ESL Grammar: PAST TENSE (3): Expressing Time

In this ESL grammar worksheet, students practice using different time phrases to express time in the past tense. Students then fill in the blanks with these time words to complete various past tense sentences.

ESL Grammar: Common Time Expressions for the Past Tense

Time expressions help indicate when an action happened. Here are some of the most common phrases used to express time in the past tense:

1. Yesterday:
   • I visited my grandmother yesterday.
   • She finished her project yesterday.
2. Last (night, week, month, year):
   • We watched a movie last night.
   • He traveled to Japan last year.
3. Ago:
   • They moved to a new house two months ago.
   • I saw that movie three days ago.
4. In (year, month):
   • She was born in 1990.
   • They got married in June.
5. On (day, date):
   • We met on Monday.
   • He started his job on January 1st.
6. At (specific time):
   • I left the office at 5 PM.
   • She arrived at noon.

The English grammar lesson below introduces useful past tense time expressions 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).