Simple Past Tense

Expressions Showing Past Time

In English, the simple past tense is used for finished actions
or situations that began and ended before now. There are
three ways to make simple past tense.

In order to show when an action or situation happened

in the past, particular words and phrases (time adverbials)
are often used. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. yesterday

This refers to the day before today, but not at

any specific time.

2. last _____

This time adverbial is similar to yesterday, but it

can be used with many different time references:

last night
last week
last month
last year
last Tuesday
last summer
etc.

3. a / an / one _____ ago

A singular noun phrase showing a period of time

follows a, an, or one:

a / one minute ago

an / one hour ago
a / one week ago
a / one week ago
a / one month ago
a / one year ago
etc.

4. (plural number or expression) _____ ago

A plural noun phrase showing a period of time

 is used before ago:

two minutes ago

three hours ago
several days ago
a few weeks ago
a number of months ago
many years ago
etc.

5. the day before yesterday

This time adverbial has the same meaning as

two days ago.

6. the _____ before last

This common time adverbial is similar to

the day before yesterday, but it can be
used for many more time references:

the night before last

the week before last
the month before last
etc.

7. past dates

Any time expression that refers to a date

before now requires a past tense.

Examples:

in 1998
on June 21st (if this date was before now)
on June 21st, 2000
during 1995
in the 19th Century
last Christmas
etc.

8. past events

Any time that refers to an event that happened

 before now also requires a past tense.

Examples:

on my last birthday
at the beginning of my class
during my childhood
when I got up this morning
when my grandfather was a boy
etc.

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Special Notes:

1. Any time expression that refers to "before now"

can require past tense. If "now" is Monday
afternoon at 2:15 PM, for example, these time
adverbials require past tense if they refer
to Monday:

at 2:00 PM in the morning

at noon at lunch
this morning etc.

2. "Last" is very commonly used, but not with "day":

use yesterday, not *last day.

3. Two or more time adverbial can be combined:

at 2:30 yesterday afternoon

late last night
early in the morning a couple of days ago
every Thursday last summer
etc.

Note that when two or more time adverbials are

combined, shorter periods of time come before
longer periods of time.