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The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses.^[1] Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however, there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.^[2]

The term "simple" is used to distinguish the syntactical construction whose basic form uses the plain past tense alone,^[3] from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in combination with participles, such as the present perfect, past perfect, and past progressive.^[4]

Formation[edit]

Regular verbs form the simple past end-ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.^[2] The spelling rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs are as follows: verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped).^[5] For details see English verbs § Past tense.

Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the person or number of the subject (there is no addition of -s for the third person singular as in the simple present). However, the copula verb be has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were in other instances.^[1] The form were can also be used in place of was in conditional clauses and the like;^[6] for information on this, see English subjunctive. This is the only case in modern English where a distinction in form is made between inversion, negations with not, and emphatic forms of the simple past use the auxiliary did.^[6] For details of this mechanism, see do-support. A full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb help as an example:

Basic simple past:
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they helped
Expanded (emphatic) simple past:
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they did help
Question form:
- Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?
Negative:
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) help
Negative question:
- Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they not help? / Didn't I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?

Base form

Affirmative (+) S + verb(ed) + c

Negative (-) S + did not ( didn't) + verb + C

Usage[edit]

The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual actions:^[1]

He took the money and ran.

I visited them every day for a year.

It can also refer to a past state:

I knew how to fight even as a child.

For actions that were ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used instead (e.g. I was cooking).^[7] The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. the ball was lying on the sidewalk), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see Uses of English verb forms § Progressive – and in these cases the simple past is used even for a temporary state:

The dog was in its kennel.

I felt cold.

However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use could see in place of saw, could hear in place of heard, etc. For more on this, see can see.^[7]

If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:^[7]

Your mother called while you were cooking.

The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect. The simple past is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).^[7]

I was born in 1980.

We turned the oven off two minutes ago.

I came home at 6 o'clock.

When did they get married?

We wrote two letters this morning.

She placed the letter on the table, sighed, and left the house.

These examples can be contrasted with those given at Uses of English verb forms § Present perfect. Also, for past actions that occurred before the relevant past time frame, the past perfect is used.

Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action. The sentence When I was young, I played football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using used to (... I used to play ...) or using would (... I would play...).

The simple past form also has some uses in which it does not refer to a past time. These are generally in condition clauses and some other dependent clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances, as well as certain expressions of wish:

If he walked faster, he would get home earlier.

I wish I knew what his name was.

I would rather she wore a longer dress.

For more details see the sections on conditionals, dependent clauses and expressions of wish in the article on uses of English verb forms.

For use of the simple past (and other past tense forms) in indirect speech, see Uses of English verb forms § Indirect speech. An example:

He said he wanted to go on the slide.

Pronunciation of -ed[edit]

The regular verbs ending with -ed are pronounced as follows:^[5]

Regular verb endings with voiced consonants+/d/, e.g. hugged /hʌɡd/.

Regular verb endings with unvoiced consonants+/t/, e.g. stopped /stɒpt/.

Regular verb endings with /t/ or /d/ + /ɪd/, e.g. needed /niːdɪd/.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Comrie, Bernard (2006). Tense. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (8. pr. 2004 transferred to digital printing 2006 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–43. ISBN 978-0-521-28138-6.
^ ^a ^b "Past simple". LearnEnglish - British Council. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
^ Aarts, Bas; Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund S. C.; Weiner, E. S. C. (2014). The Oxford dictionary of English grammar. Oxford paperback reference (2. ed., [fully rev. and updated] ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-965823-7.
^ Comrie, Bernard (2001). Aspect: an introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (Transferred to digital print ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29045-6.
^ ^a ^b "Past simple – regular verbs". Learn English Teens - British Council. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
^ ^a ^b Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 10: Verb and adjective complement clauses". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10. impression ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 6: Variations in the verb phrase: tense aspect, voice, and modal use.". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10. impression ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.

iStudyEnglishOnline (2015). Past Simple Uses & Explanations. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015.

[:0-1] Comrie, Bernard (2006). Tense. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (8. pr. 2004 transferred to digital printing 2006 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–43. ISBN 978-0-521-28138-6.

[:1-2] "Past simple". LearnEnglish - British Council. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2024-01-04.

