When you want to talk about something that's over and done with, you'll use the past simple tense. It’s for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the past. Think of it as a snapshot of a completed event.

To form the past simple, you usually just add -ed to the end of a regular verb. For example, walk becomes walked, and play becomes played.

There are a few simple spelling rules to keep in mind for regular verbs:

Unfortunately, many of the most common verbs in English are irregular. This means they don't follow the -ed rule. You just have to memorize them. It might seem like a lot, but you'll get used to them quickly through practice.

Putting the past simple into sentences is straightforward. For a positive statement, you just use the past tense form of the verb after the subject.

• I walked to the park.
• She ate breakfast.

To make negative sentences and questions, we need a helper: the verb do, which becomes did in the past simple.

For negative sentences, the structure is subject + did not (didn't) + base verb.

• I didn't walk to the park. (not "didn't walked")
• She didn't eat breakfast. (not "didn't ate")

For questions, the structure is Did + subject + base verb?

• Did you walk to the park?
• Did she eat breakfast?

Again, the main verb stays in its base form.

The past simple tense often comes with words or phrases that specify when the action happened. These time expressions anchor the event to a particular point in the past.

Common time expressions include:

• yesterday
• last night / last week / last year
• two days ago / ten minutes ago
• in 2010 / on Monday

Let's see them in action:

• We watched a movie last night.
• They flew to Paris on Tuesday.
• He finished his work an hour ago.

Now, let's test what you've learned about describing completed actions in the past.

Using the past simple becomes natural with practice. Keep an eye out for it when you're reading or listening to English, and try using it to talk about your day.