The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tenseinModern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses.[1] Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however, there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.[2]
The term "simple" is used to distinguish the syntactical construction whose basic form uses the plain past tense alone,[3] from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in combination with participles, such as the present perfect, past perfect, and past progressive.[4]
Regular verbs form the simple past end-ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.[2] The spelling rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs are as follows: verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped).[5] For details see English verbs § Past tense.
Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the personornumber of the subject (there is no addition of -s for the third person singular as in the simple present). However, the copula verb be has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were in other instances.[1] The form were can also be used in place of was in conditional clauses and the like;[6] for information on this, see English subjunctive. This is the only case in modern English where a distinction in form is made between inversion, negations with not, and emphatic forms of the simple past use the auxiliary did.[6] For details of this mechanism, see do-support. A full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb help as an example:
Base form
Affirmative (+) S + verb(ed) + c
Negative (-) S + did not ( didn't) + verb + C
The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual actions:[1]
It can also refer to a past state:
For actions that were ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used instead (e.g. I was cooking).[7] The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. the ball was lying on the sidewalk), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see Uses of English verb forms § Progressive – and in these cases the simple past is used even for a temporary state:
However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use could see in place of saw, could hear in place of heard, etc. For more on this, see can see.[7]
If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:[7]
The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect. The simple past is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).[7]
These examples can be contrasted with those given at Uses of English verb forms § Present perfect. Also, for past actions that occurred before the relevant past time frame, the past perfect is used.
Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action. The sentence When I was young, I played football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using used to (... I used to play ...) or using would (... I would play...).
The simple past form also has some uses in which it does not refer to a past time. These are generally in condition clauses and some other dependent clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances, as well as certain expressions of wish:
For more details see the sections on conditionals, dependent clauses and expressions of wish in the article on uses of English verb forms.
For use of the simple past (and other past tense forms) in indirect speech, see Uses of English verb forms § Indirect speech. An example:
The regular verbs ending with -ed are pronounced as follows:[5]
Other tenses:
