🗺️ PAST SIMPLE GRAMMAR MAP

STATEMENTS (+ & -)

Completed actions at a specific time in the past.

(+) Positive S + V2 / V-ed (To Be: was / were)

(-) Negative S + did not (didn't) + V(bare) | S + was/were not

(?) Question Did + S + V(bare)? | Was/Were + S + ...?

REGULAR vs IRREGULAR VERBS

Regular verbs add -ed; Irregular verbs change completely (go → went).

(+) Positive played, visited, worked, went, saw, ate

(-) Negative didn't play, didn't go

(?) Question Did you play? Did you go?

1. Form & Structure

Verb To Be: I/He/She/It → was | You/We/They → were
Regular Verbs (+ed): work → worked, play → played, stop → stopped, study → studied
Irregular Verbs (V2): go → went, see → saw, eat → ate, buy → bought, write → wrote

Example / Question	Positive / Short Answer	Negative / Short Answer
Did you watch the movie yesterday?	Yes, I did.	No, I didn't.
Was he at school last Monday?	Yes, he was.	No, he wasn't.
Were they happy with the results?	Yes, they were.	No, they weren't.

2. Key Rules & Formation

Rule	Base / Standard Form	Applied Form
Spelling -ed for Regular Verbs	Ending in -e: add -d (live → lived); Consonant + y: change y → i + ed (try → tried); 1 vowel + 1 consonant: double consonant + ed (stop → stopped)	lived, tried, stopped, visited
Pronunciation of -ed	/t/ after unvoiced (p, k, f, s, sh, ch); /id/ after t or d; /d/ after all other sounds	walked /t/, wanted /id/, played /d/

Action started and finished at a known past time.

Multiple finished actions in sequence.

yesterdaylast nightlast weeklast year2 days agoin 2010when I was young

Time Marker Position:

Time markers (yesterday, last week, ago) go at the end or beginning of the sentence.

Mistake 1: Using V2 after auxiliary "did"
❌ Incorrect: I didn't went to work yesterday.
✓ Correct: I didn't go to work yesterday.
Note: After didn't or did, the main verb ALWAYS returns to base form V1!
Mistake 2: Mixing "was/were" with action verb V2
❌ Incorrect: She was went home.
✓ Correct: She went home.
Note: Never combine was/were directly with an action verb V2.

Group them by patterns! E.g., sing-sang-sung, ring-rang-rung / buy-bought-bought, bring-brought-brought / cut-cut-cut, put-put-put.

1. Form & Structure

Forming Past Simple with Regular and Irregular Verbs

Verb To Be: I/He/She/It → was | You/We/They → were

Regular Verbs (+ed): work → worked, play → played, stop → stopped, study → studied

Irregular Verbs (V2): go → went, see → saw, eat → ate, buy → bought, write → wrote

Example / Question	Positive / Short Answer	Negative / Short Answer
Did you watch the movie yesterday?	Yes, I did.	No, I didn't.
Was he at school last Monday?	Yes, he was.	No, he wasn't.
Were they happy with the results?	Yes, they were.	No, they weren't.

2. Key Rules & Formation

Rule	Base / Standard Form	Applied Form
Spelling -ed for Regular Verbs	Ending in -e: add -d (live → lived); Consonant + y: change y → i + ed (try → tried); 1 vowel + 1 consonant: double consonant + ed (stop → stopped)	lived, tried, stopped, visited
Pronunciation of -ed	/t/ after unvoiced (p, k, f, s, sh, ch); /id/ after t or d; /d/ after all other sounds	walked /t/, wanted /id/, played /d/

3. Practical Usage & Examples