ESL Grammar: PAST TENSE (1): Introduction

This ESL grammar lesson introduces students to the past tense and the use of the past tense forms of regular verbs, which end in -ed.

ESL Grammar: What is the Simple Past Tense?

The simple past tense is used to talk about actions or events that happened at a specific time in the past. It is one of the most commonly used tenses in English and is vital for telling stories, sharing experiences, and reporting events.

Structure:

• Affirmative: Subject + past form of the verb
  • I walked to the store.
  • She saw a movie.
  • They played soccer.

ESL Grammar: How to Form the Simple Past Tense

1. Regular Verbs:
   • For most regular verbs, add “-ed” to the base form.
     • walk → walked
     • play → played
     • watch → watched

ESL Grammar: Examples of Simple Past Tense

Affirmative Sentences:

• I visited my grandparents last weekend.
• She cooked dinner for her family.
• They finished their homework yesterday.

The English grammar lesson below introduces the past tense and regular verbs (verb + ed) in a clear and simple manner that is easy for beginner English learners to understand. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.

This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on basic English tenses (present tense, present continuous tense, past tense, future tense) in our comprehensive, beginner-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 2: Tenses).