Past Simple: Positive Sentences Practice Tests with A1 Grammar Rules & Examples

Past Simple: Positive Sentences

We use the past simple to talk about things that happened in the past — things that are finished. For example, what you did yesterday, last week, or when you were a child.

Look at these simple examples:

• I walked to school yesterday.
• She watched a film last night.
• They played football on Saturday.

These things are finished. They do not happen now. They happened in the past.

In this lesson, you will learn how to make past simple positive sentences step by step.

What Is a Positive Sentence?

A positive sentence (also called an affirmative sentence) means we say something happened. We do not say it did not happen. We do not ask a question. We simply say: "Yes, this happened."

• I cooked dinner. ✅ (positive — it happened)
• She visited her grandmother. ✅ (positive — it happened)

Two Types of Verbs in the Past Simple

To make past simple positive sentences, you need to know about two types of verbs:

• Regular verbs — these follow a simple rule. You add -ed to the end.
• Irregular verbs — these do not follow the rule. They have a special past form that you need to learn.

We will look at both types. Let us start with regular verbs.

Regular Verbs: Add -ed

For regular verbs, making the past simple is easy. You just add -ed to the base verb (the normal form of the verb).

Look at this pattern:

Subject + verb + -ed + (rest of sentence)

Here are some examples:

• walk → walked
• talk → talked
• cook → cooked
• watch → watched
• play → played
• visit → visited
• clean → cleaned
• open → opened

Important: In the past simple, the verb form is the same for ALL subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). You do NOT change the ending for different people.

Notice that walked is the same for every subject. This is very helpful!

Spelling Rules for Regular Verbs

Most of the time, you simply add -ed. But sometimes the spelling changes a little. Here are the main rules:

Rule 1: Most verbs → just add -ed

• cook → cooked
• clean → cleaned
• play → played
• talk → talked

Rule 2: Verb ends in -e → just add -d

When the verb already ends in the letter e, you only add -d (not -ed).

• like → liked
• love → loved
• live → lived
• use → used
• dance → danced

Rule 3: Short verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant → double the last letter, then add -ed

Do not worry too much about this rule at A1 level. Here are the most common examples:

• stop → stopped
• shop → shopped
• plan → planned
• drop → dropped

Rule 4: Verb ends in consonant + -y → change -y to -i, then add -ed

• study → studied
• carry → carried
• try → tried
• cry → cried

But: If the verb ends in a vowel + y, just add -ed:

• play → played
• stay → stayed

Irregular Verbs: Special Past Forms

Irregular verbs do not use -ed. They have a completely different form in the past. You need to learn these separately.

Here is a mini-story to help you understand:

Yesterday, Tom went to the market. He bought some fruit. He saw his friend Anna. They had a coffee together. Then Tom came home and ate his fruit.

The verbs in bold are all irregular. Let us look at some of the most common ones:

*Note: The verb read looks the same in the past, but it is pronounced differently. The base form is pronounced "reed". The past form is pronounced "red".

Tip: Learn irregular verbs a few at a time. Do not try to learn all of them at once!

The Verb "To Be" in the Past Simple

The verb to be is very important and very irregular. In the past simple, it has two forms: was and were.

This is the only verb in the past simple that changes depending on the subject. All other verbs stay the same for every subject.

Simple rule: Use was with I, he, she, it. Use were with you, we, they.

Time Expressions with the Past Simple

We often use time expressions (words that tell us when something happened) with past simple positive sentences. These words help to make it clear that the action is in the past.

Important Differences: Regular vs. Irregular Verbs

It is important to know whether a verb is regular or irregular. Here is a quick comparison:

Remember: When you are not sure if a verb is regular or irregular, check a dictionary or a verb list. With practice, you will remember the common ones very quickly.

Common Mistakes

Here are some mistakes that beginners often make with past simple positive sentences. Read them carefully!

❌ She goed to the market.
✅ She went to the market. (go is irregular — the past is went, not goed)

❌ He plaied football yesterday.
✅ He played football yesterday. (play ends in vowel + y, so just add -ed)

❌ They was happy.
✅ They were happy. (they uses were, not was)

❌ I eated a sandwich for lunch.
✅ I ate a sandwich for lunch. (eat is irregular — the past is ate, not eated)

❌ She walkd to school.
✅ She walked to school. (add the full -ed, not just -d, when the verb does not end in e)

❌ He stoped the car.
✅ He stopped the car. (short verb ending in consonant + vowel + consonant — double the last letter: stopped)

❌ I was go to school yesterday.
✅ I went to school yesterday. (do not use was/were with another verb in a positive sentence — use the past form of the main verb directly)

A Short Story in the Past Simple

Read this short story. All the verbs are in the past simple. Can you find all of them?

Yesterday, Maria woke up early. She had breakfast and drank a cup of tea. Then she walked to the bus stop. She took the bus to the city centre. She visited a museum and saw some beautiful paintings. She bought a postcard in the museum shop. In the evening, she cooked pasta for dinner and watched a film. She was very tired, so she went to bed early.

Can you see both regular verbs (walked, visited, cooked, watched) and irregular verbs (woke, had, drank, took, saw, bought, went) in the story?

Past Simple Positive Sentences: Quick Summary

Here are the key points to remember about past simple positive sentences:

• We use the past simple to talk about finished actions in the past.
• For regular verbs, add -ed (or -d if the verb ends in e).
• For irregular verbs, use the special past form (e.g. go → went, eat → ate).
• The verb form is the same for all subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) — except for the verb to be.
• The verb to be uses was (I, he, she, it) or were (you, we, they).
• Common time expressions: yesterday, last night, last week, ago, in [year].

Now practise past simple positive sentences in the exercises below.