Is that a past tense word

• to express that an action/state of being happened in the past (e.g. Ava went to the farm)
• to talk about repeated and habitual actions/events in the past (e.g. we used to go to Wales all the time)
• to refer to the present (e.g. It’s time I went to work)
• to refer to the future (e.g. Imagine if we moved to Italy)

• The simple aspect is used to express facts.

• The continuous aspect shows that an action is ongoing and yet to be completed.

• The perfect aspect is used for actions that started in the past but have some connection to the present.

• The perfect continuous aspect is a combination of the continuous aspect and the perfect aspect. It is used to show that an action has/had/or will have been in progress since a specific point in time.

The past (simple) tense is the most common past form in the English language. It is used to talk about a completed action or event that started and ended in the past. In other words, the past simple tense describes a completed action in the past (e.g. He went to school yesterday).

The past continuous can be used to ‘set the scene’ for another event and is often used to describe an action that was interrupted by another action. Like this:

Tense	Explanation	Examples of use
Past simple	The past simple tense is used to talk about a completed action or event that started in the past and ended in the past.	We cycled to the beach. Did you go outside? I danced all night.
Past continuous	Past continuous tense (also known as past progressive tense) is used to express that an action or event was ongoing in the past.	I was cooking all evening. He wasn’t smiling. Was it raining last night?
Past Perfect	The past perfect tense expresses a completed action in the past, often before another action/event took place.	She had been ill all week We had adopted a new puppy for Christmas I had won the game
Past Perfect Continuous	The past perfect continuous expresses that an action started in the past and continued into another time in the past.	I had been laughing all day. She had been trying to fix her bike. You hadn’t been working hard.

Using the past tense to refer to the present or future

It may sound unlikely, but the past tense can be used to refer to the present or future in particular situations. Some examples of these situations include:

Verbs are words which tell us the time of action in a sentence happened. The time that a verb shows is called tense.

Present	Past	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke (or awaked)	awaked (or awoken)
bear (to give birth)	bore	born
beat	beat	beaten (or beat)
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived (or dove)	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed (or dreamt)	dreamed (or dreamt)
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (or gotten)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang (to execute)	hanged	hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lighted (or lit)	lighted (or lit)
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mistake	mistook	mistaken
pay	paid	paid
prove	proved	proved (or proven)
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shed	shed	shed
shoot	shot	shot
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slide
sling	slung	slung
slink	slunk	slunk
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
spit	spit (or spat)	spit (or spat)
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang (or sprung)	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
stink	stank (or stunk)	stunk
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove (or strived)	striven (or strived)
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swelled (or swollen)
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	throve (or thrived)	throve (or thriven)
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
wake	woke (or waked)	waked (or woken)
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
wring	wring	wrung
write	wrote	written

Verb forms of Verb To be

Present tense	Past tense	Future tense
is/ am/ are	was/ were	will/shall

Now let’s use the words from the above list and understand how different forms of verbs are formed using the root word.

• We usually make the past tense by adding “d” or “ed” to the verb root word. Some verbs have irregular past tenses. We do not add “d” or “ed” to the irregular past tense verb, but change the spelling. grow becomes grew not growed.
• We make the present tense by using the verb root word or the verb “to be”, am and an “ing” word eg: walk -> walking.
• We make the future tense by using the verb “to be” and the verb root word. Will / Shall is the verb “to be”.

Root word	Past tense	Present tense	Future tense
Walk	I walked.	I walk.	I will walk.
Help	I helped.	I help.	I will help.
Learn	I learned.	I learn.	I will learn.
Write	I wrote	I write	I shall write
grow	It grew	It grows	It will grow

Keep exploring EnglishBix for quality resources on three forms of verbs and learn how they are used.

Do you have difficulty with the past tenses in English? Do you know the difference between the past simple and past perfect? Knowing what they are and when to use them can be tricky, but don’t worry we are here to help you with all your past tense doubts!

We’ll show you when to use them and give you some fun ways to practise them at home!

So, let’s start by looking at the four main past tense forms in English and their most common uses.

1. Past Simple

The first past tense you’ll often learn in your English classes is the past simple.

Form

For regular verbs we add -ed to the infinitive form of the verb. E.g.

Irregular verbs however, take a different form. There are hundreds of irregular verbs and you just have to learn them off by heart! Here are some of the most common:

Use

The main use of the past simple is for finished actions in the past. For example:

 

We can use it with a finished time phrase like in the sentences below:

 

Other common time expressions you can use are:

last month, last week, last summer, in 1997, when I was a child, a long time ago, on Monday, in February etc.

We also use the past simple for the main action when telling a story.

