SIMPLE PAST
FORM
[VERB+ed] or irregular verbs (see list)
Examples:
 You called Jack.
 Did you call Jack?
 You did not call Jack.
USE: COMPLETED ACTION IN THE PAST
Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.
Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.
Examples
 I saw a movie yesterday.
 I didn't see a play yesterday.
 Last year, I traveled to Japan.
 Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.
 Did you have dinner last night?
 She washed her car.
 He didn't wash his car.
EXERCISE
Put the verbs in the correct form.
1.
Last year I (spend) ________________ my holiday in Ireland.
2.
I (travel) ________________ around by car with two friends and we (visit) ________________ lots of
interesting places.
3.
In the evenings we usually (go) ________________ to a pub.
4.
We (to be) ________________ very lucky with the weather.
5.
It (not / rain) ________________ a lot.
6.
We (to enjoy) ________________ our holiday very much!
7.
Where (spend / you) ________________ your last holiday?
8.
We (buy) ________________ a new lamp last week.
9.
He (not / write) ________________ five letters yesterday.
IRREGULAR VERBS
The irregular verbs are very important since they are used a lot in English. Study this list.
lie
lay
lain
been
lose
lost
lost
became
become
make
made
made
begin
began
begun
meet
met
met
blow
blew
blown
pay
paid
paid
break
broke
broken
quit
quit
quit
bring
brought
brought
read
read
read
build
built
built
ride
rode
ridden
buy
bought
bought
ring
rang
rung
catch
caught
caught
rise
rose
risen
choose
chose
chosen
run
ran
run
come
came
come
say
said
said
cut
cut
cut
see
saw
seen
deal
dealt
dealt
sell
sold
sold
do
did
done
send
sent
sent
drink
drank
drunk
shake
shook
shaken
drive
drove
driven
shine
shone
shone
eat
ate
eaten
sing
sang
sung
fall
fell
fallen
sit
sat
sat
feed
fed
fed
sleep
slept
slept
feel
felt
felt
speak
spoke
spoken
fight
fought
fought
spend
spent
spent
find
found
found
stand
stood
stood
fly
flew
flown
steal
stole
stolen
forget
forgot
forgotten
swim
swam
swum
forgive
forgave
forgiven
take
took
taken
freeze
froze
frozen
teach
taught
taught
get
got
gotten
tear
tore
torn
give
gave
given
tell
told
told
go
went
gone
think
thought
thought
grow
grew
grown
throw
threw
thrown
have
had
had
understand understood understood
hear
heard
heard
wear
wore
worn
hide
hid
hidden
win
won
won
hold
held
held
write
wrote
written
hurt
hurt
hurt
keep
kept
kept
know
knew
known
lay
laid
laid
leave
left
left
let
let
let
Present
Past
Participle
be
was, were
become
Translation
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EXERCISES: SIMPLE PAST
These are lyrics from well known songs. Fill in the correct form of the verb, then listen to the songs to check
your answers.
1.
Music ___________ (to be) my first love, and it will be my last. (Music – John Miles)
2.
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared and ___________ (to say) "you're moving with your
aunt and uncle in Bel-Air" (Fresh Prince – Will Smith)
3.
God ___________ (to give) me the sunshine, Then __________ (to show) me my lifeline,… (Bodies –
Robbie Williams)
4.
When I ___________ (to see) you the first time, I ___________ (to know) right-away that you and I
___________ (to be) connected in a way, yeah I ___________ (to knew) that there was way something
more than I could ever express in my own words. (Three days in a row – Anouk)
5.
I never ___________ (to open) myself this way. Life is ours, we live it our way. (Nothing else matters
– Metallica)
6.
Yesterday, all my troubles ________ (to seem) so far away, now it looks as though they're here to
stay, oh, I believe in yesterday. (Yesterday – The Beatles)
7.
I see a red door and I want it ___________ (to paint)black. (Paint it black – The Rolling Stones)
8.
I was once the girl that ___________ (to make) your world stand still.
Don't you remember? In a corner of my mind I keep the memory of every little thing you ___________
(to say) . (Blackout – Milk Inc.)
9.
