Simple Past Tense Verbs

Simple past tense verbs show actions that took place in the past.

The children played near the park.
The pretty horse galloped across the field.

Remember that tense means time. So, think of these verbs as past time verbs. They name verbs that were completed in the past.

Principal Parts of Verbs

All verbs can be broken down into what are called four principal parts.

The Four Principle Parts

1. Present

2. Present Participle

3. Past

4. Past Participle

The past category refers to simple past tense verbs. They show actions that took place in the past.

Present	Present Participle	Past	Past Participle
come	(is) coming	came	(have) come
fall	(is) falling	fell	(have) fallen
go	(is) going	went	(have) gone
graduate	(is) graduating	graduated	(have) graduated
know	(is) knowing	knew	(have) known
walk	(is) walking	walked	(have) walked
write	(is) writing	wrote	(have) written

Forming the Past Tense
Regular & Irregular

There are two types of past simple verbs: regular and irregular. Let's learn about these two!

Regular Past Tense Verbs

Regular past simple verbs are those that add either a -d or -ed to the present tense form to create the past tense form.

The children skipped past the door.

We walked along the beach.

These regular verbs are so nice and predictable. It's easy to remember how to create the past tense of these verbs because they follow a pattern. (They add either -d or -ed to the present tense form to make the past tense form.) Check it out!

Present Tense	+ -d or -ed	Past Tense
walk	+ -ed	walked
pick	+ -ed	picked
move	+ -d	moved
push	+ -ed	pushed

Irregular Past Tense Verbs

Irregular past simple verbs are those that don't add -d or -ed to the present tense form to create the past tense form. They are not regular.

The children wrote to their grandmother.

My sister drank all of the milk.

As you know, these irregular verbs don't end in -d or -ed in their past tense. In fact, they don't end in anything in particular. That can make it hard to remember how to form their past tense. When in doubt, look it up in the dictionary!

Present Tense	+ ?	Past Tense
drive	+ ?	drove
eat	+ ?	ate
have	+ ?	had
begin	+ ?	began
break	+ ?	broke
steal	+ ?	stole
cost	+ ?	cost

What Are the Other Verb Tenses?

English verbs have six different verb tenses, and they are broken up into two different groups.

Simple Tenses

There are three simple tenses. These are your basic, run-of-the-mill tenses.

1. Present Simple My brother knows the answer.

2. Past Simple My brother knew the answer.

3. Future Simple My brother will know the answer.

Perfect Tenses

There are three perfect tenses. These three tenses are all formed using the helping verbs have, has, had, will, and shall along with the past participle of the verb.

1. Present Perfect My brother has known the answer.

2. Past Perfect My brother had known the answer.

3. Future Perfect My brother will have known the answer.

Hello! I'm Elizabeth O'Brien, and my goal is to get you jazzed about grammar.

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