‹Simple past›: regular verbs in English
How it works
In English, the ‹simple past› is used for completed actions in the past. For regular verbs, the ‹simple past› is usually formed by adding the ending ‹-ed› to the infinitive, e.g. ‹play› → ‹played›. For verbs ending in ‹-e›, only one ‹-d› is added, e.g. ‹live› → ‹lived›. For verbs ending in a consonant and ‹-y›, the ‹-y› changes to ‹-i› and then ‹-ed› is added, e.g. ‹carry› → ‹carried›. For short monosyllabic verbs with the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, the final consonant is often doubled, e.g. ‹stop› → ‹stopped› and ‹plan› → ‹planned›. The ‹simple past› is used for actions that took place at a specific time in the past. Signal words include, for example, ‹yesterday›, ‹last week›, ‹in 2010›.
Regular verbs in ‹simple past› usually take the ending ‹-ed›. If the verb ends in ‹-e›, only ‹-d› is added. If it ends in consonant + ‹-y›, ‹-y› changes to ‹-i› and ‹-ed› is added. For short monosyllabic verbs with consonant-vowel-consonant, the final consonant is often doubled before ‹-ed›, e.g. ‹stop› → ‹stopped›.
An example
What is the form in the ‹simple past› of ‹to clean›?
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50 Exercises
To the learning unit →Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: English. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.