Past Simple Tense is the past tense in English. Past tense of the verb in Russian and English

Verbs in the past tense in English have 4 forms. They are used in relation to actions that are different in dynamics and moment of commission.

Description of past tense forms

Native English speakers distinguish past actions by duration, completion, and other characteristics. To talk about what has happened or has happened so far, they use:

• Past Simple (Simple Past) – reports regular or one-time actions. The keywords are: yesterday (yesterday), last week (last week), a year ago (a year ago). The Past Simple formation rule involves adding the ending -ed to the stem of the verb, that is, the second form: play-played (play), watch-watched (watch, observe), stop-stopped (stop). Negative and interrogative sentences require the auxiliary verb did. In this case, the semantic is put back into the initial form.

I didn't watch this match. - I didn't watch this match.

Did you watch this match? - Did you watch this match?

In all tenses of the Past group, verbs are divided into regular and irregular. The second form 2 form, changing different ways. They are considered exceptions that must be remembered: see-saw (see), put-put (put), find-found (find).

• Past Continuous (Past Continuous) describes the process that took place certain time in the past. The formation of this form requires the 2nd form of the verb to be - was / were and the semantic verb with ending -ing.

I was doing exercises at 7 a.m. - I did exercises at 7 in the morning.

A moment in the past can be denoted not only exact time, but also by another single action.

She was listening to the radio when she saw a cat in the street. She was listening to the radio when she saw the cat on the street. (was listeting is a process, saw is a one-time action)

• Past Perfect (Past Completed) - expresses an action that has ended by the time of speaking, when the result is important. Given time is formed from 2 components: the 2nd form of the verb to have - had and the past participle of the semantic verb.

I had passed my exams by the 1st of June. I passed my exams by June 1st.

• Past Perfect Continuous (Simple Completed long time) - a description of a long action that began before another event in the past and was still happening at the time of speaking. To form this form, 3 components are required: had + been + semantic verb with the ending -ing.

Jane had been knitting for an hour when I called her. Jane had been knitting for an hour when I called her.

Table Verbs of the past tense in English

In order to better understand the mechanism for the formation of sentences that are different in purpose of uttering sentences in the past tense, you can look at the diagram with examples.

No matter how sad it may sound, they are not limited to only one option. If you want to be good at grammar, you need to learn how to analyze the situation you are talking about. It is important to understand whether the action is completed or whether it continues. Is there any connection to the present moment, or is the speaker simply mentioning facts from his past? The answers to these questions are key in determining the time at which a particular sentence should sound.

Rules of the past tense in English. 6 English tenses in one Russian sentence

To understand past tense rules in english I propose to take Russian sentence(“I spoke to John”) and see if it can be translated into one of the 6 past tenses. Pay Special attention to the explanation column.

In theory past tense rules in english should not include phrases such as present perfect and present perfect continuous. But this article focuses on the fact that these tenses can be used in certain cases when you need to translate a Russian sentence into English in the past tense. After all, the concept of "past tense" in English cannot be attributed to any one rule and adhere to it in all cases when mother tongue the past is expressed.

How to master all forms of the past tense in English?

To master everything past tense forms in english It's important to spend as much time as possible practicing. Pay attention to the table above. Auxiliary verbs and the necessary form of the main verb for the formation of the corresponding tense are specially highlighted in red. Start your grammar work by making a similar table, but based on a different sentence. It can be something like “she read 2 stories”, “Masha was in the store” and so on. Pay attention to how past tense formation in English, and on the meaning that you want to focus on in a particular sentence.

If you want to learn English grammar faster and start putting this knowledge into practice, contact our friendly team of experienced teachers. We know how to sort through past tense rules in english and we are happy to share our experience.

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Very often, people who have been studying English for many months, and sometimes even years, still cannot speak it. Asking why? We learn English at school, it sounds on the radio, TV, is found on signs, etc. And the language is still not served. The reason is simple - fear. We are afraid to start speaking foreign language(they will ridicule, misunderstand or even take for a fool), we come up with a lot of excuses and, as it seems to us, reasonable arguments. One of these arguments is that the grammar of the English language does not lend itself in any way, it is very confusing; I teach, I teach all these times - all the mess in my head.

In this article, I will try to combine and explain as briefly as possible three simple times at once - past (), present () and future (). They are needed in order to start speaking in English. You can learn more about each time, about the nuances of their use, by clicking on the links on them.

For each tense, there are interrogative (?), affirmative (+) and negative (-) forms of the sentence.

I (I), you (you, you), we (we), they (they), he (he), she (she).

V is the designation of the verb, an abbreviation for the word "verb".

Now let's go over each tense.

present tense (present simple). In affirmative sentences for the third person, the ending "s" is added to the verb. The interrogative and negative form is formed with the help of the auxiliary words "do", "does" (for the third person) and the particle "not" (for negation). At the same time, there is no need to add any ending “s” to the verb, because it is already in does.

Past tense(Past Simple). If the verb is irregular, then affirmative sentences use irregular shape verb Past Simple, i.e. verb from the second column. A list of irregular verbs can be viewed. If correct, the ending "ed" is added. The interrogative and negative form is formed with the help of the auxiliary word "did" and after it the verb in the initial form is already used.

