Lesson 5 - Family
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This page: Learn the past tense in English.

The children walked to school.

The past tense in English
Grammar

The rules for forming the past tense in English are easier than those for the present tense. The rules are the same for all subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). You add -ed to the verb in the affirmative and didn't in the negative (a contraction of "did" and "not"). To form a question, add Did at the beginning of the sentence.

• Affirmative - He walked.
• Negative - He didn't walk.
• Question - Did he walk?

If the verb already ends in e, simply add d.

• practice - practiced

If the verb ends with a consonant followed by y, change the y to i and then add -ed.

• cry - cried

If the word ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, and the last syllable is stressed, double the last letter.

• plan - planned

 

Unfortunately, there are many verbs that are irregular in the past tense (verbs that don't follow the -ed rule). In the following lessons, we will learn approximately 10 irregular verbs in the vocabulary section of each lesson. These are the verbs for this lesson.

Irregular verbs in the past tense

Present	Past
drink	drank
eat	ate
buy	bought
come	came
drive	drove
fly	flew
go	went
meet	met
see	saw
swim	swam

Pdf list of irregular verbs

 

Exercise - Past Tense Affirmative

Write sentences in the past tense. If the verb is not on the list of irregular verbs above, it is regular (-ed). Make sure you use the correct capitalization and include a period at the end of each sentence.

example
He - study English

1. He - close the window

 

2. She - buy shoes at the mall

 

3. They - study English at the university

 

4. I - need a vacation

 

5. My friend - live in an apartment

 

6. The children - see a movie

 

7. She - eat pizza

 

8. They - drink coffee

 

9. They - plant trees

 

10. They - stop the car

 

11. She - meet the president

 

12. She - finish the homework

 

13. The children - play

 

14. He - paint the house

 

15. They - drive to New York

 

16. Sharon - go to church

 

17. They - fly to Florida

 

18. The baby - cry

 

19. My husband - cook dinner

 

20. My friends - swim in the ocean

 

 

Exercise - Past Tense Negative

Change the sentence to the negative form.

example
He studied English.

1. He worked late.

 

2. The children played in the park.

 

3. They painted the house.

 

4. The baby cried.

 

5. My sister saw the movie.

 

6. They planned the party.

 

7. Wanda drank the lemonade.

 

8. She finished the homework.

 

9. Luis ate the pizza.

 

10. The pilot flew the airplane.

 

 

Exercise - Past Tense Questions

Change the sentence into a question.

example
They studied English.

1. He worked late.

 

2. The children played in the park.

 

3. They painted the house.

 

4. The baby cried.

 

5. My sister saw the movie.

 

6. They planned the party.

 

7. Wanda drank the lemonade.

 

8. She finished the homework.

 

9. Luis ate the pizza.

 

10. The pilot flew the airplane.

 

 

Instructions Identify the error in the following sentences and write the corrected version. example He are a teacher. → He is a teacher.  1. He didn't saw the movie.   2. Did he finished the homework?    3. The baby cryed.   4. He eated the food.   5.  The car stoped.

 

Writing

Write a sentence in the past tense in affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms.

examples:
My sister cooked dinner.
My sister didn't cook dinner.
Did my sister cook dinner?
etc.

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Listening

 

Intermediate English - Lesson 5 - Family
Vocabulary - Grammar - Listening - Dialogue - Reading - Spelling - Dictation - Game

 

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