The past
simple:
Regular verbs
GRAMMAR
LEVEL NUMBER LANGUAGE
Beginner A1_2057G_EN English
Goals
■ Learn how to form the past
simple of regular verbs
■ Learn how to negate in the
past simple
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I visited Japan and Korea
last summer.
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The past simple
■ Use the past simple to talk about finished actions in the past.
■ Add -ed to the infinitive of regular verbs to form the past simple.
infinitive past simple
visit visited
walk walked
stay stayed
enjoy enjoyed
relax relaxed
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Verbs ending in y
Add -ied to some verbs ending in y to form the past simple.
infinitive past simple
carry carried
study studied
try tried
cry cried
hurry hurried
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Subject matters
Regular verbs in the past simple are the same for all subjects.
present simple past simple
I play basketball on Saturdays. I played basketball last Saturday.
You watch TV at home. You watched TV at home last night.
He visits his grandparents. He visited his grandparents last weekend.
She listens to music. She listened to music yesterday.
We stay in a hotel. We stayed in a hotel last summer.
They study at university together. They studied at university together in 2010.
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Practise pronouncing the past simple of these verbs
listen
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Complete the sentences with a regular past simple verb
1. I _______________ to work this morning.
2. We _______________ TV last night.
3. He _______________ South America last
summer.
4. We _______________ engineering at
university.
5. We _______________ about it at the
meeting.
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ed or ied?
ed ied
wash try
study work
watch cry
carry play
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Past time phrases
■ Use past time phrases to say when you did something.
■ Past time phrases usually go at the end of a sentence.
past simple sentence Past time phrase
I visited Amsterdam last year.
I played tennis yesterday.
We watched that movie a few days ago.
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Time phrases
Present Past
yesterday
now
afternoon
last night at the moment
a few months ago today
last week last year
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Choose the correct option
1. I watched TV _______________ night.
a. last b. yesterday c. now d. ago
2. I _______________ the Philippines last summer.
a. vacation b. go c. visited d. visit
3. They _______________ dinner for us last night.
a. cooks b. cooks c. cooked d. make
4. We _______________ our vacation!
a. enjoys b. enjoyed c. enjoied d. go
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Put the sentences in the past simple and add a time phrase
1. I cook dinner. I cooked dinner yesterday.
__________________________________
2. We play basketball.
__________________________________
__________________________________
3. She visit her grandparents.
__________________________________
__________________________________
4. They study for the test.
__________________________________
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Talk to a classmate about what you’ve done this week
last night
yesterda ate
y
visite watched
d staye
enjoyed
studied
d
played
ago
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To do in the past simple
There are many English verbs which are irregular in the past simple.
One of the most important irregular English verbs is the verb to do.
Here is the verb to do conjugated in the past simple.
I did
you did
he, she, it did
we did
they did
Just like the regular verbs in the past simple, it has the same conjugation for each
subject pronoun.
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Negating in the past simple
The verb to do is important because we use it to form the past simple negative.
To construct the past simple negative we first need to contract:
■ Conjugate the verb to do in the past simple
■ Negate it by adding the word not
■ Contract it from did not to didn’t
I did not I didn’t
you did not you didn’t
he, she, it did not he, she, it didn’t
we did not we didn’t
they did not they didn’t
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Negating in the past simple
After the conjugated form of didn’t we simply put the infinitive of the verb that we
want to negate.
This doesn’t change the word order of the rest of the sentence.
■ I watched a lot of
television last night
■ I didn’t watch a lot of television last night.
■ I walked home from
■ I didn’t walk home from school yesterday.
school yesterday.
■ I played football last
■ I didn’t play football last weekend.
weekend.
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Read the sentences
I walked up the stairs.
I didn’t walk up the stairs.
She answered the phone.
She didn’t answer the phone.
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Important irregular verbs
Another one of the most important irregular English verbs is the verb to go.
Here is the verb to go conjugated in the past simple.
I went
you went
he, she, it went
we went
they went
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Read the sentences
I went on holiday last month.
I didn’t go on holiday last month.
She went to the cinema yesterday
evening.
