Form and use the regular past tense

  • The past tense tells us about actions that happened before now.
  • Example: Yesterday, I walked to the park.

  • A verb is in the regular past tense when you add -ed or -d to the base verb to show that the action happened in the past.
  • Example:
    • Base verb: talk → Past tense: talked
    • Base verb: smile → Past tense: smiled

  • Add -ed to most verbs:
  • Example:
    • walk → walked
    • jump → jumped
  • Add -d to verbs that end in -e:
  • Example:
    • love → loved
    • dance → danced
  • Change -y to -i and add -ed for verbs that end with consonant + y:
  • Example:
    • carry → carried
    • cry → cried

  • When you talk about something that happened before now, use the past tense form of the verb.
  • Example:
    • I played soccer yesterday.
    • She helped her mom with the dishes.

  • Base verb: walk → Past tense: walked
  • Base verb: play → Past tense: played
  • Base verb: listen → Past tense: listened
  • Base verb: bake → Past tense: baked

  • To recognize a regular past tense verb, look for words that end in -ed or -d. These words show that the action happened in the past.
  • Example:
    • He jumped over the fence.
    • They talked about their vacation.

  • Always add -ed to form the past tense for most verbs.
  • Remember that if the verb ends in -e, just add -d.
  • Verbs that end with a consonant + y need the y changed to i before adding -ed.

  • Use the regular past tense when you want to describe something that already happened.
  • Example:
    • Last week, we visited the zoo.
    • Yesterday, I cleaned my room.

  • The regular past tense shows actions that happened before now.
  • To form it, add -ed or -d to the verb.
  • Regular verbs like played, talked, and helped are easy to spot in sentences because they follow this simple rule.