Simple Past Tense: Rules, Examples + 30 Exercises

The simple past tense — called the past simple in British teaching materials — is the verb form for completed actions and states in the past: I worked late yesterday, she went to Rome in 2019, we were tired. Regular verbs add -ed (walk → walked), irregular verbs have their own past form (go → went, buy → bought), and questions and negatives use did/didn't + the base form: Did you see it? I didn't see it.

This guide covers the -ed spelling rules (doubling, -y to -ied, dropping -e), the most common irregular verbs, the did/didn't pattern behind the 'didn't went' error, was and were, the main uses, the time expressions that go with the tense, and how to pronounce -ed as /t/, /d/ or /ɪd/. The 30 exercises below are checked instantly, each with a short explanation.

Simple Past Tense Quiz: 30 Questions

Warm-up · regular -ed spelling and irregular forms

1.Yesterday we ___ our grandparents.

2.Last night the bus ___ suddenly at the corner.

3.She ___ the baby around the garden until he fell asleep.

4.They ___ in Rome in 2018.

5.We ___ the whole trip last spring.

6.The shop ___ at nine yesterday morning.

7.The kids ___ football after school yesterday.

8.I ___ a strange noise in the night and couldn't get back to sleep.

9.We ___ the 7:15 train this morning, so we arrived early.

10.She ___ me a postcard from Lisbon last summer.

Core · did/didn't, was/were and the main uses

11.I didn't ___ the email until this morning.

12.___ you call your mum last night?

13.Where ___ you go on holiday last year?

14.We ___ very tired after the hike yesterday.

15.___ the film good last night?

16.He ___ at home when I called him an hour ago.

17.Which sentence is correct?

18.What time ___ the meeting finish yesterday?

19.She got up, ___ a shower and left the house.

20.When I was a kid, I ___ to school every day.

21.I met her two years ___.

22.Who ___ the window? There's glass everywhere.

Challenge · used to, -ed pronunciation and tricky verbs

23.I ___ to the gym three times last week.

24.Didn't you ___ the news? Everyone was talking about it.

25.In which verb is the -ed ending pronounced /ɪd/ (an extra syllable)?

26.In which verb is the -ed ending pronounced /t/?

27.In which verb is the -ed ending pronounced /d/?

28.The meeting ___ at 3 p.m. and ___ two hours.

29.She ___ on the sofa all afternoon yesterday, reading.

30.Shakespeare ___ more than 30 plays.

Answer key and explanationsOpen after you finish the quiz.

1. visitedRegular verbs add -ed in the past simple. visit is stressed on the first syllable (VIS-it), so the final t is not doubled: visited.
2. stoppedOne-syllable verbs ending in one vowel + one consonant double the consonant before -ed: stop → stopped. 'stoped' would be pronounced like 'stope'.
3. carriedVerbs ending in consonant + y change y to i and add -ed: carry → carried, study → studied, try → tried.
4. livedVerbs ending in -e just add -d: live → lived. in 2018 is a finished time, so the past simple is needed, not the present perfect.
5. plannedplan is one syllable ending in vowel + consonant, so the n doubles: planned. 'planed' is the past of a different verb, plane (to smooth wood).
6. openedopen is stressed on the first syllable (O-pen), so the final n does not double: opened. Compare preFER → preferred, where the stress is on the last syllable.
7. playedWhen y follows a vowel (play, enjoy, stay), keep the y and add -ed: played, enjoyed, stayed. Only consonant + y changes to -ied.
8. heardhear is irregular: hear–heard–heard. Irregular verbs do not take -ed, so 'heared' is wrong; couldn't shows the sentence is in the past.
9. caughtcatch is irregular: catch–caught–caught. arrived shows a finished sequence in the past, so the past form caught is needed.
10. sentsend is irregular: send–sent–sent (like spend–spent, lend–lent). last summer is a finished time, so the past simple sent.
11. seeAfter did or didn't, use the base form: didn't see. did already carries the past tense, so the main verb does not change.
12. DidPast simple questions with most verbs use Did + subject + base form: Did you call ...? last night is finished time, which rules out Have, and Were cannot go with the base form call.
13. didWh- questions in the past simple use did + subject + base form: Where did you go? 'Where were you go' mixes be with a base verb.
14. wereThe past of be has two forms: was for I/he/she/it and were for you/we/they. we takes were.
15. WasWith be, the question just inverts was/were and the subject — no did. the film is singular, so Was the film good?
16. wasn'tThe negative of be in the past is wasn't/weren't, never didn't + be. he is singular, so wasn't. an hour ago is finished time.
17. She didn't go to work yesterday.didn't + base form: She didn't go. 'didn't went' marks the past twice (did + went) — one of the most common past simple errors.
18. didfinish is in the base form, so the question needs did: What time did the meeting finish? yesterday rules out has and does.
19. tookA sequence of finished actions is told in the past simple: got up, took, left. take is irregular: take–took–taken.
20. walkedThe past simple can describe past habits: I walked to school every day. used to walk would also be correct, but it is not among the options; have walked cannot go with a finished period.
21. agoago comes after a length of time and counts back from now: two years ago. It always goes with the past simple. since and for are typical of the present perfect.
22. brokeWhen who is the subject of the question, there is no did: Who broke the window? 'did broke' adds a second past marker, and break is irregular (broke), not breaked.
23. wentused to is for repeated past habits over a longer period, not a counted number of times in one finished period. three times last week needs the past simple: went.
24. hearNegative questions follow the same rule: Didn't + subject + base form. Didn't you hear ...? — never 'Didn't you heard'.
25. wanted-ed adds a syllable /ɪd/ only after a /t/ or /d/ sound: wanted, needed, decided. worked and kissed end in /t/; played ends in /d/.
26. laughedAfter voiceless sounds like /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/ and /tʃ/, -ed sounds like /t/: laughed /lɑːft/ or /læft/. cleaned and opened end in /d/; needed ends in /ɪd/.
27. calledAfter voiced sounds (vowels, /l/, /n/, /m/, /v/, /g/ and others), -ed is /d/: called, played, cleaned. stopped and watched are /t/; decided is /ɪd/.
28. began / lastedbegin is irregular: begin–began–begun, and begun is only the participle. last is regular and ends in two consonants, so nothing doubles: lasted.
29. laylie (rest flat) is irregular: lie–lay–lain. laid is the past of lay (put something down) and needs an object; lied is the past of lie (tell an untruth).
30. wroteShakespeare is dead, so his life is a finished period and takes the past simple: wrote. The present perfect would suggest he could still write more.

