ESL Grammar: PAST TENSE (9) – Negative Sentences (“didn’t”)

This ESL grammar lesson teaches students to write negative past tense sentences using “didn’t.” Students then practice rewriting past tense sentences as negative past tense sentences.

ESL Grammar: Understanding Negative Past Tense Sentences

To form a negative past tense sentence, we use “didn’t” (a contraction of “did not”) followed by the base form of the main verb. The structure is simple and effective for expressing actions or events that did not happen in the past.

Structure:

• Subject + didn’t + base form of the verb

Examples:

• I didn’t go to the party.
• She didn’t finish her homework.
• They didn’t see the movie.

The English grammar lesson below introduces how to form negative sentences in the past tense 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).