Past Simple: regular & irregular verbs
Affirmative past forms.
We use the Past Simple to talk about actions that happened and finished in the past. For regular verbs, we add -ed to the base form: play → played, watch → watched. When the verb ends in -e, we just add -d: like → liked. When the verb ends in consonant + y, we change y to i and add -ed: study → studied. When the verb ends in one vowel + one consonant (and is one syllable), we double the consonant: stop → stopped. Many common verbs are irregular and have special past forms you must memorise: go → went, have → had, see → saw, make → made, come → came, get → got, eat → ate, buy → bought. We often use time markers with the Past Simple to show when something happened: yesterday, last week, last night, last summer, two days ago, in 2020. These time markers help us recognise that we need the Past Simple tense. For example: 'My family went to the park last Sunday and we ate sandwiches there.'
Key terms
| Verb ending | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| most verbs | add -ed | play → played, watch → watched, cook → cooked |
| ends in -e | add -d only | like → liked, invite → invited, arrive → arrived |
| consonant + y | change y to i, add -ed | study → studied, carry → carried, fry → fried |
| one vowel + one consonant (1 syllable) | double the consonant, add -ed | stop → stopped, plan → planned, grab → grabbed |
Apply these four rules to form the Past Simple of any regular verb correctly.
| Base form | Past Simple | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | My brother went to school yesterday. |
| have | had | We had lunch in the canteen last Monday. |
| see | saw | My dad saw a film last Saturday. |
| make | made | The children made a beautiful picture. |
| come | came | My family came to the mountains last summer. |
| get | got | Ali got a new bike two days ago. |
| eat | ate | We ate sandwiches in the park. |
| buy | bought | Leyla bought a new dress last week. |
| send | sent | My sister sent me a postcard three days ago. |
| take | took | Our class took a school trip last year. |
| bring | brought | Anar brought his friends to the café. |
| win | won | The school team won the match yesterday. |
| spend | spent | We spent the afternoon at the beach. |
| build | built | They built a sandcastle in the afternoon. |
| wake | woke | Nigar woke up early on Saturday morning. |
| ride | rode | She rode her bike to the market. |
| run | ran | He ran to school after he grabbed his bag. |
| set | set | Mum set the table for dinner. |
| fly | flew | My parents flew to Paris last year. |
These verbs do NOT add -ed. Memorise them — they appear frequently in the Past Simple.
| Time marker | Example |
|---|---|
| yesterday | She cooked pizza yesterday. |
| last night / last week / last year / last summer | We went to the park last Sunday. |
| … ago (two days ago, three hours ago) | Ali got a new bike two days ago. |
| in [year] (in 2020, in 2019) | They moved to the city in 2018. |
When you see one of these time markers in a sentence, use the Past Simple tense.
- 1Step 1: identify the base form: Base verb → stop
- 2Step 2: check the ending: 'Stop' ends in one vowel (o) + one consonant (p). This is the CVC rule.
- 3Step 3: double the final consonant: stop → stopp
- 4Step 4: add -ed: stopp + ed → stopped
- 5Result: 'The bus stopped at the corner.' ✓
- 1Step 1: is the verb regular or irregular?: 'Play' is regular (not on the irregular list). 'Go' is irregular (go → went).
- 2Step 2: regular verb → apply the -ed rule: play + ed → played (ends in vowel + y, so just add -ed: played ✓)
- 3Step 3: irregular verb → use the memorised form: go → went (NOT 'goed' ✗)
- 4Step 4: check the time marker to confirm Past Simple is needed: 'Yesterday' or 'last week' → Past Simple is correct.
- 5Result: 'We played football and then went home.' ✓
Do NOT add -ed to irregular verbs. Common errors: 'goed', 'maked', 'buyed', 'comed', 'sended', 'taked', 'waked', 'rided', 'winned', 'spended', 'builded', 'runned', 'bringed', 'flied'. Every one of these is wrong — use the memorised form instead (went, made, bought, came, sent, took, woke, rode, won, spent, built, ran, brought, flew).
For 'consonant + y' verbs, you must change y to i before adding -ed. Writing 'studyed', 'carryed', or 'fryed' is a common error. The correct forms are: studied, carried, fried.
For CVC verbs (one vowel + one consonant), you must double the final consonant. Writing 'stoped', 'grabed', or 'choped' is wrong because the consonant is not doubled. Correct forms: stopped, grabbed, chopped.
Past time markers (yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 2020) are a strong signal: whenever you see one of these in a sentence, use the Past Simple tense.
Do not confuse the past participle with the Past Simple. 'Seen', 'gone', 'eaten', and 'built' are past participles. The Past Simple forms are: saw, went, ate, built. At A2 level, use only the Past Simple form in affirmative sentences about the past.
Rules
- 1Regular verbs: add -ed to the base form (play → played, watch → watched, like → liked).
- 2Spelling rule: consonant + y → drop y, add -ied (study → studied, carry → carried).
- 3Spelling rule: one vowel + one consonant at the end → double the consonant (stop → stopped, plan → planned); for a two-syllable verb, double it only when the stress is on the last syllable (permit → permitted, prefer → preferred).
- 4Irregular verbs have unique past forms that must be memorised (go → went, have → had, see → saw, make → made, come → came, get → got).
- 5Common past time markers: yesterday, last night/week/year, … ago, in [year] — these signal the Past Simple.
Practice
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