Past simple

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

The past simple

Folder 5: a walk in the past

Past? Simple? 

Past = a period that is completely over now, 

an action that is completely in the past 

Simple = we talk about events, states or habits 

at a certain time in the past

The simple present of ordinary verbs

I: bare infinitive

You: bare infinitive

He/she/it:  bare infinitive + s

We: bare infinitive

You: bare infinitive

They: bare infinitive

The simple past of ordinary verbs

I: bare infinitive + ed

You: bare infinitive + ed

He/she/it: bare infinitive + ed

We: bare infinitive + ed

You: bare infinitive + ed

They: bare infinitive + ed

The simple present of 'to look':

I look

You look

He/she/it looks

We look

You look

They look

Regelmatige werkwoorden 

gebruiken de infinitief zonder 'to' 

in de present tense.

MAAR: in de derde persoon 

komt er een 's' bij.

The simple past of 'to look':

I looked

You looked

He/she/it looked

We looked

You looked

They looked

Regelmatige werkwoorden krijgen een 

-ed in de past tense.

Attention!

- When your infinitive ends in a vowel and y: + ed --> to stay: stayed

- When your infinitive ends in a consonant and y: y + ied --> to cry: cried 

- When your infinitive ends in an 'e': + d --> to love: loved

- When your infinitive ends in a single stressed vowel + a single consonant: 

   double consonant + ed --> to stop: stopped

- When your infinitive ends in a single vowel + 'l': 

   + led (in British English only!) --> to travel: travelled

"When your infinitive ends in a single stressed vowel + a single consonant"

SAY WHAT?! 

The rule is: if the word has 1 syllable, 1 vowel and it ends in 1 consonant, you double the final consonant.

In Dutch: als het woord uit één lettergreep bestaat en eindigt op 1 klinker + 1 medeklinker, dan verdubbel je de laatste medeklinker. 

Examples: 

- stop (1 lettergreep, 1 klinker + 1 medeklinker op einde) wordt stopped

- plan wordt planned (= plannen)

- flip wordt flipped (= omdraaien)

- stab wordt stabbed (= steken) 

!! never double w, x, y

The present simple of 'to be'

I am

You are

He/she/it is

We are

You are

They are

The past simple of 'to be'

I was

You were

He/she/it was

We were

You were

They were

The present simple of 'can'

I can

You can

He/she/it can

We can

You can

They can

The past simple of 'can'

I could

You could

He/she/it could

We could

You could

They could

My grandpa _______ (visit)
his children last week.

1. visit
2. visited
3. visits
4. visitted

My parents _______ (walk)
in the park last week.

1. walk
2. walks
3. walked
4. are walking

My neighbour _____ (wash) his car a couple of minutes ago.

1. washes
2. wash
3. is washing
4. washed

The teacher _____ (help)
them last class.

1. helped
2. is helping
3. helps
4. helpet

Now listen to this song... It's an all-time classic!

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it till my fingers bled

It was the summer of '69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit and Jody got married

I should have known we would never get far

Oh when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'

When you got a job to do

Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of '69

Words in red = regular past verbs

Words in blue = irregular past verbs

Irregular: some verbs do not follow 

the general rule (infinitive without to + -ed).

 In fact, they do not follow any rules at all!

On the next slide you can find a whole lot of verbs that use an irregular past form.

Irregular verbs in the past tense: 

you have to learn them by heart!! (= vanbuiten)

The end

By now you should know how to form the past tense of regular and irregular verbs. 

This means you are able to talk about things that happened in the past. 

You also know which signal words and other phrases can occur

in sentences that use the past tense. 

Learn the irregular forms by heart and repeat them often!

Not only will you lose points if you do not use them correctly,

but many English people will find it funny if you use the wrong form. ;-)