Simple Past Spelling: How to Add -ed

Regular verbs form the simple past with -ed, and the same form is used for every subject: I worked, she worked, they worked. The spelling changes only in a few predictable cases.

Most verbs: add -ed — work → worked, play → played, clean → cleaned.
Ending in -e: add -d — live → lived, love → loved, decide → decided.
Consonant + y: change y to -ied — study → studied, cry → cried. Vowel + y keeps the y: stay → stayed.
One syllable, one vowel + one consonant: double the consonant — stop → stopped, plan → planned.
Two syllables, stress on the last: double — prefer → preferred, admit → admitted. Stress on the first: no doubling — visit → visited, open → opened.
Never double w, x or y: fix → fixed, snow → snowed. (British English also doubles a final l: travelled; American English: traveled.)

Doubling keeps the vowel short: stopped rhymes with 'hopped', while stoped would look like 'hoped'. If the vowel is already long or there are two vowels (rain, cook), do not double.

Common Irregular Simple Past Verbs

Irregular verbs do not use -ed, and there is no rule that predicts their form — they have to be learned. The most frequent ones are worth memorising first because they appear in almost every story.

be → was/were, have → had, do → did, go → went, get → got
say → said, make → made, take → took, come → came, see → saw
know → knew, think → thought, buy → bought, bring → brought, teach → taught
give → gave, find → found, tell → told, feel → felt, leave → left
No change: put → put, cut → cut, cost → cost, let → let, read → read (pronounced /red/)

Questions and Negatives: Did/Didn't + Base Form

For questions and negatives, English uses the auxiliary did, and did carries the past tense. That means the main verb goes back to its base form. This is why 'I didn't went' and 'Did you saw it?' are wrong: the past is marked twice.

The verb be is the exception. It does not use did: make questions by inverting (Were you there?) and negatives with not (I wasn't there).

Negative: I didn't go. She didn't see it. (not didn't went / didn't saw)
Yes/no question: Did you go? Did she call?
Wh- question: Where did you go? What did she say?
Subject question, no did: Who called you? What happened?
be: Was it good? Were they late? He wasn't at home.

Spot the double past: if a sentence has did or didn't, the verb after it must be the plain base form: didn't go, did you see, didn't have.

When to Use the Simple Past

The simple past places an action or state at a finished time in the past. The time can be stated (yesterday, in 2019) or clear from context (I met a great teacher at school).

Finished actions at a stated time: I called her yesterday. They moved in 2020.
A sequence of events in a story: He opened the door, looked around and walked in.
Past states: I lived in Paris for three years (I don't live there now).
Past habits: As a child, I walked to school every day. (used to walk is also common)
Completed life periods, including people who have died: Mozart wrote over 600 works.
Time expressions: yesterday, last night/week/year, ... ago, in 2015, on Monday, when I was young, then.

used to is for habits and states that are no longer true (I used to smoke), but not for a single event or a counted number of times (I went there three times last week, not I used to go there three times).

How to Pronounce -ed: /t/, /d/ or /ɪd/

The -ed ending has three pronunciations, decided by the last sound (not letter) of the base verb.

/ɪd/ (extra syllable) after /t/ and /d/: wanted, needed, started, decided.
/t/ after voiceless sounds /p/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/: stopped, worked, laughed, kissed, washed, watched.
/d/ after voiced sounds and vowels: played, called, cleaned, lived, opened.

Only /ɪd/ adds a syllable. Saying 'work-ed' with two syllables is a common accent mistake — worked is one syllable, /wɜːkt/.

Keep practicing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it called the simple past or the past simple?

Both names refer to the same tense. 'Simple past' is more common in American grammar books, and 'past simple' in British English-teaching materials. The form is identical: worked, went, did you go?, I didn't go.

Why is 'I didn't went' wrong?

Because did already shows the past tense, so the main verb must be in the base form: I didn't go. Writing didn't went marks the past twice. The same rule applies in questions: Did you go?, not Did you went?

What is the difference between the simple past and used to?

The simple past works for single finished events, counted repetitions and past habits: I went to Spain last year; I went to the gym three times last week; I walked to school as a child. used to is only for past habits or states that are no longer true: I used to walk to school; I used to live in Leeds.

Catch Past Tense Errors in Your Own Writing

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Simple Past Tense (Past Simple): Rules, Examples and 30 Exercises