Simple Past Tense Verbs

Simple past tense verbs show actions that took place in the past.

The children played by the fire.

The pretty horse galloped across the field.
Remember that tense means time. So, think of these verbs as past time verbs.

They name verbs that were completed in the past.

Principal Parts of Verbs

All verbs can be broken down into what are called four principal parts.

Those four principal parts are:

1. Present

2. Present Participle

3. Past

4. Past Participle

The past category refers to simple past tense verbs. They show actions that took place in the past.

Present	Present Participle	Past	Past Participle
come	(is) coming	came	(have) come
fall	(is) falling	fell	(have) fallen
go	(is) going	went	(have) gone
graduate	(is) graduating	graduated	(have) graduated
know	(is) knowing	knew	(have) known
walk	(is) walking	walk	(have) walked
write	(is) writing	wrote	(have) written

Forming the Past Tense:
Regular & Irregular

There are two types of past simple verbs.

1. Regular past simple verbs are those that add either a -d or -ed to the present tense form to create the past tense form.

The children skipped past the door.

We walked along the beach.

2. Irregular past simple verbs are those that don't add -d or -ed to the present tense form to create the past tense form.

The children wrote to their grandmother.

My sister drank all of the milk.
Let's learn more about these two!

Regular Past Tense Verbs

Regular verbs are so nice and predictable.

It's easy to remember how to create the past tense of these verbs because they follow a pattern.

They add either a -d or an -ed to the present tense form to make the past tense form.

Present Tense	+ -d or -ed	Past Tense
walk	+ -ed	walked
pick	+ -ed	picked
move	+ -d	moved
push	+ -ed	pushed

Irregular Past Tense Verbs

Irregular verbs are just what they sound like.

They are not regular.

They don't end in -d or an -ed in their past tense.

In fact, they don't end in anything in particular.

That can make it hard to remember how to form their past tense. When in doubt, look it up in the dictionary!

Present Tense	+ ?	Past Tense
drive	+ ?	drove
eat	+ ?	ate
have	+ ?	had
begin	+ ?	began
break	+ ?	broke
steal	+ ?	stole
cost	+ ?	cost

What Are the Other Verb Tenses?

English verbs have six different verb tenses, and they are broken up into two different groups.

There are three simple tenses. These are your basic, run-of-the-mill tenses.

1. Present Simple

My brother knows the answer.

2. Past Simple

My brother knew the answer.

3. Future Simple

My brother will know the answer.

There are three perfect tenses. These three tenses are all formed using the helping verbs have, has, had, will, and shall along with the past participle of the verb.

1. Present Perfect

My brother has known the answer.

2. Past Perfect

My brother had known the answer.

3. Future Perfect

My brother will have known the answer .

You can learn more about verb tenses here or you can use these stories and exercises to learn more.

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