Past Simple Tense

What is the past simple?It describes routines, facts, and things that are usually true.

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Before you begin: What is the past simple?

Past simple tense tells us about an action or situation that started and finished before now. It is complete—it is not still happening.

Example: She painted a picture yesterday.

Look for two clues: a past verb such as painted, and often a finished-time phrase such as yesterday.

See a finished event

Replay itThe cartoon shows what happened.

It finishedThe action reaches a clear result.

Past timeYesterday and ago locate the event.

subjectpast verbfinished time

Completed Event

Press Start to replay one finished event, then change the actor, action, or time.

Learning mode

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Experiment Completed Event

Subject She

Finished action paint

Finished time yesterday

Sentence type Positive

Simulation speed 1x

Live sentence

She painted a picture yesterday.

Verb formpaint → painted

Replays0

Time clueyesterday

MeaningCompleted before now

What is happening?

The cartoon replays one completed action. Painted is the past form, and yesterday is a finished-time clue.

Event replay

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Before the lecture

Past simple tense describes an action or situation that was completed before now.

She painted a picture yesterday.

When you start, the teacher will explain this meaning aloud before Chapter 1 begins.

Interactive lecture

Language English

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Ready. The lecture will not start until you press Start Complete Lecture.

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Transcript

What to watch:

Learning objectives

Recognize actions completed before now.
Use regular and common irregular past verbs.
Form negatives and questions with did plus the base verb.
Connect a past event to a finished-time clue.

The core patterns

Positive: She painted a picture yesterday.

Negative: She did not paint a picture.

Question: Did she paint a picture?

Verb changes

Most verbs: clean → cleaned, visit → visited.
Consonant + y: study → studied.
Irregular verbs: eat → ate, find → found.
After did or did not, return to the base verb.

Try these experiments

Compare paint → painted with eat → ate.
Choose Negative and watch the action stop before its result.
Choose Question and follow the arrow from Did to the base verb.
Move the finished-time slider and see the visual time clue change.

Common misconceptions

Do not say “did painted”; say “did paint.”
Past simple describes a completed event, not an action continuing now.
Irregular verbs do not all take -ed.
A finished-time phrase such as yesterday works naturally with past simple.

Grammar challenge

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