Tenses: Past Simple

With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed to the verb (e.g. call > called, need > needed, love > loved). However, there are many irregular past tenses in English. Here is a list of the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses.

The Simple Past  is used to express:

1.  a finished action in the past

• They went to London last month.
• John left two minutes ago.

2.  a past situation or habit.  In such cases, we can also use the expression “used to”.

• Peter studied French when he was a child.
• When she was a student, she worked at the movie theatre after school.