Future (Future Simple). Affirmative, negative and interrogative forms of sentences are formed using the word "will" and the particle "not" (for negation). Everywhere the initial form of the verb is used.

As you can see, everything is very simple, in fact it looks like this:

Do not forget to run a couple of verbs through this table every day until everything comes to automatism. it's the same great way learn verbs and immediately "try on" them to all persons.

Indicating the time of a certain action in the past.

In the aggregate, past tense forms in English are usually combined with the concept of Past Tenses. This article will consider three main times, which differ in duration and quality. So, there are indefinite past or Simple), long (Past Continuous) and perfect (Past Perfect) times.

Past formSimple

The Past Simple form is the most common and frequent past tense in English. This is the main time for expressing any action that happened some time ago. Very often it competes with the present perfect tense (Present Perfect), which, despite belonging to real verbs, is in the past tense. We must not forget that the perfect present tense is only suitable when a past action affects the present. If the events are not related to the present, you should use the Past Simple.

This time is formed very simply. If the verb is correct, you should simply add to it ending -ed, if incorrect - the desired form is in the standard table:

We played the piano three days ago; I forgot my hat at home.

To form a question, use the auxiliary verb did:

Did you play the piano yesterday?

This auxiliary verb is also used for negation, but with the negative particle not:

She didn't watch TV.

Thus, Past Simple should be used if the action happened in the past and is not related to the present. Words that foreshadow the use of this tense form of the verb are yesterday (yesterday), 8 years ago (8 years ago), in 1989 (in 1989) and so on.

Past continuous form

Past Continuous is a tense that denotes a long action in the past. In other words, it is used when talking about a specific moment, about an action in a process. For example, She was playing the guitar yesterday at 10 p.m. The example shows that the Past Continuous is formed with the help of the additional verb to be in the past tense and the verb with the ending -ing. If the sentence is interrogative, it should be moved to the beginning, if negative, not is added to it:

Were you playing the piano yesterday at 10 p.m.? No, I wasn't doing this at that time.

In addition, this past tense in English is used to denote an action that once happened at a particular moment and was interrupted by another simultaneous action. For example, We were looking through the magazine when he called.

Tenses Past Perfect andPast Perfect Continuous

These tenses are called the perfect and perfect long past tenses, respectively. To form them, you must have a good knowledge of the forms of verbs. The past tense in English is completely based on this knowledge. So, for the Past Perfect, you need an additional in the form of had and the second participle of the main verb. The latter can be found in the table of irregular verbs or formed by adding the familiar ending -ed.

It should be remembered that simple perfect tense is used to express an action that has already been completed up to a particular moment. In turn, Past Perfect Continuous is used in situations where a certain action began before a certain moment in the past and lasted for some time. Past Perfect Continuous is formed using the form had been, to which the main verb is added with the ending -ing.

In general, the past tense in English is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It is very important to understand everything and practice on various exercises that will perfectly demonstrate the above rules in practice.

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Our next audio lesson is again devoted to the study of the past form (Past tense) of English verbs. And today we will clearly see how the past tense form of regular and irregular verbs in English is formed from the infinitive. You will also learn new phrases with past tense verbs to communicate with native English speakers. Formation of the past form of verbs in English

Regular verbs are words that form the simple past tense by adding the ending " -ed (-d) » to the stem of the verb or to the infinitive:

• explain - explained (explain - explained)
• answer - answered (answer - answered)
• expect - expected (expect - expected)
• like - liked (like - liked)
• stop - stopped (stop - stopped)
• study - study (study - learned)
• pretend - pretended (pretend - pretended)

The rules for the formation of the past tense of regular verbs in English are very simple and easy to remember.

And here is the formation of the past tense form irregular verbs are not subject to any rules. They form Past Simple according to established historical traditions, so you just need to remember them:

• Read - read (read - read)
• Understand - understood (understand - understood)
• Know - knew (know - knew)
• Write - wrote (write - wrote)
• Get - got (bring - brought)
• Hear - heard (hear - heard)
• Bring - brought (carry - brought)
• Buy - bought (buy - bought)
• Fly - flew (fly - arrived)

Listen and repeat another helpful audio lesson Studying sentences with English adjectives

See the examples in the table and listen to the audio lesson with voiced examples. Repeat the audio recording of the lesson after a professional native speaker, reproducing each word as accurately as possible to practice pronunciation and learn to understand interlocutors who speak English on ordinary everyday topics. /wp-content/uploads/2015/09/RUEN084.mp3

To check the correctness of your pronunciation, record your voice on the recorder while pronouncing the expressions, then compare with the original and correct the errors, if any.

English verbs in the past tense

The table shows examples of the past tense forms of both regular and irregular verbs. Then follow how Past tense is formed in each of the cases presented.

And remember not only examples of phrases with irregular verbs, but also with correct forms, since they will also be useful to you in communicating with native speakers. Try to remember the pattern of formation of regular verbs in the past tense and their place in the sentence.

Remember also the audio lessons of spoken English on the topic “Past tense verbs”: