Past simple tense | English grammar rules

Learn the past simple tense with this English grammar video lesson.

The past simple tense has several uses. Its main use is to describe a completed action in the past. We also use it to describe a series of completed actions and to describe the duration of an action from the past.

The grammar rules for spelling the past simple affirmative form are as follows:

For regular verbs, we add -ed to the infinitive. For verbs which already end in a silent -e, we simply add -d (die - died for example). For regular verbs ending in a consonant and -y, we change the "y" to "i" and add -ed (hurry - hurried for example). For regular verbs ending in a consonant + vowel + consonant where the final syllable is stressed, we double the consonant and add -ed (stop - stopped and prefer - preferred for example) In British English, for regular verbs ending in -l, we always double the -l (cancel - cancelled for example). In American English, for verbs ending in -l, we follow the stressed syllable rule mentioned above.

For irregular verbs, there are no rules for the past simple form. You simply have to learn them. Some examples of irregular verbs are: buy - bought, go - went, do - did.

The question form of the past simple is: "Did" + the subject + the verb in the infinitive form ( "Did you close the door?" for example)

The negative form is: The subject + "did not" (or "didn't" in the contracted form) + the verb in the infinitive form ( "I didn't like the film" for example)

At the end of the lesson, you will find some grammar exercises to test your understanding.

If you have any questions, please ask me in the comments section below the video lesson and I will answer.

The accent in the video is a British English accent.

Here are some other English lessons:

Andrew,
Crown Academy of English

Photo credits:

[CrownAcademyEnglish]

Please tell other English students about my channel and give them the link below:

Andrew
Crown Academy of English

[freefromcage]

i oftenly hear people say like this that "I had been studying for 3 hours yesterday". after watching this lesson I am sure that this is completely wrong.they must say like this" i studied yesterday for 3 hours".thank you Mr Andrew for giving this kind of confidence through your teaching.🥰🥳🥰🙃🥳👍

[tsoifong]

You teach very detailed and useful, easy come to understand what is grammar tense. thank you very much.

[ThanhTungNguyen-tqlj]

Very very very good! Dear you Andrew, 5 star for you, thank you very much. Now i can know how to use Past Simple tense. Again, Thank you very much, very much.

[mariamel-zein]

Thank you for your video and teaching...Your way of teaching is so pleasant to listen.You explained it better than my primary school teacher ever did.

[Teresalic]

I learned by watching this excellent lesson. Thank you so much, Teresa

[math_onlinee]

Hello Andrew Crown! Thank you very much for this lesson. I just joined your channel. My writing, reading and listening are good. But my speaking is bad. I can speak 50%. But I speak incorrect. Coz I don't know the grammer. I found out it has 26 tenses in english. I scheduled I would learn one tense every day. Then I can speak correctly. You teach very very clearly. I'm so exicted join your channel. Again thank you!

[hiruninesansala]

Hi Andrew, I am confused with ( be verbs with the uses of do)I wasn’t attend to the meeting yesterday or I didn’t attend to the meeting yesterday ?which sentence is right?
Thank you for this video.. I learned a lot. Very clear explanation as usual.

[rafasoma]

I am learning very very much with your lessons. Thank you very much again

[TheTractorShow_Cambo]

In fact, Providing that I have problem of English I always see this channel. I would like to thank you so much.

[anitagulyas]

Andrew, your teachings are the best. No annoying sounds in it, nothing silly or boring, just the precise explanation which is understandable and direct to the point. Thank you for your work.

[promo]

I started to study english grammar one month ago.I'm following you're english lessons and I find it helpful. I hope I can stand up to english interview as soon as possible. Thank you for all!

[superspecialstar]

I like this video, and your videos teach me lots of grammar thanks dear, Andrew

[dilmadu]

Your explanation way is very clear and this one is very useful, thank you very much .I really appreciate this.

[markkram]

Hi Andrew, thank you for your videos, they are very useful. I've got a question, a doubt: Yesterday it rained all day. Yesterday it had been raining all day. Which one is correct?

[ahmedkamal]

Hi Andrew, that's a great lesson . but actually i have a question: Mark Waited all morning! how can we use the past simple here . i think we should use the past perfect continuous like  Mark has been waiting all morning ! right ?

[ابراهيمالشيخالاحيمر]

its simple way to learn English grammar thank you for this lesson its help me to understand grammar .... thanks a lot

[santoaguirre]

Thank you Andrew for share your good job. I enjoyed your video because I studied a few of the English language six months ago buy now with your video I refresh a little of English in my mind. :-) thank you.

[ភោគសុវណ្ណារី]

Dear teacher, I really love your accent.Your accent is very clear💞💗.

[niltondias]

It is a complete and clear explanation about this topic. Thank you very much.