Unit 7

Past simple of be: was / were

EXAMPLES

Vincent can Gogh was an artist.
Was he Dutch or French?
She wasn't in class yesterday.
The Beatles were famous in the 1960s.
Where were you last night? You weren't at home.

FORM

• We use was / were to talk about the past.
• We often use was / were with past time expressions, e.g. yesterday, last night, in 2014, etc.
• We use was / were with born.
  I was born in Scotland.

Past simple: regular verbs

EXAMPLES

1. I booked the flights yesterday.
   We arrived at the airport at 10.00 this morning.
2. When I was young, I watched TV every night.
   I worked as a waiter every weekend when I was at university.

FORM

• We use the past simple for:
  1. finished actions that happened once in the past.
  2. finished actions that happened more than once in the past.
• Contraction: didn't = did not.
• Regular verbs in the past simple [+] end in -ed, e.g. worked, lived, played.
• The past simple is the same for all persons (I, you, she, etc.).
• We use did / didn't + infinitive for past simple [?] and [–]. Did is the past of do.

Past simple: irregular verbs

EXAMPLES

I went to Iceland in December. I didn't go to New York.
Did you go to a party? Who did you go with?

FORM

• Some verbs are irregular in the past [+] and change their form, e.g. go → went, have → had.
• We only use the irregular past form in [+] sentences.
  I bought a bag last night.
• We use the infinitive after did / didn't.
  Did you go out last night? NOT Did you went ...?
• Remember word order in questions: ASI (Auxiliary, Subject, Infinitive), e.g. Did you go shopping yesterday? QUASI (Question word, Auxiliary, Subject, Infinitive), e.g. Where did you go?

List of verbs