2.1. Grammar review: past events

 

Past tense

 

To describe things that happened before today we have to use the past tenses. In English, there are three main verb forms of the past tense. They are: Simple past, Present perfect and Past perfect. They also have continuous forms.

 Past Simple

(also called Simple Past)

Use it to describe events completed in the past.

I arrived in England at 5 o'clock.  

Llegué en Inglaterra a las 5.

avión despegando

Imagen de  Alf van Been en wikimedia. Licencia CC

Present perfect

Use it to describe events that have started in the past and continue in the present.

It connects past and present.

I have known Peter since I was 12.  

Conozco a Peter desde que tenía 12 años.

Past perfect

 Use it to describe events that have started and finished in the past.

The plane had  already taken off when I arrived at the airport. 

 El avión había ya despegado antes de que llegué al aeropuerto.

 

 

Let's review the Simple Past.

The simple past describes an action or a state of being that began and was completed in the past.

  • Completed actions: I broke my leg in the accident. He parked his car in the garage.
  • Past state of being: She was happy. I felt sad after my birthday party.

 

These past events are normally described with Time Markers or temporal adverbs like Yesterday, Last night, Last year, Five months ago, …

 

  • For example: I went to the park yesterday She bought her new coat last Saturday

 

The negative sentences  are formed with  Did not (or didn't) + the infinitive of the verb.

 

  • For example: They did not go out on Friday. He didn't drive his car after the party.

 

To form most questions we use Did too. It goes at the beginning of the sentence. (Did + subject + verb?)

 

  • For example: Did he go to the library? Did you feel OK after the boat ride?

 

The modal verbs and BE don't use the the auxiliary verb do/did.

 

  • For example: Was she at school yesterday? I wasn't happy.
  • Were they in France last summer? You were not there on time.
  • Could they hear him? No, they couldn't

 

Watch this video in Spanish

 

Watch this video in Real English: these people are asked about yesterday.

Try these exercises for extra practice. 

 

 

As you know, the English language uses both regular and irregular verbs forms.
When forming the past tense or the present/past perfect tense of these verbs, we use different methods.
To form the past tense of a regular verb we add -ed ( plant > planted). But there are some rules.


Unlike regular verbs, irregular verbs do not follow a pattern. You must memorize them or learn them by use.

Here are some spelling rules for regular verbs:

Source: https://edu.glogster.com/glog/_/23bssjaw6mq

* Remember, there are exceptions to these rules.

Do it yourself

Match the rules with the example in the box. Write a, b, c, d, e, f, g, or h

Verbs ending in ... Rule
1. consonant group

plant = planted , finish = finished , kiss = kissed ,

watch = watched , fix /fiks/ = fixed , buzz = buzzed

2. vowel + consonant stop = stopped , admit = admitted , swap = swapped
3. vowel + consonant visit = visited , inherit = inherited
4. consonant + y study = studied , marry = married , carry = carried
5. vowel + l travel = travelled , cancel = cancelled
6. -c panic = panicked
7. silent e smile = smiled , die = died , phone = phoned
8. vowel + semivowel play = played , enjoy = enjoyed , show = showed



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Do it yourself

Read the paragraph below and fill in the missing words.

 Put these regular verbs into the simple past :

  1. The children (play) in the garden all Saturday morning.
  2. We (visit) our family in Boston last summer.
  3. They (want) to watch the game last night.
  4. The flight assistant (open) the emergency doors.
  5. Who (invent) the SMS messages?
  6. Last night, I (show) my little brother the new game for Xbox®.
  7. We finally (decide) to go to Ibiza.
  8. What (happen) yesterday?
  9. We (talk) about our old girl friends.
  10. All the students (work) on the science project during the last class.

Imagen por Sharon Pruitt en Wikipedia. Licencia CC

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The most difficult aspect about regular verbs in the Past Simple Tense is the correct pronunciation.

There are three possible pronunciations:

Group 1)
/t/ - pronounce -ed as “T”
 Group2)
/d/ - pronounce -ed as “D”
Group 3) 
/id/ -pronounce -ed as “ID”

After all Voiceless sounds:

– p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x – h -

example: ask > asked

kiss > kissed

 

After all Voiced sounds :

– l – v – n – m – r – b – v – g – w – y – z –

and vowel sounds (diphthongs)

example: learn > learned

tie > tied

 

After T or D :

example: need > needed

invite > invited

 

Hint: As you can hear, the difference between /t/ and /d/ is very small and most native speakers use an intermediate position. 

Listen to lived played rained

Never pronounce groups 1) and 2) as group 3).  /ask Id/  /kis Id/  /ti Id/  /lov Id/

Do it yourself

Write the correct form of these verbs and write the correct pronunciation group.

Example:

Infinitive Simple past Group
Ex: need needed 3

Infinitive

Simple Past

Group

1

stopped

2

copy

3

switch

4

tried

5

hurried

6

cook

7

swap

8

mail

9

wait

10

love

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