Past Simple Practice Tests with A2 Grammar Rules & Examples

Past Simple

The past simple is one of the most important tenses in English. We use it to talk about actions and events that happened and finished in the past. For example, things you did yesterday, last week, or when you were a child.

Look at these simple examples:

• I walked to school yesterday.
• She ate pizza for dinner.
• They didn't watch the film.
• Did you sleep well?

In this lesson, you will learn how to make positive sentences, negative sentences, and questions in the past simple. You will also learn the difference between regular verbs and irregular verbs.

What Is the Past Simple?

Imagine your friend asks: "What did you do last night?"

You answer: "I watched TV. I cooked dinner. I went to bed at 10 o'clock."

All of those verbs — watched, cooked, went — are in the past simple. The actions are finished. They are not happening now.

We often use the past simple with time words that tell us when something happened:

• yesterday
• last night / last week / last year
• two days ago / a week ago
• in 2010
• when I was young

Regular Verbs and Irregular Verbs

In English, verbs (action words) have two types in the past simple: regular verbs and irregular verbs.

Regular Verbs

Regular verbs follow a simple rule. You just add -ed to the base form of the verb.

Base form + ed = past simple

For example:
walk → walked
cook → cooked
listen → listened
play → played

Spelling Rules for Regular Verbs

There are a few small spelling changes to know:

Rule	Example (base form)	Past Simple
Most verbs → add -ed	walk, cook, listen	walked, cooked, listened
Verb ends in -e → add -d	like, love, dance	liked, loved, danced
Verb ends in consonant + y → change y to i, add -ed	study, cry, carry	studied, cried, carried
Short verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant → double the last letter, add -ed	stop, plan, clap	stopped, planned, clapped

Note: A vowel is a, e, i, o, u. A consonant is any other letter (b, c, d, f, g, etc.).

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed rule. They have their own special past simple forms. You need to learn these by heart.

Here are some very common irregular verbs:

Base Form	Past Simple	Example Sentence
go	went	She went to the park.
eat	ate	We ate lunch together.
have	had	I had a great day.
see	saw	He saw a dog in the street.
buy	bought	She bought a new bag.
come	came	They came to the party.
get	got	I got a message from my friend.
make	made	He made breakfast.
take	took	She took the bus.
give	gave	He gave me a present.
think	thought	I thought it was funny.
say	said	She said hello.
know	knew	We knew the answer.
find	found	I found my keys.
sleep	slept	She slept for eight hours.

Positive Sentences in the Past Simple

Making a positive (affirmative) sentence in the past simple is straightforward. You use the past simple form of the verb. There is no difference between subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). The verb form is the same for everyone.

Subject + past simple verb + (rest of sentence)

Subject	Past Simple Verb	Full Sentence
I	worked	I worked late yesterday.
You	played	You played football last Saturday.
He	watched	He watched a film last night.
She	went	She went to London last summer.
It	rained	It rained all day.
We	ate	We ate at a restaurant.
They	visited	They visited their grandparents.

Notice: worked, played, watched, visited are regular verbs. Went, ate are irregular verbs.

Negative Sentences in the Past Simple

To make a negative sentence in the past simple, we use:

Subject + did not + base form of the verb

We use did not (or the short form didn't) with all subjects. After did not, the verb goes back to its base form (the simple, normal form — no -ed, no irregular form).

For example:
She went to school. → She did not go to school.
I cooked dinner. → I didn't cook dinner.
They ate lunch. → They didn't eat lunch.

Subject	Negative Form	Full Sentence
I	did not (didn't) + base verb	I didn't walk to work.
You	did not (didn't) + base verb	You didn't watch the news.
He	did not (didn't) + base verb	He didn't go to the party.
She	did not (didn't) + base verb	She didn't eat breakfast.
It	did not (didn't) + base verb	It didn't rain yesterday.
We	did not (didn't) + base verb	We didn't study last night.
They	did not (didn't) + base verb	They didn't buy any food.

Questions in the Past Simple

To ask a question in the past simple, we use Did at the beginning of the sentence. Again, the verb goes back to its base form.

Did + subject + base form of the verb + ?

For example:
She went to school. → Did she go to school?
You cooked dinner. → Did you cook dinner?
They played football. → Did they play football?

Short Answers to Past Simple Questions

When someone asks a past simple yes/no question, we answer like this:

Yes, I/you/he/she/it/we/they did.
No, I/you/he/she/it/we/they didn't.

