Forming the Simple Past

Forming the Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past tense is one of the most common verb tenses in English.
There is no inflection or change in its form.
It's always the same form no matter what the subject is.

However...

There are 2 categories of verbs when using the Simple Past.

They are the REGULAR VERBS and the IRREGULAR VERBS.

Forming the Simple Past Tense of Regular Verbs

The ending of the basic form of the verb will determine its Simple Past form.
Study the rules below:

Basic verbs ending in ...	Examples	How to make the Simple Past	Examples
E	live dance smoke change	add -D	lived danced smoked changed
Vowel + Y	play stay	add -ED	played stayed
Consonant + Y	try study cry	change Y to i and add -ED	tried studied cried
Consonant+Vowel+Consonant (but not W or Y)	stop drag rub commit	double the last consonant and add -ED	stopped dragged rubbed committed
[ Anything else ]	watch push clean call listen record want kiss	add -ED	watched pushed cleaned called listened recorded wanted kissed

Pronunciation of the Simple Past Tense of Regular Verbs

Although the Regular Verbs end pretty much the same way (in -ED),
the way this suffix is pronounced is determined by another set of rules.
You can study these rules by clicking on this link.

Pronunciation

Forming the Simple Past Tense of Irregular Verbs

The only good way to remember how are formed Irregular Verbs is to MEMORIZE them. Here is a list you should study as often as possible.

Irregular Verb List