “general information” mean?
- Let’s examine the following sentence: “I liked chess (when I was a kid)” This statement was true in general at a point in time in the past (when I was a kid). This was true at that point in time, before it and as far as I knew after it. All of the clauses below abide by this principle with the exception of one.
We use the Past Simple to talk about:
- Facts in a specific time in the past.
- Frequency of actions\habits in the past. (Used To is preferred)
- Constant situations in the past.
- Narrative of story\Chronological actions in the past.
- Defining sentences in the past with was, were.
I was in New York last year at Christmas. (fact in a specific time in the past) | In the 90’s, Israel bought weapons from the U.S. (fact in a specific time in the past) |
I went to English lessons twice a week. (Past habit) | They went swimming every Friday. (Past habit) |
I lived in New York back then. (State in past) | He worked as a teacher in 2005. (State in past) |
Jordan passed to Pippen, Pippen drove the ball to the hoop and dunked the ball. (narrative/chronological actions in the past) | He got up at 8:00, washed his face, got dressed and went to work. (narrative/chronological actions in the past) |
I was a student \ She was happy. (defining sentence in past) | They were here. \ He was from New York. (defining sentence in past) |
Past Simple Structure:
I studied at Bright English. | I didn’t study at Bright English. | Did I study at Bright English? |
Yoni and I(we)studied at Bright English. | We didn’t study at Bright English. | Did we study at Bright English? |
You studied at Bright English. | You didn’t study at Bright English. | Did you study at Bright English? |
The men(they)studied at Bright English. | They didn’t study at Bright English. | Did they study at Bright English? |
Ben (he) studied at Bright English. | He didn’t study at Bright English. | Did he study at Bright English? |
Maya (she) studied at Bright English. | She didn’t study at Bright English. | Did she study at Bright English? |
The computer (it) studied well. | It didn’t study well. | Did it study well? |
Past Simple Rules:
Subject + v2
- We use did to make questions.
- We use didn’t to make negatives.
- I, we, you, they, he, she, it = did.
- I, we, you, they, he, she, it = didn’t.
- The auxiliaries (helping verbs) did\didn’t cancel the d,ed,ied\v2 form. (I took\I didn’t take)
- There are 2 kinds of verbs in the past: A) regular verbs —> (study –> studied.) B) Irregular verbs —> (take 🡪 took \ see 🡪 saw \ break 🡪 broke) <— We must memorize these.
- D,ED,IED rules – 1) most verbs take ED (develop->developed) 2) verbs ending with the letter E take only D ( like->liked), 3) verbs ending with a consonant + Y take IED. (Cry🡪cried.)
- Was\were negatives and questions are made differently than all other sentences in the Past Simple:
I was not a student | was I a student? | She wasn’t happy | was she happy? | They weren’t here | were they here? | He wasn’t from New York | was he from New York?
Common time expressions and frequency adverbs in the Present Simple
Last Sunday\week\weekend\month\year. In 1992\3 etc. in the nineteenth century, in the 60’s, when I was a _____ ,always, very often, often, usually, sometimes, occasionally, every now and then, every now and again, seldom, hardly ever, rarely, never.
