Past simple: Regular/irregular verbs

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✏️ Exercises

Past Simple – Regular and Irregular Verbs

Past Simple: Regular Verbs

We often add -ed to verbs (regular verbs) to make the past simple.

  • We often watch a film on Saturday. → We watched a film last Saturday.
  • I live in Barcelona. → I lived in Barcelona in the 90s.

Spelling of Regular Verbs

Spelling rules for regular verbs in past simple: how to add -ed

When do we double the consonant?

We double the consonant when the verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant.

  • One syllable: Always double the last consonant.
    stop → stopped, plan → planned, shop → shopped, rob → robbed
  • Two syllables: Only double if the last syllable is stressed.
    reFER → referred, preFER → preferred, reGRET → regretted
  • No doubling if the stress is not on the last syllable.
    VIsit → visited, ANswer → answered

Past Simple: Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not add -ed. Their past form is different and must be learned.

Common irregular verbs: go → went, see → saw, have → had, do → did, be → was/were

Use: Past Finished Actions or States

We use the past simple to talk about completed actions or states in the past.
We often use time expressions like: yesterday, last night, two days ago, five years ago, etc.

  • Jessica called me last night.
  • Rachel was a very good writer.

Use: Past Repeated Actions

We use the past simple for habits or repeated actions that happened in the past but no longer happen now.

  • When I was a child, I ate sweets every day.
  • In school, I always played football during break time.

Tip: Use the past simple for completed actions in the past.
Regular verbs: add -ed (watch → watched).
Irregular verbs: learn the forms (go → went, see → saw).