English Tenses · Talk about finished events
Past Simple – Learn & Practise
“I visited my sister.” “She didn’t drive.” “Did you enjoy the lesson?” Learn to talk about completed actions and situations in the past.
100 questions · 10 per round · No sign-in needed
After did or didn’t, use the base verb.
1. What is the Past Simple?
We use the past simple to talk about an action or situation that finished in the past. The time may be stated, or it may be clear from the conversation.
One finished action
“I booked an appointment yesterday.”
“She bought a bus pass last week.”
A sequence of events
“I finished work, collected my son and went home.”
Past habits and situations
“We walked to school every day when I was a child.”
“She worked in a café last summer.”
The past simple can also describe an action that finished earlier today: “I spoke to my manager this morning.” Think about whether the action is finished.
2. Positive sentences: regular and irregular verbs
Subject + past form + the rest of the sentence. Use the same past form with I, you, he, she, it, we and they.
Regular verbs
Most regular verbs add -ed:
work → worked
visit → visited
walk → walked
finish → finished
“He worked yesterday.”
“They worked yesterday.”
Irregular verbs
Learn these forms:
go → went
buy → bought
see → saw
take → took
have → had
“She went home.”
“We went home.”
Be is different: I/he/she/it was; you/we/they were. See the am, is, are, was and were lesson.
3. Positive, negative and question patterns
+ Positive
Subject + past form
I visited my sister.
She bought a ticket.
They went home.
− Negative
Subject + did not + base verb
I didn’t visit my sister.
She didn’t buy a ticket.
They didn’t go home.
? Question
Did + subject + base verb?
Did you visit your sister?
Did she buy a ticket?
Did they go home?
Did not = didn’t. Both are correct. Use the base verb after did or didn’t: buy, not bought; go, not went. Did works with every subject.
“She did the shopping” uses did as the past form of the main verb do. Its negative is “She didn’t do the shopping”, and its question is “Did she do the shopping?”
4. Questions and short answers
Yes/No questions
“Did you enjoy the lesson?” → “Yes, I did.” / “No, I didn’t.”
“Did he call?” → “Yes, he did.” / “No, he didn’t.”
“Did they arrive on time?” → “Yes, they did.” / “No, they didn’t.”
Repeat did in the short answer. You do not need to repeat the main verb. Answer a question about you with I when you are speaking about yourself.
WH-questions
Question word + did + subject + base verb?
- Where did you go yesterday?
- What did she buy?
- When did they arrive?
- Why did he leave early?
- How did you travel to work?
- What time did the lesson start?
When who asks about the subject, the pattern is different: “Who called you?” We do not normally add did to this type of positive subject question.
5. Spelling rules for regular verbs
Usually add -ed
work → worked
help → helped
play → played
enjoy → enjoyed
Final e: add -d
live → lived
arrive → arrived
close → closed
move → moved
Consonant + y: change to -ied
study → studied
carry → carried
try → tried
With a vowel before y, keep y: play → played.
Double some final consonants
stop → stopped
plan → planned
shop → shopped
In many short verbs ending in one vowel + one consonant, double the consonant. Do not double w, x or y: snowed, fixed, played.
British spelling: travel → travelled.
6. Useful irregular verbs
| Base | Past | Example |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | I went to college. |
| come | came | She came early. |
| have | had | We had a lesson. |
| do | did | He did his homework. |
| buy | bought | They bought a car. |
| bring | brought | I brought my ID. |
| take | took | She took the train. |
| make | made | We made lunch. |
| see | saw | He saw the doctor. |
| write | wrote | I wrote a letter. |
| read | read | They read the instructions. |
| put | put | She put the keys away. |
| cut | cut | He cut the paper. |
Read has the same spelling, but a different pronunciation: present read sounds like “reed”; past read sounds like “red”. Put and cut keep the same spelling and pronunciation in the past.
7. Time expressions, pronunciation and common mistakes
Yesterday · last night · last week · last month · two days ago · in 2020
“I visited my family last weekend.” “She started her job two months ago.” Usually say “last week”, not “in last week”.
How do we pronounce -ed?
The -ed ending has three usual sounds:
- /t/: worked, watched, helped.
- /d/: played, cleaned, arrived.
- /ɪd/: wanted, needed, visited.
After a /t/ or /d/ sound, -ed adds an extra syllable: want-ed, need-ed. The final sound of the base verb, rather than its last written letter, determines the pronunciation.
- “She goed home.” → She went home.
- “I didn’t bought it.” → I didn’t buy it.
- “Did they went?” → Did they go?
- “We studyed yesterday.” → We studied yesterday.
- “Where you worked?” → Where did you work?
Remember the exception with be: “Was she tired?” and “She wasn’t tired”. Do not say “Did she be tired?”
Audio uses your device’s English (UK) voice when available. No sound plays automatically.
8. Your practice space
Choose an activity. Each round has 10 questions. Type answers, choose an option or build a sentence. Read the feedback before moving on.
Full forms and standard contractions are accepted. Capital letters and final punctuation do not affect your score. Each answer is checked once per round; you can practise missed questions afterwards.
The final assessment draws from the practice bank. It is a learning check, not a qualification test.
Your round
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10. Print and practise
Use these questions for classwork or homework. The print version includes 20 questions followed by the answer key on a separate page. Use your print settings to save as PDF if you prefer.
View worksheet questions and answers
- Use the past simple: I ___ my sister yesterday. (visit)
Answer: visited - Use the past simple: We ___ to college yesterday. (walk)
Answer: walked - Use the past simple: You ___ English last year. (study)
Answer: studied - Use the past simple: We ___ to the market last Sunday. (go)
Answer: went - Use the past simple: They ___ the train last Monday. (take)
Answer: took - Complete the past simple negative: I ___ television last night. (watch)
Answer: did not watch - Complete the past simple negative: She ___ dinner yesterday. (cook)
Answer: did not cook - Complete the past simple negative: The students ___ their books yesterday. (bring)
Answer: did not bring - Complete the past simple negative: My daughter ___ the letter yesterday. (read)
Answer: did not read - Complete the past simple negative: The teacher ___ us homework yesterday. (give)
Answer: did not give - Complete the past question: ___ you enjoy the lesson yesterday?
Answer: Did - Complete the past question: ___ he do the shopping yesterday?
Answer: Did - Complete the past question: ___ the receptionist book your appointment yesterday?
Answer: Did - Build a past simple question. Use all the words.
Words: Monday / last / job / new / your / start / you / Did
Answer: Did you start your new job last Monday? - Build a past simple question. Use all the words.
Words: week / last / course / our / choose / we / Did
Answer: Did we choose our course last week? - Make this negative. Keep the same subject and details: I visited my sister yesterday.
Answer: I did not visit my sister yesterday. - Make this negative. Keep the same subject and details: They finished the course last month.
Answer: They did not finish the course last month. - Make a yes/no question. Keep the same subject and details: He bought a bus pass yesterday.
Answer: Did he buy a bus pass yesterday? - Correct the mistake. Write the complete sentence: Did they went home early?
Answer: Did they go home early? - Correct the mistake. Write the complete sentence: They not finished the task yesterday.
Answer: They did not finish the task yesterday.
Keep practising
Try another activity, revisit a rule or use a grammar video to support your learning.
ESOLish · Past Simple
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Write your answers. Keep the same subject when changing sentences. Full forms and contractions are both correct.
Past Simple · Answer key
More free learning: esolish.com/english-tenses/