The Past Simple- in 3 levels

Past simple in 3 levels

The past simple is one of the first “complicated” structures taught to English learners. Here we will explore what students need to know about this tense in 3 levels – for elementary students, intermediate students, and advanced students. 

Level 1: Elementary

Form:

For regular verbs, we either add -ed or -d to the end of the verb. It is the same for each person (I, you,she, we, etc), so you only have to remember one form for each verb!

For irregulars, it is a little trickier. The verb keeps the same for each person, but you will have to memorise the form for each irregular verb

We use the past simple for single events that happened in the past. For example, On Saturday I went to the cinema. 

It can also be used for situations that were true in the past. E.g. When I was a child I lived in London

Level 2: Intermediate

Narrative tenses

The past simple is one of the narrative tenses. These are tenses used in story telling and we will discuss these in more detail in a separate post. In short, the narrative tenses are made up of the past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. Amongst these, the past simple is used for the main events and to show consecutive actions.

 For example:

 It was raining, Sam went to the park for a walk. While he was walking, he came across a lost dog. He remembered that he had had a dog that looked similar when he was a child. He picked up the tired trembling animal and took it home.

 Notice how the main events are in the past simple. Even with other tenses in between we can follow the action as the past simple provides the sequencing, he went to the park, he came across a dog, he remembered something, then he took the dog home.

To Contrast Present Perfect

A lot of students confuse the present perfect and the past simple. The easiest way to think about the difference between these two tenses is as finished time vs unfinished time. Finished time is the past simple. The action has happened and cannot happen again. This is shown with time expressions such as yesterday, last week, 5 years ago. E.g. I went to Madrid last year. Unfinished time is the present perfect. The time frame has not finished and so the action may happen again. This is shown either by an absence of time expressions or open time expressions such as today, this week, this month, since 2016, for 10 years. For example, I have visited Madrid 5 times and  I have lived in Spain for 10 years.

Level 3: Advanced

We can also use the past simple (and the past continuous) with some verbs for things we intended to, but didn’t actually do. 

I meant to call the doctor this morning, but it completely slipped my mind.

 Other verbs that can be used in this way are:

  • Consider+ ing
  • Expect to
  • Intend to
  • Hope to
  • Plan to/on+-ing
  • Think of/about +-ing
  •  want to

Bonus: Pronunciation

This is the simplest rule of the 3. We pronounce -d endings /id/ if the last sound of the verb is /d/ or /t/. So wanted is pronounced /ˈwɒntɪd/ and divide is pronounced /dɪˈvaɪdɪd/. Notice how we aren’t interested in the last letter, only the sound.

/t/

Here we need to pay attention to the final sound. If the final sound in unvoiced, /p/, /f/

/s/, /ʃ/ (finish), /k/ /tʃ/ (watch), the -ed ending makes a /t/ sound. Notice how we don’t add an extra syllable. So finished sounds like /ˈfɪnɪʃt/, going straight from the “sh” sound to the “t”

/d/

All verbs end with a /d/ sound. So played is /pleɪd/, lived is /lɪvd/ and /ˈlɪsᵊnd/. Notice how again we don’t add an extra syllable added. We go straight from the final sound to the /d/.

The past simple is one of the first tenses students learn. Each level adds a little more detail to the previous one. The trickiest part of this tense is mastering the irregular verbs, but with practice and more exposure through reading and listening, this will become easier.

Siobhan

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Siobhan

I am an ESL instructor with over 9 years experience helping students to reach their full language learning potential.

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