Simple Past Tense—How It’s Used, With Examples
The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now.
Imagine someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend.
He won the silver medal.
The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike
the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time,
the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.
Wolfgang admired the way the light glinted off his silver medal.
You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about
something. This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun,
or prepositional phrase.
Wolfgang was proud of his hula hoop victory.
The contest was the highlight of his week.
The form:
Affirmative
Negative
Interrogative
Common Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense
Infinitive Past Tense Negative
to be was, were was not, were not
to have had did not have
to do did did not do
to say said did not say
to get got did not get
to make made did not make
to go went did not go
to take took did not take
to see saw did not see
to come came did not come
Simple past tense FAQs
What is the simple past tense?
The simple past is a verb tense describing events that already happened.
What are some examples of simple past tense?
“I ate cereal for breakfast this morning.”
“Morganucodon was an early mammal that lived with dinosaurs.”