What is Past Simple? Past Simple (paste simple) in English

In the article we will analyze the temporary features of English and Russian languages, namely, we compare the formation of past tense in these two languages. We will discuss in detail what kind of time Past Simple (paste simple) is in English. Be sure to understand how the proposals are built, what rules and exceptions exist. The topic is quite logical and simple, if not distracted by the explanation.

Elapsed time in languages

It should start with the fact that the past time in Russian and English languages has a fundamental semantic difference. In our language, there is one past tense. For us it is absolutely natural and it goes without saying: " he read the book yesterday ", " we phoned two days ago ", " by three o'clock I was ready to go ", " they walked from four to eight in the evening ", etc. All these actions have been carried out in the past and have been made to the present day.

For us it is enough to understand that we are dealing with the past tense. In the English language, there are four varieties of past tense. The resulted examples-sentences are used in different kinds of past forms of the past.

To the note: varieties of the past tense

So, in order to clarify the picture more clearly, we list the past tenses - Past Tenses (in translation past - "past, past," tenses - "times"):

1. Past Simple - the past is simple.
2. Past Continuous - the past continued.
3. Past Perfect - past perfect.
4. Past Perfect Continuous - past perfect in the process.

All these times are past. For clarity of the picture, we will consider the difference on additional concrete proposals:

• Past Simple: " He read the book yesterday ." For us, it is important that the action occurred sometime in the past - "yesterday". It does not matter whether it was morning or evening. The main thing, the action happened.
• Past Continuous: " Yesterday at two o'clock in the afternoon he was reading a book ." This time tells us about a certain action at a particular moment in the past, not just "yesterday", but "yesterday at two o'clock in the afternoon." Action took place at a particular moment.
• Past Perfect: " By two o'clock in the afternoon he had already finished reading the novel ." Here the action was accomplished in the past and was completed before two o'clock. In other words, the action occurred earlier than some other action (or time) in the past.
• And finally, Past Perfect Continuous: " He read the novel yesterday from three to six in the evening ." At this time, the emphasis is on doing action in the past, lasting for a long period and ending up to a certain time in the past.

At first glance, it is somewhat hard and difficult. But when studying the specific time and with the necessary training everything becomes clear.

. We are now interested specifically in the Past Simple (paste symple) in English . We will consider it.

Past Simple: use cases

The time of the Past Simple in the English language characterizes the actions that were committed at one time in the past. Usually such sentences specify certain words (perhaps they are simply implied): yesterday or two hours ago, last week or last Friday, last year or month, a couple of years or five years ago and so on.

Actions that were committed in the past and follow each other also characterize this time. For example: " She woke up, took a shower, gathered, had breakfast and went to work ."

This time is also used when the usual actions in the past are meant, but they are already irrelevant now: " In my distant childhood, I often liked to visit my grandmother ."

Now let's proceed to constructing the sentences and touch on the rules defined in the Past Simple ( paste simple).

Affirmative (narrative) sentences in Past Simple

So, to build an affirmative sentence in Past Simple, you need to know the following: in English there are regular and irregular verbs. We will understand:

• Correct verbs are those that obey certain laws of the language, for example, the rule of education of the past tense. For all correct "obedient" verbs, it can be said to be one and the same: the ending " -ed " or " -d " is added to the initial form of the verb (without the particle to ) to form the past tense.
• Wrong verbs are, in simple terms, "naughty" verbs that do not obey the general principle of the formation of the verb form in Past Simple (paste simple). The rules do not work here - there are exceptions that need to be remembered! The difficulty is that there are many irregular verbs. They are all reflected in special grammatical tables in textbooks or in ordinary English-Russian dictionaries. Near the irregular verb are two more forms. We will be interested in the second form (or the second column in the tables of textbooks).

When building sentences, remember the word order. At the initial stage, try to start with the subject, followed by the predicate and only then - all the other members of the sentence. This is not necessary, but it is desirable, since compliance with this point will help develop the habit of not losing significant parts of the statement and knowing exactly where to begin to build the phrase.

Negative and interrogative sentences in Past Simple

For constructing negative and interrogative sentences in the Past Simple (paste symple) in English, it is necessary to know that there is an auxiliary verb did . This verb is an assistant. He helps build negative and interrogative utterances.

In the negative sentence, first (in the first place) is the subject, then - the verb helper did with negation not (in abbreviated form - did not ), then - the predicate in the initial form without to and the rest of the sentence.

When constructing the same question, the order of the words is as follows: first, if there is one, a question word, then - the verb-assistant did , then - the subject, the predicate, in the initial form without to , and the rest of the sentence. On an example in the table offered in article, it is visible more clearly.

For a complete understanding and consolidation of the acquired knowledge it is necessary to perform in the Past Simple (paste simple) exercises. It can be various tasks: put the verb in the desired form, translate the sentence from Russian to English, insert a suitable verb from the proposed, etc. The main thing is to perform them with awareness, in that case it will be very easy to build your speech in the past tense.

The article reflects the complete table in the Past Simple (paste symple) table. Disassemble it again in detail and carefully. Two accents are the correct / irregular verbs and the auxiliary verb did.

Note: Simple Simple (Simpl) Times

It should be reiterated that if one grasps the principle of using times in the English language, but it is peculiar and simple, then the entire time table in English will become understandable and transparent.

For example, simple in translation - " simple ". There are three Simple tenses in the English language: Present Simple, Past Simple, Future Simple (presenting a simplex and paste symple, as well as a fusion symbol), that is, a simple simple, past simple and future simple time. For each of these types of time is characteristic of its construction of proposals and its features, which is presented in the table.

, паст симпл и фьюче симпл, презент симпл и фьюче симпл). It will also be extremely useful to perform exercises for comparing and constructing sentences in a given line of the Simple direction (for example , a simple symple and paste symple , a simplex and a fusion simple, a symple and a fusion symple). And the more practice, the better!

We hope that this article was useful for you and informative.