Kind of Past Tense

PAST TENSE

The simple past is used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended at a particular time in the past ( e.g., yesterday, last night, two day ago, in 1990) as in (a) and ( b ).

Example:

a.       Marry walked downtown yesterday.

b.      I slept for eight hours last night.

Verb used in past tense

-          Regular verb:

The example of regular verbs

Infinitive ( V1 )	V-ed ( V2 )	V-ed ( V3 )
Cook Help Learn Listen Open Pray Stay Study Walk work	Cooked Helped Learned Listened Opened Prayed Stayed Studied Walked Worked	Cooked Helped Learned Listened Opened Prayed Stayed Studied Walked Worked

-          Irregular verb: no contain regulation

The example of irregular verbs:

V1	V2	V3
Eat Go Put Read Send Sit Sleep Speak Take write	Ate Went Sent Sat Sent Sat Slept Spoke Took Wrote	Eaten Gone Put Read Sent Sat Slept Spoken Taken Written

Kind of Past Tense:

1.        Simple Past Tense ( the sentence to express something happen in the past ).

Examples:

-          I ate meatball last Sunday.

-          I took a bus to the Golden Gate this morning.

-          I borrowed Mia’s novel yesterday.

-          He joined the English club.

-          Bryan gave me a bar of chocolate last Saturday.

-          I saw you at the movie last night.

The bold words are Past Tense ( V₂ )

Those sentences above are positive ( + ) sentences. If we want to make a negative ( - ) sentence or an interrogative ( ? ) sentence, we use did.

Negative ( - ) sentences:

-          I didn’t eat meatball last Sunday.

-          I didn’t take a bus to the Golden Gate this morning.

-          I didn’t borrow Mia’s novel yesterday.

-          He didn’t join the English club.

-          Bryan didn’t give me a bar of chocolate last Saturday.

-          I didn’t see you at the movie last night.

The bold words are did not + V₁

Interrogative ( ? ) sentences:

-          Did I eat meatball last Sunday?

-          Did I take a bus to the Golden Gate this morning?

-          Did I borrow Mia’s novel yesterday?

-          Did he join the English club?

-          Did he give me a bar of chocolate last Saturday?

-          Did I see you at the movie last night?

2.        Past Continuous Tense ( the sentence to express something was being done in the past ).

Examples:

-          I was learning Math when you called me.

-          The child was crying when I came to her.

-          They were playing marbles when the rain felt.

-          The baby was crying whan his mother arrived.

-          Rina was washing the clothes when you looked for her.

Those sentences above is positive ( + ) from of Past Continuous Tense.

Notes:

To be : was / were

Was is used for      subject: I, she, he, it 

      Were is used for    subject: you, we, they.

The bold words are to be + V₁-ing

Negative ( - ) sentences:

-          I was not learning Math when you called me.

-          The child was not crying when I came to her.

-          They were not playing marbles when the rain felt.

-          The baby was not crying whan his mother arrived.

-          Rina was not washing the clothes when you looked for her.

Interrogative ( ? ) sentences:

-          Was I learning Math when you called me?

-          Was the child crying when I came to her?

-          Were they playing marbles when the rain felt?

-          Was the baby crying whan his mother arrived?

-          Was Rina washing the clothes when you looked for her?

3.        Past Perfect Tense ( the sentence to express something had finished to do in the past ).

Examples:

-          Ludi had forgotten the case before you apologized to him.

-          The mechanic had repaired his bike before you demanded your service.

-          They have received the gift before you informed them.

-          I had finished my task before I went to your house.

-          You had repaired his bike before he did it.

Those sentences above are positive ( + ) from of Past Perfect Tense.

Negative ( - ) sentences:

-          Ludi had not forgotten the case before you apologized to him.

-          The mechanic had not repaired his bike before you demanded your service.

-          They have not received the gift before you informed them.

-          I had not finished my task before I went to your house.

-          You had not repaired his bike before he did it.

Interrogative ( ? ) sentences:

-          Had Ludi forgotten the case before you apologized to him?

-          Had yhe mechanic repaired his bike before you demanded your service?

-          Had they received the gift before you informed them?

-          Had I finished my task before I went to your house?

-          Had you repaired his bike before he did it?