[3] Aarts, Bas; Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund S. C.; Weiner, E. S. C. (2014). The Oxford dictionary of English grammar. Oxford paperback reference (2. ed., [fully rev. and updated] ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-965823-7.

[4] Comrie, Bernard (2001). Aspect: an introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics (Transferred to digital print ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29045-6.

[:2-5] "Past simple – regular verbs". Learn English Teens - British Council. Retrieved 2024-01-04.

[:3-6] Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 10: Verb and adjective complement clauses". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10. impression ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.

[:4-7] Biber, Douglas; Quirk, Randolph, eds. (2012). "Chapter 6: Variations in the verb phrase: tense aspect, voice, and modal use.". Longman grammar of spoken and written English (10. impression ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-23725-4.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{short description|Basic form of the past tense in Modern English}}
 {{About|an English tense form|the comparable tense form in other languages|Preterite}}
+The '''simple past''', '''past simple''', or '''past indefinite''', in English equivalent to the [[preterite]], is the basic form of the [[past tense]] in [[Modern English]]. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |title=Tense |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-28138-6 |edition=8. pr. 2004 transferred to digital printing 2006 |series=Cambridge textbooks in linguistics |location=Cambridge |pages=41 - 43}}</ref> Regular English verbs form the simple past in ''-ed''; however, there are a few hundred [[List of English irregular verbs|irregular verbs]] with different forms.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2010-03-18 |title=Past simple |url=https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/past-simple |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=LearnEnglish - British Council |language=en}}</ref>
-<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the discussion has been closed. -->
-{{Article for deletion/dated|page=Simple past|timestamp=20230729023922|year=2023|month=July|day=29|substed=yes|help=off}}
-<!-- Once discussion is closed, please place on talk page: {{Old AfD multi|page=Simple past|date=29 July 2023|result='''keep'''}} -->
-<!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->
-{{Unreliable sources|date=December 2021}}
-The '''simple past''' or '''past indefinite''', sometimes called the [[preterite]], is the basic form of the [[past tense]] in [[Modern English]]. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English verbs form the simple past in ''-ed''; however, there are a few hundred [[List of English irregular verbs|irregular verbs]] with different forms.
-The term "[[simple aspect|simple]]" is used to distinguish the [[syntax|syntactical]] construction whose basic form uses the plain past tense alone, from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in combination with participles, such as the [[past perfect]] and [[past progressive]].
+The term "[[simple aspect|simple]]" is used to distinguish the [[syntax|syntactical]] construction whose basic form uses the plain past tense alone,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aarts |first=Bas |title=The Oxford dictionary of English grammar |last2=Chalker |first2=Sylvia |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund S. C. |last4=Weiner |first4=E. S. C. |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-965823-7 |edition=2. ed., [fully rev. and updated] |series=Oxford paperback reference |location=Oxford}}</ref> from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in combination with participles, such as the [[present perfect]], [[past perfect]], and [[past progressive]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |title=Aspect: an introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-521-29045-6 |edition=Transferred to digital print |series=Cambridge textbooks in linguistics |location=Cambridge}}</ref>
 ==Formation==
-Regular verbs form the simple past end''-ed''; however there are a few hundred [[List of English irregular verbs|irregular verbs]] with different forms. The spelling rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs are as follows: verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped).  For details see {{slink|English verbs|Past tense}}.
+Regular verbs form the simple past end''-ed''; however there are a few hundred [[List of English irregular verbs|irregular verbs]] with different forms.<ref name=":1" /> The spelling rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs are as follows: verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Past simple – regular verbs |url=https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2-grammar/past-simple-regular-verbs |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Learn English Teens - British Council |language=en}}</ref> For details see {{slink|English verbs|Past tense}}.
-Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the [[grammatical person|person]] or [[grammatical number|number]] of the subject (there is no addition of ''-s'' for the third person singular as in the [[simple present]]). However, the [[copula verb]] ''be'' has two past tense forms: ''was'' for the first and third persons singular, and ''were'' in other instances. The form ''were'' can also be used in place of ''was'' in conditional clauses and the like; for information on this, see [[English subjunctive]]. This is the only case in modern English where a distinction in form is made between [[subject-auxiliary inversion|inversion]], [[negation (grammar)|negation]]s with ''not'', and emphatic forms of the simple past use the auxiliary ''did''. For details of this mechanism, see [[do-support|''do''-support]]. A full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb ''help'' as an example:
+Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the [[grammatical person|person]] or [[grammatical number|number]] of the subject (there is no addition of ''-s'' for the third person singular as in the [[simple present]]). However, the [[copula verb]] ''be'' has two past tense forms: ''was'' for the first and third persons singular, and ''were'' in other instances.<ref name=":0" /> The form ''were'' can also be used in place of ''was'' in conditional clauses and the like;<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Longman grammar of spoken and written English |date=2012 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-23725-4 |editor-last=Biber |editor-first=Douglas |edition=10. impression |location=Harlow |chapter=Chapter 10: Verb and adjective complement clauses |editor-last2=Quirk |editor-first2=Randolph}}</ref> for information on this, see [[English subjunctive]]. This is the only case in modern English where a distinction in form is made between [[subject-auxiliary inversion|inversion]], [[negation (grammar)|negation]]s with ''not'', and emphatic forms of the simple past use the auxiliary ''did''.<ref name=":3" /> For details of this mechanism, see [[do-support|''do''-support]]. A full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb ''help'' as an example:
 *Basic simple past:
 **I/you/he/she/it/we/they '''helped'''
@@ Line 34: / Line 29: @@
 ==Usage==
-The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual actions:
+The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual actions:<ref name=":0" />
 ::He '''took''' the money and '''ran'''.
 ::I '''visited''' them every day for a year.
@@ Line 40: / Line 35: @@
 It can also refer to a past state:
 ::I '''knew''' how to fight even as a child.
-For actions that were ongoing at the time referred to, the [[past progressive]] is generally used instead (e.g. ''I was cooking''). The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. ''the ball was lying on the sidewalk''), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see {{slink|Uses of English verb forms|Progressive}} – and in these cases the simple past is used even for a temporary state:
+For actions that were ongoing at the time referred to, the [[past progressive]] is generally used instead (e.g. ''I was cooking'').<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |title=Longman grammar of spoken and written English |date=2012 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-23725-4 |editor-last=Biber |editor-first=Douglas |edition=10. impression |location=Harlow |chapter=Chapter 6: Variations in the verb phrase: tense aspect, voice, and modal use. |editor-last2=Quirk |editor-first2=Randolph}}</ref> The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. ''the ball was lying on the sidewalk''), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see {{slink|Uses of English verb forms|Progressive}} – and in these cases the simple past is used even for a temporary state:
 ::The dog '''was''' in its kennel.
 ::I '''felt''' cold.
-However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use ''could see'' in place of ''saw'', ''could hear'' in place of ''heard'', etc. For more on this, see ''[[can see]]''.
+However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use ''could see'' in place of ''saw'', ''could hear'' in place of ''heard'', etc. For more on this, see ''[[can see]]''.<ref name=":4" />
-If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:
+If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:<ref name=":4" />
 ::Your mother '''called''' while you ''were cooking''.
-The simple past is often close in meaning to the [[present perfect]]. The simple past is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).
+The simple past is often close in meaning to the [[present perfect]]. The simple past is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).<ref name=":4" />
 ::I '''was''' born in 1980.
 ::We '''turned''' the oven off two minutes ago.
@@ Line 70: / Line 65: @@
 ==Pronunciation of -ed==
-The regular verbs ending with -ed are pronounced as follows:
+The regular verbs ending with -ed are pronounced as follows:<ref name=":2" />
 * Regular verb endings with voiced consonants+/d/, e.g. ''hugged'' /hʌɡd/.
@@ Line 88: / Line 83: @@
 ==References==
+{{Reflist}}
 *iStudyEnglishOnline (2015). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150814141504/http://istudyenglishonline.com/english-tenses/past-simple/ Past Simple Uses & Explanations].  Archived from [http://istudyenglishonline.com/english-tenses/past-simple/ the original] on August 14, 2015.

Latest revision as of 04:55, 6 January 2024

Formation[edit]

Usage[edit]

Pronunciation of -ed[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]