I ___________ (to be) five and he ___________ (to be) six. We ___________ (to ride) on horses
made of sticks. He ___________ (to wear) black and I ___________ (to wear) white He would always
win the fight Bang bang, he ___________ (to shoot) me down Bang bang I ___________ (to hit) the
ground. (bang bang – Nancy Sinatra)
10. I ___________ (to walk) across an empty land. I ___________ (to knew) the pathway like the back of
my hand. I ___________ (to feel) the earth beneath my feet. ___________ (to sit) by the river and it
___________ (to make) me complete. (Somewhere only we know – Keane)
11. I met a girl who ___________ (to sing) the blues and I ___________ (to ask) her for some happy
news. But she just ___________ (to smile) and ___________ (to turn) away (American Pie –
Madonna)
12. She ___________ (to tell) me her name was Billie Jean, as she ___________ (to cause) a scene. Then
every head ___________ (to turn) with eyes that ___________ (to dream) of being the one who will
dance on the floor, in the round. (Billie Jean – Michael Jackson)
13. I ___________ (to survive) the crash. ___________ (to survive) the burn. ___________ (to
survive) the worst, yeah baby, but I’ve ___________ (to learn). ___________ (to survive) the lies.
___________ (to survive) the blues. It almost ___________
(to kill) me, but I ___________ (to
survive) the truth. And the best is when the smoke ___________ (to clear) through, I ___________
(to survive) you. (I survived you – Nathalia)
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14. ___________ (to leave) the good job in the city, working for the man every night and day. And I
never ___________
(to lose) one minute of sleeping, worrying bout the way things might have been.
(Proud Mary – Tina Turner)
15. Freedom ________ (to come) my way one day and I ________ (to start) out of town, yeah! All of a
sudden I ________ (to see) sheriff John Brown aiming to shoot me down, So I ________ (to shoot) - I
________ (to shoot) - I ________ (to shoot) him down and I ________ (to say): If I am guilty I will
pay. (I Shot the sheriff – Bob Marley)
16. Sally ________ (to call) when she got the word, She said "I suppose you've heard - About Alice". Well
I ________ (to rush) to the window, and I ________ (to look) outside, but I could hardly believe my
eyes - As a big limousine ________ (to roll) up into Alice's drive... (Who the f is Alice – Smokie)
17. Dear Slim, I ________ (to write) you but you still aren't calling. I ________ (to leave) my cell, my
pager, and my home phone at the bottom. I ________ (to send) two letters back in autumn, you
must not have got them. (Stan – Eminem)
BRYAN ADAMS – SUMMER OF ’69
I got my first real six-string
___________ it at the five-and-dime
___________ it ‘til my fingers bled
It ___________ the summer of '69
Me and some guys from school
___________ a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I should have known we'd never get far
Oh when I look back now
That summer ___________ to last forever
And if I ___________ the choice
Yeah - I'd always want to be there
Those ___________ the best days of my life
Ain't no use in complaining
When you got a job to do
___________ my evenings down at the drive-in
And that's when I ___________ you
Standing on your Mama's porch
You ___________ me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you ___________ my hand
I ___________ that it was now or never
Those ___________ the best days of my life
Back in the summer of '69
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Man we ___________ killing time
We ___________ young and restless
We ___________ to unwind
I guess nothing can last forever - forever, no
And now the times are changing
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you and wonder what went wrong
Standing on your Mama's porch
You ___________ me it would last forever
Oh the way you ___________ my hand
I ___________ that it was now or never
Those ___________ the best days of my life
Back in the summer of '69
JEFF BUCKLEY - HALLELUJAH
Fill in the correct verb forms and then listen to the song to check your answers
I (to hear) ________________ there (to be) ________________ a secret chord
That David (to play) ________________ and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Well your faith (to be) ________________ strong but you (to need) ________________ proof
You (to see) ________________ her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight (to overtrow) ________________ you
She (to tie) ________________ you to her kitchen chair
She (to break) ________________ your throne and she (to cut) ________________ your hair
And from your lips she (to draw) ________________ the hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Baby, I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
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I used to live alone before I (to know) ________________ you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
But love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Well, there (to be) ________________ a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I (to move) ________________ in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we (to draw) ________________ was hallelujah
Well, maybe there’s a god above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
(to be) ________________ to shoot somebody who (to outdraw) ________________ you
It’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Some background information about this song…
This text uses a lot of biblical metaphors. In the first two verses refer to king David and his relationship with
Batseba. The first verse refers to his musicality. In Samuel 16:14-23 it says that David was asked to play Music
for Saul so that the evil spirits would go away. In the second verse You saw her bathing on the roof refers to
David who sees Batseba bathing from the roof of his palace. He was taken aback by her beauty and slept with
her, despite the fact that she was married to someone else. And she cut your hair refers to the story of Samson
and Delila. She cut his hair to make him powerless against the Philistines. Delila had been bribed by the
Philistines to find out what the extraordinary power of Samson was. His power was in his hair that had never
been cut because he was devoted to god.
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