No. Example
Simple Form
Past Tense
Form Simple
Form Past
Tense Form
Notes
4. Begin
bleed come
choose drink
drive began
bled came
chose drank
drove Grow
know ride
ring run
sing Grew
knew rode
rang ran
sang Many verbs have
vowel changes in the past tense.
5. Bring
buy catch
creep do
fly Brought
bought caught
crept did
flew leave
lie pay
say sell
sleep Left
lied paid
said sold
slept Many verbs have
consonant and vowel changes in the past
tense.
As it has been stated above that, the irregular verbs of the simple past tense have the same pattern with the regular verb in affirmative, negative and
interrogative statement. Here are for more details of irregular verb pattern: a. Forming Affirmative
The formula: S + V2 + O + .....
Example: - Andre bought some apples for Meli yesterday - The birds flew and never come back
b. Forming Negative
The formula is: S + Did not + V1 + O +......
Example: - She didn’t eat any of the cakes
- Dona didn’t ride her motorcycle last Friday
c. The Interrogative Form of the Simple Past Tense in Irregular Verb
The formula: Did + S + V1 +....... ?
Example: Did she fall from the rooftop? Yes, she did No, she didn’t
Did they drink the coke? Yes, they didNo, they didn’t
3. The Simple Past Tense of Verb Be
Kirn, Jack and O’Sullivan highlight that be is one of the irregular verb with the simple past tense form is WasWere. This verb is used differently in the simple
past tense than any other irregular pattern statements. The following is the table of the past of be form:
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Table 2.3 Verb of Be Table
Statement Example
Note Affirmative
Mario was at home last night They were born in Osaka
Use was with singular nouns and with the
pronouns I, she, he, it, this and that. Use were
with plural nouns and with the pronouns you,
we, they these and those.
Negative I was not on the internet last night
We were not hungry for dinner yesterday
Use not after the verb be
in negative
sentences. The
contraction for wasnot is
wasn’t, the
contraction for war not is
weren’t.
Interrogative YesNo
Question Was
your mother born in Columbia?
Were you sleep at 11.00 last night?
Wasn’t the bird fed this afternoon? Weren’t those sofas expensive?
In addition, sometimes there are expressions that can be used in the simple past which also shows that the activity happened in the past. John Eastwood stated
some typical time expression in the simple past are: yesterday, this morning evening, last weekyear, a weekmonth ago, that dayafternoon, the other
dayweek, at eleven oclock, on Tuesday, in 1990, just, recently, once, earlier, then, next, after that.
11
10
Ibid., p. 117
11
John Eastwood, Oxford Guided to English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 87.
b. The Use of the Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is the most commonly used tense in English which refer to any kinds of events happened in the past or even a repeated happening. It
is as Swan said about the using of simple past as, “The simple past is the one most often used to talk about the past. It can refer to short, quickly finished action and
events, to longer actions and situations, to repeated happenings ”.
12
Thomson supposed there are three points about the usage of the simple past tense, they are:
1. It is used for the action completed in the past at a definite time. It is therefore used:
- for the past action when the time is given: I met him yesterday
Pasteur died in 1895 - or when the time is asked about:
When did you meet him? - or when the action clearly took place at a definite time even though this
time is not mentioned: The train was ten minute late
How did you get the present job? 2. The simple past tense is used for an action whose time is not given but which
a occupied a period of time now terminated, e.g. He worked in that bank for four years but he doesn’t work there now, or b occurred at a moment in a
period of time now terminated, e.g. My Grandmother once saw Queen Victoria.
3. The simple past tense is also used for a past habit: He always carried an umbrella
Used to for indicating past habit is used as:
12
Micahael Swan, Practical English Usage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 469.
