The simple past is a tense which reflects actions which happened at a specific point in time and which both started and ended before now.
Spelling
Regular verbs are much simpler when spelling because they all end in -ed.
Ex: Walk –> Walked
Work –> Worked
Irregular verbs do not follow any rules, therefore it is advisable to memorize the most commonly used ones as a way to learn them effectively.
Ex: Eat –> Ate
Drive –> Drove
Commonly used irregular verbs
| BASE FORM OF VERB | PAST SIMPLE |
| be (is, am,are) | was, were |
| become | became |
| begin | began |
| break | broke |
| bring | brought |
| build | built |
| buy | bought |
| catch | caught |
| choose | chose |
| come | came |
| cost | cost |
| cut | cut |
| do | did |
| drive | drove |
| drink | drank |
| eat | ate |
| fall | fell |
| feel | felt |
| fight | fought |
| find | found |
| fly | flew |
| forget | forgot |
| freeze | froze |
| get | got |
| give | gave |
| go | went |
| grow | grew |
| have | had |
| hear | heard |
| hide | hid |
| hit | hit |
| hold | held |
| know | knew |
| lay | laid |
| lead | led |
| leave | left |
| lend | lent |
| let | let |
| lie | lay |
| lose | lost |
| make | made |
| mean | meant |
| meet | met |
| pay | paid |
| put | put |
| read | read |
| ride | rode |
| run | ran |
| say | said |
| see | saw |
| sell | sold |
| send | sent |
| show | showed |
| shut | shut |
| sing | sang |
| sit | sat |
| sleep | slept |
| speak | spoke |
| spend | spent |
| stand | stood |
| take | took |
| teach | taught |
| tell | told |
| think | thought |
| wake | woke |
| wear | wore |
| win | won |
| write | wrote |
Pronunciation of regular verbs in past
In the simple past, there are 2 types of verbs, regular and irregular. The –ed ending refers to those verbs which are in past and are regular.
The possible sounds for this syllables are /t/,/d/ or /id/.
What dictates which sound should be used will depend on the sound before the –ed particle.
- The /t/ sound
Final – ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds are made by pushing air through your mouth; no sound comes from your throat. Such as these sounds: /k/,/f/,/s/,/sh/,/ch/. It’s important to keep in mind that the sounds do not always correspond to the graphical description, i.e. Laughed, gh sounds like /f/.
- The /d/ sound If the last letter of the words ends in a voiced consonant (or sound) and vowel sounds, then the ED is pronounced like a D (without creating another syllable). Such as these sounds: /l/,/r/,/n/,/g/,/v/,/z/,/b/,/m/. It’s important to keep in mind that the sounds do not always correspond to the graphical description, i.e. used where “s “sounds like “z”.
- The /id/ sound
If the last letter of the word is spelled with D or T, the ED is pronounced as a separate syllable with an /id/ sound (it rhymes with kid and lid). These are the sounds: /t/ and /d/.
/t/ | /d/ | /id/ |
Dished Laughed Stopped | Cared Loved Enjoyed | Wanted Parted Needed |
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