LEARNING GOALS CENTRE DE FORMATION LINGUISTIQUE

PAST SIMPLE

Past Simple

Yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift which is why it is called the present. 

Past simple

Past simple is used to refer to actions done before the present time. The past simple is used to talk about the following:

● Actions finished in the past ( single or reported) eg. I visited Italy last year.    

● Series of completed actions in the past. Eg. She swam in the ocean and made a beach castle.

● With and without time expression eg. Bree called last night. (With time expression) I cooked dinner. ( without time expression) 

Please note that the actions may have been in the recent past or a long time ago eg ten years ago, a year ago, a 100 years ago.

In a positive sentence, the base form will usually take -ed like regular verbs and can be used for all subjects eg I,,we,they,she.

Eg. They ate dinner before 8pm yesterday evening.

TO BE

I,  he, she, it was 

EgIt was horrible not to be able to talk to you.

 you, we, they were

Eg.  We were stuck in traffic for half an hour this morning.

In a negative sentence,  did not is used with a helping verb. 

Subject + did not/didn’t + Verb (bare infinitive)

 Eg I didn’t call you.

 Did they work yesterday?

Didn’t they work yesterday?

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Past Simple Exercise 1

Use the right verb tense in the following questions

1 / 10

They_________ the museum with their guests last summer.

2 / 10

  1. Ronny ________ Jane last week.

3 / 10

Last year, I _______ to run faster than my neighbour.

4 / 10

Jerry ________ my lunch without telling me, the day before yesterday.

5 / 10

Mary ________  a lot of mistakes 2 weeks ago.

6 / 10

I ________ my best friend when I was six.

7 / 10

Sandra _________ all night yesterday.

8 / 10

We _________poker after breakfast. (Played,play)

9 / 10

We never ________ uniforms in school.

10 / 10

  1. She _______ home very late.
/10
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Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

What’s the weather like?

Is Lauren married?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

Where do you live?

How many pets do you have?

What languages do you speak?

What do you do?

Are you from Kenya?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

Ppronunciation of Regular Verbs

/d/ /t/ /id/
B - Absorbed, grabbed
F - Briefed, bluffed
D - Needed, decided
G - Belonged, dragged
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted
T - started, wanted

/d/

Words ending in the following letters: Voiced sound = uses the vocal cords and they produce a vibration of humming sound in the throat. (Touch your throat and feel it.)

 /t/

Words ending in the following letters: Voiceless

/id/

Words ending in the following letters:

    REGULAR VERBS (ED)

Regular verbs end in ‘ed’ in the past simple , whereas Irregular verbs end in different ways.

                         /d/

Words ending in

the following

letters:

Voiced sounduses the vocal cords and they produce a vibration of humming sound in the throat. (Touch your throat and feel it.)

 /t/

Words ending in

the following

letters:

 

Voiceless

 

                   /id/

Words ending in the following letters:

B – Absorbed, grabbed

F – Briefed, bluffed

D – Needed, decided

G – Belonged, dragged

 

T – started, wanted

L – Dialed, controlled

K – asked, worked

 

M – armed, charmed

P – Stopped, dropped

 

N – Listened, Cleaned

S – Discussed, kissed

 

O – Cooed, wooed

X – Fixed, hoaxed

 

R – Angered, blistered

CH – Blushed,watched

 

U – Plateaud

SH – Washed, dashed

 

V – Loved, lived

CK – Backed, licked

 

Y – Played, Stayed

X    – Boxed, fixed

 

W – Followed, mowed

  

Z – Buzzed, quizzed

  

Silent ‘B”: bombed, climbed combed, dumbed, thumbed, tombed, plumbed, lambed, crumbed, enwombed

  

Irregular Verbs

Infinitive Past simple Present Participle Translation into French
Be
Was/Were
Been
Être
Buy
Bought
Bought
Acheter
Acheter
Acheter
Acheter
Acheter

Infinitive

Past simple

Present Participle

Translation

into French

Be

Was/Were

Been

Être

Buy

Bought

Bought

Acheter

Catch

Caught

Caught

Attraper

Do

Did

Done

Faire

Drink

Drank

Drunk

Boire

Eat

Ate

Eaten

Manger

Fall

Fell

Fallen

Tomber

Feel

Felt

Felt

Sentir

Fight

Fought

Fought

Se battre

Forget

Forget

Forgotten

Oublier

Give

Gave

Given

Donner

Get

Got

Got

Obtenir/recevoir

Go

Went

Gone/Been to

Aller

Have

Had

Had

Avoir

Hear

heard

Heard

Entendre

Know

Knew

Known

Savoir/Connaître

Make

Made

Made

Faire/fabriquer

Read

Read

Read

Lire

Add Your Heading Text Here

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

How many pets do you have?

What’s the weather like?

Where do you live?

Are you from Kenya?

Is Lauren married?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

What languages do you speak?

What do you do?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

What languages do you speak?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

What do you do?

Is Lauren married?

How many pets do you have?

Where do you live?

Are you from Kenya?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

What’s the weather like?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

How to form questions in the past simple

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

Are you from Kenya?

How many pets do you have?

What languages do you speak?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

What’s the weather like?

Where do you live?

What do you do?

Is Lauren married?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

Where do you live?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

What’s the weather like?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

What languages do you speak?

Is Lauren married?

What do you do?

Are you from Kenya?

How many pets do you have?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

Simple Past Story

Who was Charles Darwin?

Charles Robert Darwin was born in 1809. He died at the age of 73. He transformed the way we understand the natural world. He is celebrated as one of the greatest scientist who ever lived. He enjoyed reading books and exploring the fields, when he was young. In 1825 he enrolled in medical school, where he witnessed a surgery. He felt traumatised after this experience, that he gave up his studies. He decided to go to Cambridge university to study theology. In 1831 he embarked on a journey around the world, which revolutionised his life and the way we thought about nature. During his trip, he came across animals of different shapes and sizes, which were completely new to him. He collected plants, animals and fossils to study when he returned home.

 He spent a lot of time analysing and comparing specimens before declaring that evolution occurs by a process of natural selection. He was able to confirm his theory by experimenting on pigeons. It gave him a way to study how far a specie could change over time. He was ready to share his discovery with the world after 20 years of research. However, he knew that he would be met with a lot of opposition. He delayed publishing on this topic for many years, while he gathered a mountain of evidence. When he learnt that another young scientist called Alfred Russel Wallace had the same ideas, he contacted him and offered to send his idea to a journal for immediate publication. Later on they organised a joint announcement. The following year Charles Darwin Published his book on the origin of species in 1859.

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

Is Lauren married?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

What do you do?

Where do you live?

Are you from Kenya?

What’s the weather like?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

How many pets do you have?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

What languages do you speak?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

/10
2 votes, 4.5 avg
41
Created on

Present simple exercise 1

Question and answer match

Where do you live?

What do you do?

Is Lauren married?

Do Daniel and Kieran have a car?

Are you from Kenya?

Does Maria play the saxophone?

What languages do you speak?

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

What’s the weather like?

How many pets do you have?

Your score is

0%

Please rate this quiz

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

PAST SIMPLE Past Simple Yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift which is why it is […]

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