What is the past simple?
We use the past simple to talk about finished actions. Look at this news: Lufthansa won the race to buy a stake in TAP Air Portugal. The race is over, so the writer uses the past simple.
How do we make it?
- Regular verbs: verb + -ed (want → wanted). If the verb ends in -e, add only -d (announce → announced).
- Irregular verbs: the verb changes. You must learn them (make → made, win → won, say → said, take → took).
- Negative: did not + base verb (Those sales did not work.).
- Question: Did + subject + base verb? (Did Lufthansa win?)
Watch out for these mistakes
- ✗ Lufthansa winned the race. → ✓ Lufthansa won the race. (Win is irregular.)
- ✗ The sales did not worked. → ✓ The sales did not work. (After did not, use the base verb.)
- ✗ Did Lufthansa won? → ✓ Did Lufthansa win? (After did, use the base verb.)
Read and check
Read this short text. It comes from the news story about Lufthansa and TAP.
Two big airline groups wanted to buy a stake. Lufthansa and Air France-KLM both made offers. Lufthansa won. The Portuguese government announced the news on Wednesday 14 October. Portugal has tried to sell part of TAP before. Those sales did not work, and the state took the airline back.
Now answer the questions. Click an answer to see if it is right.
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True or false: Air France-KLM won the race to buy a stake in TAP.
The text says: “Lufthansa won.” Both companies made offers, but only Lufthansa won.
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Which sentence says that the earlier sales were not a success?
Negative past simple = did not + base verb: did not work.
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Why does the text use the past simple in “The Portuguese government announced the news on Wednesday 14 October”?
We use the past simple for a finished action. Here the time is clear: Wednesday 14 October.
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Lufthansa and Air France-KLM both ____ offers. (make)
Make is irregular. Its past simple form is made, not maked.
Make → made. This is one of the irregular verbs in the text.
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The state ____ the airline back. (take)
Take is irregular. Its past simple form is took, not taked.
Take → took. After the sales did not work, the state took the airline back.
Find the past simple
The text has six verbs in the past simple. Can you sort them?
- Regular: wanted, announced
- Irregular: made, won, took
- Negative: did not work (did not + base verb)
Look again at the text. Has tried is not past simple. It tells us about the past and the present together, so we use a different tense.
Now make it real
Write one or two true sentences about your work. Say what you did yesterday or last week. Use this frame: Yesterday I … / Last week I did not …
Check your sentences before you look at the samples:
- Is your sentence true? Does it say what you really did?
- Did you use the past form of the verb (checked, took)?
- If your sentence is negative, did you write did not + base verb?
- Does it start with a capital letter and end with a full stop?
Here are two samples to compare with your own:
- Yesterday I checked the weather before the flight.
- Last week I did not work on Sunday.
Now read your sentences again. Can you make one of them longer or clearer?
CEFR Level A2 / ICAO Level 3
Want more easy reading with the past simple? Browse our CEFR A2 archive: most news stories there use it.