E.g. I woke up on my wedding day, I jumped out of bed and immediately called my brother. He didn’t pick up and so I began to worry.

Let’s see how much you’ve learned!

Activity One

We are going to test your knowledge of regular and irregular verbs! Watch this cartoon of Mr Bean making spaghetti. Then have a go at conjugating the verbs below into the past simple. Finally put the sequence in order they appear in the video!

 

Mr. Bean:

________ (brush) his teeth

________ (try) to cook spaghetti in the pot

________ (put) the spaghetti in the bath

________ (kill) the bird

________ (take) the spaghetti out of the cupboard.

*Check your answers at the end of this post.

2. Past Continuous

Another common past tense is the past continuous.

Form

We form it using was/were + verb + ing.

Use

A common use of the past continuous is to show that a longer action was interrupted (usually by a shorter action in the past simple). We often use the time expression when. For example:

 

When two continuous actions are happening at the same time we use the time expression while.

 

We can also use it to show a continuous action happening at a specific time in the past.

 

Finally, it can be used to add some description to a story.

E.g. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. We were walking around our favourite park.

Note we don’t usually use continuous tenses with stative verbs.

Now let’s practise!

Activity Two

Look at these pictures and complete the sentences with your own ideas!

*Check your answers at the end of this post

3. Past Perfect

Now we can move on to a slightly more difficult tense – the past perfect.

Form

We make the past perfect by using had + past participle.

Use

We use it when one action happens before another past action. For example:

A. The film had started when we arrived. (the film started before we arrived)

B. The film started when we arrived (we arrived at the same time the film started)

We use time expressions such as before, by the time and when.

Be careful lots of students overuse the past perfect! Remember you only use it for actions that happened before the main action.

Activity Three

Learn more about the past perfect with this grammar game show from BBC Learning English.

 

How many answers did you get correct?

&nhbsp;

4. Past Perfect Continuous

The past perfect continuous is very similar to the past perfect.

Form

We form the past perfect continuous with had + been + verb + ing.

Use

We use it to show that an action which started in the past continued up to another point in the past. For example:

With the past perfect we use time expressions such as for five hours, for 2 weeks, for a long time, by the time.

We can also use it to talk about the cause of something in the past. E.g.

 

Note we don’t usually use continuous tenses with stative verbs.

Activity Four

Practise when to use past perfect vs. past perfect continuous with this quiz!

Choose the correct answer in each question:

1. The children were tired because they had played all morning / had been playing all morning.

2. The customers were angry because the waiter had forgotten / had been forgetting their order.

3. He had married / had been marrying her two years before we met.

4. I had never stayed / had never been staying in London until 2012.

5. We had tried / had been trying the door for several hours before Anna found her key.

*Check your answers at the end of this post.

Activity Five

Finally, put all your new knowledge to the test! Look at this photo and answer the questions below using the different past tenses. Leave us a comment below with your ideas!

 

Speculate

1. Where was this photo taken?

2. Why was the man looking at the people in the background when the photo was taken?

3. What had happened just before the photo was taken?

4. Where had the man been going before the photo was taken?

*Check your answers at the end of this post.

—

Did you enjoy this blog? Had you studied all these rules before reading it? Leave us a comment and let us know!

You may also like to read our article about common grammar mistakes in English.

*Answers

Activity One:

E) He took the spaghetti out of the cupboard.

B) He tried to cook spaghetti in the pot.

C) He put the spaghetti in the bath.

A) He brushed his teeth.

D) He killed the bird.

—

Activity Two (example sentences):

At 8 o’clock last night I was watching TV.

At 8 o’clock last night I was reading a book.

At 8 o’clock last night I was cooking my dinner.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, it was raining heavily, I was sitting on the bus trying not to fall asleep.

—

Activity Four:

had been playing.

had forgotten.

had married.

had never stayed.

had been trying.

—

Activity Five (example sentences):

The photo was taken in a hotel.

The man was looking at the people in the background because he thought he recognised one of the women.

Just before the photo was taken the man had gone to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

The man had been walking back to his room before the photo was taken.

Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

Tricky (adj):: difficult.

Off by heart (exp): from memory.

To conjugate (v): to add different endings to a verb in order to produce all its different forms.

To move on (pv): to transition to something new.

Overuse (v): to use something too much.

Game show (n): a television programme where contestants win prizes.

Speculate (v): to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain.

Key

adj = adjective

pv = phrasal verb

v = verb

n = noun

exp = expression

Study English at Oxford House Barcelona

Interested in taking an English course at Oxford House Barcelona? Check all the different English classes we can offer you, or our summer courses, and contact us for more information.