She didn’t go to the cinema yesterday
evening.
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The past simple negative forms
Observe the table below to see how positive and negative statements are formed in
the past simple.
positive negative
I went to Italy last year. I didn’t go to Italy last year.
You stayed in a hotel. You didn’t stay in a hotel.
He needed a break. He didn’t need a break.
We sailed at the local sailing club. We didn’t sail at the local sailing club.
They loved the beach. They didn’t love the beach.
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Negate these sentences
1. I went on holidays last ________________________________________
summer.
________________________________________
________________________________________
2. I walked all day today.
________________________________________
3. He listened to music in his ________________________________________
room last night.
________________________________________
4. We visited our grandparents ________________________________________
last week.
________________________________________
5. They relaxed in the garden ________________________________________
yesterday.
________________________________________
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Describe what happened…
■ Describe what happened in the following slides.
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Describe what happened (or didn’t happen)…
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Describe what happened (or didn’t happen)…
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Describe what happened (or didn’t happen)…
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Reflect on the goals
Go back to the second slide of the lesson and check
if you have achieved all the goals of the lesson.
yes no
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
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Reflect on this lesson
Think about everything you have seen in this lesson.
What were the most difficult activities or words? The easiest?
+ _______________________________
_______________________________
+ _______________________________
_______________________________
– _______________________________
_______________________________
– _______________________________
_______________________________
If you have time, go over
the most difficult slides again
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Exercise p. 7
talked, walked, played, watched, listened, studied
Exercise p. 8
1. walked, 2. watched, 3. visited, 4. studied, 5. talked
Exercise p. 9
-ed: washed, worked, watched, played
-ied: tried, studied, cried, carried
Exercise p. 11
Present: now, at the moment, today
Past: yesterday afternoon, last night, a few months ago, last week, last year
Answer key (1/2)
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Exercise p. 12
1a, 2c, 3c, 4b
Exercise p. 14
2. We played basketball., 3. She visited her grandparents., 4. They studied for the
test.
Exercise p. 20
1. I didn’t go., 2. I didn’t walk., 3. He didn’t listen., 4. We didn’t visit., 5. They didn’t
relax.
Answer key (2/2)
Homework
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Complete the table
walk _______________
_______________ watched
play _______________
_______________ listened
visit _______________
cook _______________
study _______________
stay _______________
enjoy _______________
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Write the verb in the past simple
to stay _______________
_______________
to visit
_______________
to watch
_______________
to do
_______________
to walk
_______________
to carry
_______________
to go
_______________
to answer
_______________
to look
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Transform the sentences to the past simple
1. I go to the cinema (negative) I didn’t go to the cinema.
_______________________________________________________________
2. She likes chocolate. (positive) _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. They go to Greece. (negative) _______________________________________________________________
4. He visits his girlfriend. _______________________________________________________________
(positive) _______________________________________________________________
5. We do our homework. _______________________________________________________________
(positive) _______________________________________________________________
6. We do our homework. _______________________________________________________________
(negative) _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
7. I call my friend. (positive) _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
8. You walk to work. (negative) _______________________________________________________________
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Text at the beginning
Go back to the text on page 3
and find examples of
the grammar topic of this lesson in it.
Write them down.
Copy parts of the text
that are examples of
topic of the lesson.
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Find the verbs
Find the verbs in this lesson and write them down.
Which are new? Do you know all of them?
Look these words up.
Verbs
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Sentences in the first person plural
Choose five sentences from this lesson.
Copy them and write them about you and a friend.
Examples:
I don’t understand
→ My friend Maria and I don’t understand.
He has a book
→ We have a book
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Easy or difficult?
Is the grammar topic of this lesson…
easy or difficult?
Write down what is difficult for you and what is easy.
–
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Exercise p. 32
walked, watch, played, listen, visited, cooked, studied, stayed, enjoyed
Exercise p. 33
stayed, visited, watched, did, walked, carried, went, answered, looked
Exercise p. 34
2. liked, 3. didn’t go, 4. visited, 5. did, 6. didn’t do, 7. called, 8. didn’t walk
Homework answer key
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