Mr.
TRAORE English SVT1,2,3 -21-22
LESSON PLAN THREE
School: FST Class: SVT Grade (Licence I)
Subject: English Duration: 03 hours
Lecturer: Toumaniba TRAORE
THEME: SIMPLE PAST or PRETERIT
Overall Goal:
to allow learners to identify and use simple past into in real contexts.
Specific objectives: To allow students to:
➢ define simple past;
➢ understand and use the past tense;
➢ write the verb into simple past
➢ recognize the time markers expressing the past;
➢ use preterit in all forms
➢ pronounce correctly the verbs ending in -ed
Warm up your memories:
Turn the following sentences into simple past tense.
1. My father (to work) as a surgeon before.
2. Three kids (to play) outside the campus last Sunday.
3. I (to listen) to music and (to make) my tea last night.
4. I (to walk) in the park with my best friends?
5. We not (to write) a story about our city, but we (to write) it about our college.
6. I (to go) to school and then I (to come) back home.
7. They (to run) around the house last Tuesday.
8. Your mother (to pick) some mangoes last week.
I. Use
The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed
before now.
Examples:
They played football last Sunday.
Fatou’s baby cried last night.
They went to Segou yesterday.
She did not cook yams.
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Mr. TRAORE English SVT1,2,3 -21-22
The following time expressions (time markers) are used for the past simple:
Yesterday, a week/ month/year ago, last (week, weekend, month, year, Monday, night),
the day before yesterday, two days/weeks/months/ years ago….
The time expression appears either at the beginning or the end of the sentence.
Example: Oumar was in Paris two months ago.
II. Formation:
Here, we have two types of verbs: regular verbs and irregular verbs. They have different
formations in simple past.
1) For regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the verb (or just -d if the root form already
ends in an e)
Examples: Issa washed his clothes yesterday.
Last night, they danced well at the party.
Attention!
• Some regular verbs do not directly take –ed into simple past, they need some modification
before taking –ed.
Any regular verb ending in –y proceeded by a consonant, in simple past, the –y changes
into –i then we add –ed (ied)
Examples: to cry→ cried To satisfy→ satisfied
To deny →denied
Any regular verb ending in –p preceded by the vowels (o, a, i, e, in simple past, we
double the – p then we add –ed (pped).
Examples:
to drop→ dropped
To slip →slipped
To clap →clapped
To step→ stepped
2) The irregular verbs: Very few irregular verbs take –ed at the end. They have their own
simple past form.
The simple past of the irregular verbs is in the 2nd column of the table of the irregular
verbs.
Examples:
Infinitive Simple past/preterit Past participle Meaning
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Mr. TRAORE English SVT1,2,3 -21-22
To go→ went→ gone→ Aller/partir
To drive→ drove→ driven→ conduire
To run→ run→ run→ courir
To eat→ ate→ eaten→ manger
To speak→spoke→ spoken→ parler
To learn→ learned/learnt→ learned/learnt→ apprendre
To put → put → put → mettre
To have→ had→ had→ avoir
Can →could→ could→ pouvoir
III. Different Forms:
A- Affirmative form:
Regular verbs: S + (V+d/ed/ied) + O.
Examples:
Mariam cooked a delicious soup last Sunday.
Last week they moved to their new house.
Irregular verbs: S + preterit of the verb + O.
Examples:
He spoke Arabic two years ago. But he actually forgets all.
B- Negative Form: S + did not/didn’t + [root form of verb] + O Examples:
Some students did not come last Monday.
They didn’t respond to the invitation.
NB: the verbs “to be”, “can” do not respect this rule. Example:
Moussa was a good footballer.
Moussa was not (wasn’t) a good football. He
could run 10 kms when he was young.
He could not (couldn’t) run 10 kms when he was young.
C- Interrogative form: Did + S + [root form of verb] + O +?
Examples:
Did you do your exercise before coming to school?
Did the students work hard during their exam?
NB: The verbs “to be” and “can” do not respond to this rule. Examples:
Was he at home when I called her?
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Mr. TRAORE English SVT1,2,3 -21-22
Could you walk 30 kms when you were 20 years old?
IV. -ed ending verbs pronunciation:
There are three different ways to pronounce the 'ed' ending of regular verbs in the simple past
tense: / Id /, / t / or / d /. The pronunciation depends on the sound at the end of the infinitive
of the main verb and whether it is voiced or not. A voiced sound is one that vibrates in your
throat when you say it.
1. The infinitive verbs ending in the sounds /t/ and /d/ into simple past, the -ed is
pronounced as /id/.
Examples:
Suggest → Suggested /id/ Vote → Voted
Wait → Waited Want → Wanted
Shout → Shouted Hunt → Hunted
Adopt → Adopted Emigrate → Emigrated
2. The infinitive verbs ending by voiced consonant sounds: b, v, g, z, j, th, l, m, n, r, the
ed is pronounced as /d/ Examples:
Live → Lived /d/ Climb → Climbed
Phone → Phoned Arrive → Arrived
Clear → Cleared Study → Studied
Open → Opened Enjoy → Enjoyed
Copy → Copied Mail → Mailed
Call → Called Borrow → Borrowed
3. The infinitive verbs ending by voiced consonant sounds: p, k, s, ch, sh, f, x, or h the -
ed is pronounced as /t/ Examples:
Announce → Announced /t/ Cook → Cooked
Walk → Walked Talk → Talked
Finish → Finished Type → Typed
Dance → Danced Watch → Watched
Look → Looked Miss → Missed
Rush → Rushed Hope → Hoped
Wish → Wished Dress → Dressed
Exercise: Put the verbs into the correct form (simple past)
1. It (be) great.
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Mr. TRAORE English SVT1,2,3 -21-22
2. I (travel) around by car with two friends and we (visit) lots of interesting places.
3. In the evenings we usually (go) to a pub.
4. One night we even (learn) some Irish dances.
5. We (be) very lucky with the weather.
6. It (not / rain) a lot.
7. But we (see) some beautiful rainbows.
8. Where (spend / you) your last holiday?
9. We (not/use) the computer last night.
10. (she/make) good coffee?
