Simple Past Tense or Past Indefinite Tense is used to talk about actions that has already completed in past. It is used for finished actions. This is also called Past Indefinite Tense.
For example : ‘I went to club last night’.
Here the action of going to club is finished. Such scenarios are expressed via Simple Past or Past Indefinite tense.
It is often confused with Present Perfect Tense as It seems to be used for similar scenarios. But there is a thin line between the usages of both the tenses.
The confusion can be made clear in the article Simple Past Tense vs Present Perfect Tense.
Formation of Simple Past Tense Tense:
Subject + 2nd Form of verb+ rest of the sentence.
Examples:
He +wrote + a letter.
Here we are using wrote as it is the 2nd form of the verb write.
Simple Past Tense is used in below scenarios:
1. Finished Action in Past:
Most commonly it is used to represent actions which are completed in past.
Examples:
He met her in 1980.
I came to this city in 2014.
In these sentences, meet, coming to the city are the actions which are already finished in past.
2. Past habits:
This tense is used to express a past habit which is no longer going on or something that happened again and again in the past.
Examples:
He always got up 6 in the morning in his childhood.
Here we are talking about a past habit that is changed now.
3. Action done in a finished time Period:
Time period is a span of time example: week, year, today, month. If talk about a task that has been done in the time period that is completed already we use Simple Past Tense
Examples:
We ate pizza last week.
Time period ‘Last Week’ is already finished.
Types of Past Simple Tense:
1. Affirmative Past Simple:
Rule to form Affirmative Past Simple Tense:
Subject + 2nd form of verb + rest of the sentence.
He + wrote + a letter yesterday.
Here we are using wrote as it is it the second form of verb write.
2. Negative Past Simple tense:
Rule to form Negative Past Simple Tense:
Subject + did +not+ simple verb (first form of verb) + rest of the sentence.
He + did + not + write + a letter yesterday.
We use ‘did not’ after Subject and use first form of the verb write for creating negative sentence using Past Indefinite Tense.
3. Interrogative Past Simple tense:
Rule to form Interrogative Past Simple Tense:
Did + Subject + simple verb (first form of verb) + rest of the sentence?
Did he write a letter yesterday?
Here to ask questions in simple past tense, the sentence is started with ‘did’, then subject is added before verb. Question mark at the end of sentence.
4. Interrogative Negative Past Simple tense:
Rule to form Interrogative Past Simple Tense:
Did + Subject +not + simple verb (first form of verb) + rest of the sentence?
Did + he+ not + write +a letter yesterday ?
To ask question with a Negative form, add not after Subject and before verb.
Examples of Past Simple or Past Indefinite Tense:
| Affirmative Past Simple TenseHe ate pizza last week. I spent my holiday in Nainital last year. You bought this car yesterday. Our team won the match. She liked ice cream a lot. |
Negative Past Simple TenseHe did not eat pizza yesterday. I did not spend my holiday in Nanital last year. You did not buy this car yesterday. Our team did not win the match. She did not like the ice cream. |
| Interrogative Past Simple TenseDid he eat pizza last week? Did I spend my holiday in Nainital last year? Did you buy this car yesterday? Did our team win the match? Did she like the ice cream? |
Interrogative Past Simple TenseDid he not eat pizza last week? Did I not spend my holiday in Nainital last year? Did you not buy this car yesterday? Did our team not win the match? Did she not like the ice cream? |
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