Past Simple Tense

The Past Simple Tense

The past simple tense is most often used for the following:

- For actions that happened in the past

- In reported speech

- In conditional sentences

How to form the past simple

For actions that happened in the past

The past simple is the most usual tense for talking about things that happened or have finished before now. Very often we use a word or expression of finished time with this tense. In the following example sentences the expressions of finished time are shown in bold:

* She came to Germany two years ago.

* It rained every day for a week on my vacation.

* Columbus discovered America in 1492.

* I played tennis at the weekend.

* I didn't see you yesterday. Were you in school?

* My mother went shopping on Saturday but she didn't buy anything.

* I felt embarrassed when the teacher asked an easy question but I didn't know the answer.

* The weather was bad this afternoon* so we didn't have a picnic as planned.

* How did you do that?

* Did you see the film on TV last night?

* Why didn't you do your homework?

* In this sentence the speaker is talking in the evening, so for her this afternoon is finished time.

In reported speech

In reported speech it is common to shift the tense back. So for example, if someone said something to you in the present tense, you would report it in the past tense. Look at these examples. In each case the first sentence is direct speech and the second sentence is in reported speech. The verbs in the past simple form are shown in bold.

* She said: "I live in Frankfurt."

She told me she lived in Frankfurt. *

* He said: "I can speak 5 languages."

He said he could speak 5 languages.

* The new girl said: "My father is a millionaire!"

The new girl told me her father was a millionaire but I don't believe her!

* She said: "My mother doesn't like German food."

She said her mother didn't like German food.

* He said: "I don't feel well."

He said...