Past Simple

Past Simple
Regular
verbs

Irregular
verbs

Regular Verbs:
The past simple of regular verbs is formed by adding ed to the base
form of the verb.

work worked
remember remembered
start - started

Spelling variations (regular verbs)

verbs which end in e add only d.
live lived
smoke smoked
verbs which end in y preceded by a consonant change the
y in i before adding ed.
study studied
carry carried
*NB: if the y is preceded by a vowel, add directly -ed
play played

verbs which end with consonant, vowel, consonant, double

the final consonant if they are:
i) monosyllables
stop stopped
ii) Bi-syllables with the stress on the last syllable
prefer preferred
iii) end in l
travel travelled
Otherwise, add directly -ed.
open opened
visit visited

verbs which end in ic add

k before adding ed.
panic panicked

Pronunciation of - ed

i) / t /
ii) /d/
iii) /id/

i) -ed = /t/
[k] - work/worked
ed,
ed,
ed,
ed talk/talked
ed walk/walked
ed
cook/cooked
ed,
ed...
ed kick/kicked
ed
[] - catch/catched
ed,
ed...
ed punch/punched
ed
ed,
ed,
ed...
[] - wish/wished
ed push/pushed
ed crash/crashed
ed
[s] - kiss/kissed
ed,
ed...
ed pass/passed
ed
[p] - hope/hope
ed, stop/stopped
ed,
ed
kidnap/kidnapped
ed...
ed
ed,
ed...
[f] - laugh/laughed
ed cough/coughed
ed

ii) -ed = /d/

vowel sound - play/played
ed,
ed,
ed stay/stayed
ed
follow/followed
ed
[b] - rub/rubbed
ed...
ed
[g] - bug/bugged
ed...
ed
[d] - judge/judge
ed...
ed...
[l] - pull/pulled
ed
[m] - hum/hummed
ed...
ed
ed...
[r] - fire/fire
ed, marry/ married
ed
[n] - phone/phoned
ed,
ed...
ed turn/turned
ed
ed...
[v] - live/live
ed, move/move
[z] - buzz/buzzed
ed...
ed

iii) -ed = /id/

[t] - visit/visited
ed,
ed,
ed start/started
ed
grant/granted
ed,
ed,
ed want/wanted
ed
rent/rented
ed...
ed

[d] - need/needed
ed,
ed,
ed end/ended
ed
fold/folded
ed,
ed....
ed land/landed
ed

Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs have their own verb forms, the paradigms to formulate
the past simple. For example:
buy bought
come came
go went
see saw
put put
think thought
speak spoke
give gave
do did
say said

Affirmative Form
I
you
he
she
it
we
you
they

worked / lived / went / saw

In the past simple the verb has one unique form for all the
subjects.

Negative Form
I
you
he
she
it
we
you
they

didnt (did not) work / live / go / see

Interrogative Form
did

I work / live / go / see?

you

he

she

it

we

you

they

Past Simple to be
I was
I wasnt
Was I.....?
You were
You werent
Were you.....?
He/she/it was He/she/it wasnt Was
he/she/it.....?
We were
We werent
Were we......?
You were
You werent
Were you.....?
They were
They werent
Were they......?

The past simple = passato remoto, passato prossimo,

imperfetto
The past simple is used to describe:
actions or situations which happened or were concluded in
a precise moment in the past. In this case, the verb is often
accompanied by an adverb or expression of a definite time,
a finished time, for example; yesterday, last week, last
month, a moment ago etc.
Tom arrived yesterday.
I went to Spain last summer.

habitual actions in the past. In this

case, translate in Italian with the
limperfetto.
Every day we got up early and went to
the beach.