English is fun with Alice: February 2013

Sunday 17 February 2013

SIMPLE PAST FORM

Most Verbs

Most verbs conjugate by adding -ed like the verb "wait" below.

Positive	Negative	Question
I waited. You waited. We waited. They waited. He waited. She waited. It waited.	I did not wait. You did not wait. We did not wait. They did not wait. He did not wait. She did not wait. It did not wait.	Did I wait? Did you wait? Did we wait? Did they wait? Did he wait? Did she wait? Did it wait?

Examples:

The infinitive	The simple past
live	lived
start	started
die	died
visit	visited
play	played
watch	watched
phone	phoned
marry	married

Pronunciation of the ending -ed in the Simple Past

In the Simple Past we add -ed to regular verbs. Be careful pronuncing the verbs:
1) verbs ending in -ed preceded by a voiceless consonant [p, k, f, ʃ, ʧ, s, θ]
-> speak [t].
The -e is silent. Example: I stop - I stopped [stɒpt]

2) verbs ending in -ed preceded by a voiced consonant [b, g, v, ʒ, ʤ, z, ð, l, m, n] or a vowel
-> speak [d].
The -e is silent. Example: I clean - I cleaned [kli:nd]

3) verbs ending in -ed preceded by [t] or [d]
-> speak [ɪd].
The -e changes to [ɪ]. Example: I visit - I visited [vɪzɪtɪd]

Irregular Verbs

Many verbs, such as "have," take irregular forms in the Simple Past. Notice that you only use the irregular verbs in statements. In negative forms and questions, "did" indicates Simple Past.

Positive	Negative	Question
I had. You had. We had. They had. He had. She had. It had.	I did not have. You did not have. We did not have. They did not have. He did not have. She did not have. It did not have.	Did I have? Did you have? Did we have? Did they have? Did he have? Did she have? Did it have?

http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/past_simple-exercises.html

To Be

The verb "be" is also irregular in the Simple Past. Unlike other irregular verbs, there are two Simple Past forms: "was" and "were." It also has different question forms and negative forms. Always remember that you DO NOT use "did" with the verb "be" in the Simple Past.

Positive	Negative	Question
I was. You were. We were. They were. He was. She was. It was.	I was not. You were not. We were not. They were not. He was not. She was not. It was not.	Was I? Were you? Were we? Were they? Was he? Was she? Was it?