When we talk about actions that are completely finished, we use the Past Simple tense. It's for events that happened at a specific time in the past and are now over. Think of it as a snapshot of a completed moment.

In this sentence, the visit to Paris is a finished event that happened last summer. The action started and ended in the past.

For most verbs, forming the Past Simple is easy. We just add '-ed' to the end of the verb's base form. These are called regular verbs.

For example:

• I walked to the store yesterday.
• They played soccer after school.

There are a few simple spelling rules to keep in mind when adding '-ed'.

Some verbs don't follow the '-ed' rule. These are called irregular verbs, and their past forms change in unique ways. You have to memorize them, but you'll get used to the most common ones quickly.

Here are a few of the most frequent irregular verbs.

Let's see them in action:

• We went to the cinema last night.
• He ate the entire pizza.
• She had a great time at the party.

To make negative sentences or ask questions in the Past Simple, we need a helper verb: did. This works for both regular and irregular verbs.

For negative sentences, the structure is did not (or didn't) followed by the base form of the verb.

• I didn't walk to the store. (not didn't walked)
• He didn't eat the pizza. (not didn't ate)

For questions, we start the sentence with Did, followed by the subject and the base form of the verb.

• Did you walk to the store?
• Did he eat the pizza?

Certain words and phrases often signal that you should use the Past Simple. They pinpoint when the completed action happened.

Look at these examples:

• She called me five minutes ago.
• They moved here in 2015.
• We finished the project last week.

These time expressions make it clear that the action is finished and firmly in the past.