For example:
"Did you go to the party?"
"Yes, I did." or "No, I didn't."

Question	Short Answer (Yes)	Short Answer (No)
Did I pass the test?	Yes, you did.	No, you didn't.
Did you sleep well?	Yes, I did.	No, I didn't.
Did he call you?	Yes, he did.	No, he didn't.
Did she like the food?	Yes, she did.	No, she didn't.
Did it snow?	Yes, it did.	No, it didn't.
Did we win?	Yes, we did.	No, we didn't.
Did they arrive on time?	Yes, they did.	No, they didn't.

Wh- Questions in the Past Simple

We can also ask questions with question words such as what, where, when, who, why, and how. These are called Wh- questions.

Question word + did + subject + base form of the verb + ?

• What did you do last night?
• Where did she go on holiday?
• When did they arrive?
• Why did he leave early?
• How did you get here?

The Past Simple of "To Be": Was and Were

The verb to be is special. In the past simple, to be does not use did for negatives or questions. Instead, it uses two forms: was and were.

Subject	Past Simple of "to be"	Example
I	was	I was tired yesterday.
You	were	You were late this morning.
He	was	He was at home.
She	was	She was happy.
It	was	It was cold last night.
We	were	We were at the beach.
They	were	They were very friendly.

Negatives with Was and Were

To make a negative with was/were, simply add not:

was not → wasn't
were not → weren't

• I wasn't at school yesterday.
• They weren't happy about it.

Questions with Was and Were

To make a question, put was or were before the subject:

• Was she at the party? → Yes, she was. / No, she wasn't.
• Were you tired? → Yes, I was. / No, I wasn't.
• Where were they last night?

Important Differences and Special Cases

Did + Base Form (Not Past Form)

A very important rule: after did or didn't, always use the base form of the verb — not the past form.

The base form is the simple, basic form of the verb with no endings added. For example: go, eat, play, walk, have.

❌ She didn't went to school.
✅ She didn't go to school.

❌ Did you cooked dinner?
✅ Did you cook dinner?

Was or Were?

Remember the simple rule:
I / He / She / It → was
You / We / They → were

❌ They was at the cinema.
✅ They were at the cinema.

❌ I were very hungry.
✅ I was very hungry.

Regular vs Irregular: Do Not Add -ed to Irregular Verbs

Do not add -ed to irregular verbs in the positive past simple. They already have their own special form.

❌ She goed to the shops.
✅ She went to the shops.

❌ He eated his lunch.
✅ He ate his lunch.

Contractions in the Past Simple

In spoken English and informal writing, we often use contractions (short forms). A contraction is when two words join together with an apostrophe (').

Full Form	Contraction	Example
did not	didn't	I didn't go out last night.
was not	wasn't	She wasn't at home.
were not	weren't	They weren't ready.

Note: We do NOT make contractions with positive forms in the past simple. We do NOT say I workedn't or she wented. Contractions only happen with negative forms (didn't, wasn't, weren't).

Common Mistakes

Here are some of the most common mistakes students make with the past simple:

❌ I didn't went to the party.
✅ I didn't go to the party. (Use the base form after didn't.)

❌ Did she played tennis?
✅ Did she play tennis? (Use the base form after did.)

❌ He goed to the cinema.
✅ He went to the cinema. (Go is irregular. The past simple is went.)

❌ They was at school.
✅ They were at school. (Use were with you/we/they.)

❌ She were happy yesterday.
✅ She was happy yesterday. (Use was with I/he/she/it.)

❌ I studyed for two hours.
✅ I studied for two hours. (Verb ends in consonant + y → change y to i, add -ed.)

❌ We stoped the car.
✅ We stopped the car. (Short verb ending in consonant + vowel + consonant → double the last letter.)

Past Simple: Quick Summary

Here is a quick overview of everything you have learned about the past simple:

• We use the past simple to talk about finished actions in the past.
• Common time words: yesterday, last week, ago, in 2010, when I was young.
• Regular verbs → add -ed (walk → walked, play → played).
• Irregular verbs → special forms to learn (go → went, eat → ate, have → had).
• Positive: Subject + past verb. (She watched a film.)
• Negative: Subject + didn't + base verb. (She didn't watch a film.)
• Question: Did + subject + base verb + ? (Did she watch a film?)
• To be in the past: was (I/he/she/it) and were (you/we/they).
• After did/didn't, always use the base form of the verb.

Now practise the past simple in the exercises below.