We use the past simple when we talk about things that happened and finished in the past:
We
played tennis yesterday. I missed the bus this morning. The show started at 7. |
Most verbs form the past simple with -ed at the end. They are called regular verbs.
Present | Past |
play/plays miss/misses start/starts |
played missed started |
Many verbs do not form the past simple with -ed. They are irregular.
Present | Past |
meet/meets go /goes leave/leaves |
met went left |
They
met in 1999. We went to bed early last night. The train left at 6.30. |
We make questions and negative phrases in the past simple like this:
-Did
the show start at 8? -No it didn't start
at 8. It started at 7. -Did they meet in 1998? -No they didn't. They met in 1999. -When did the train leave? -It left at 6.30. |