Simple Past Tense

简单过去时式

The simple past tense is used for actions which took place at a given time in the past. We use words like yesterday, last night, last week, just now to show the past.

简单过去时式用于在过去的某个时间进行的动作。我们用 yesterday、last night、last week、just now 等词来显示过去时式。

Actions that denote the past can be in the regular or irregular form.

简单过去时式的动词可分规则和不规则两种。

e.g.

Regular Verb 规则动词	Irregular Verb 不规则动词
smile  → smiled   bake    → baked   laugh  → laughed   clean   → cleaned	speak  → spoke   drink  → drank   catch  → caught   swim   → swam

There are some specific rules for the formation of regular verbs in the past tense form:

规则动词的简单过去时式可根据以下几种方式构成：

**  add ‘ed’ to regular verbs;

      在规则动词后加“ed”；

      e.g.    cook → cooked

                 help → helped

**  add ‘d’ to verbs that end with an ‘e’;

     在以“e”为结尾的动词加“d”；

      e.g.    tie → tied

                 close → closed

**  if the verb ends with a ‘y’ and a consonant 

      precedes the ‘y’, change the ‘y’ to ‘led’;

      在以一个辅音字母和“y”为结尾的动词后，

   把词尾“y”换成“ied”。

      e.g.    cry → cried

                 try → tried

Some verbs do not change their form.

有些动词的形式保持不变。

e.g.    cut → cut

           hit → hit