Past Tenses: Simple, Continuous, Perfect

Past Tenses: Simple, Continuous, Perfect

Simple Past

the simple past expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times. It can also be used for actions taking place one after another or  in the middle of an action.

For irregular verbs, use the past form. For regular verbs, just add "ed".

Exceptions in spelling when adding ed	Example
after a final e only add d	love – loved
final consonant after a short, stressed vowel or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final y after a consonant becomes i	hurry – hurried

Example:

·         I played                     Did I play?                            I did not play.

·         She sang                  Did she sing?                      She didn’t sing.

·         He loved                   Did he love?                                    He didn’t love.

Past Perfect: 

Use the past perfect  to talk about an event wich had happened at some point in time before something took place.

Example:

·         She had finished her homework

·         I hadn’t eaten before finished my work

·         What had she saw before sartted cried?

      Past Perfect Continuous:

      the past perfect continuous is used to express how long something had been going on before something important happened in the past

Example:

·         She had been playing football.

·         You hadn't been so Smart

·         How long had you been there?