To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past  you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ - that is ‘Forming the Negative of the simple past

To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past  you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ - that is ‘did‘ + ‘not‘ + the infinitive of the verb you want to use. For example - I did not play.

We often contract did and not into one word - didn’t – for example:

• I didn’t play
• They didn’t play
• She didn’t play

Notice that did and didn’t are invariable – they do not change no matter which pronoun you use.

The Same rule applies for irregular verbs:

Let’s look at leave,come and teach:

• I didn’t leave
• We didn’t come
• He didn’t teach

Here’s an example with the very common irregular verb ‘to go’

• She went to school yesterday.

Becomes in the negative:

• She did not go to school yesterday.

Remember that ‘went’ is the past form of ‘go‘. I went I didn’t go

Regular verbs:

Very simple!

• She talked to Martin last week.
• She did not talk to Martin last week.

You try…
Make the sentences with the negative Simple Past

• They studied English in 2006.
• Tim played golf when he was at university.

(answers below)

See also

• English4Today Grammar: Simple Past section

Answers:

1. They did not study ..
2. Tim did not play…

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Here’s a little more useful information about the IELTS speaking test:

The Examiner

• Examiners have been trained to make sure they judge you fairly and honestly. Examiners come from any country where English is spoken as a native language.
• IELTS examiners are all professional teachers with advanced degrees. They understand the test is difficult. They will be patient with you and will do their best to make sure you are relaxed.

What will the IELTS examiner be listening for?

• Pronunciation - Speak clearly and don’t rush through your answers. Pronunciation only becomes a real problem if it stops the examiner from understanding what you saying.
• Vocabulary - Be very careful with vocabulary! Do not try and use words that you are unsure of just because you think they sound more ‘advanced’ or ‘academic’. Students often think using difficult words improves their speaking score. However, the risk is that using words incorrectly will actually lower your score - keep to words and expressions that you are sure of!
• Sentence Structure - Keep your sentences clear and well organized. Avoid rambling sentences or sentences that finish midway through and are left hanging.
• Fluency and Coherence - Fluency and coherence have a lot to do with pacing and organization - don’t speak too fast, you’ll just get lost in your own words and ideas and do try to keep your ideas ordered and structured. Don’t pause too often as this also leaves a negative impression. Practice speaking slowly before the interview until you have a good and even fluency and gradually increase the speed of your delivery up to a level where you feel comfortable answering any question.

How you are scored

• If your speaking is unclear, you make a lot of hesitations, your sentences are poorly structured or your vocabulary is often weak then you will be Band 4 or below.
• To achieve a Band 5 you must be able to make simple sentences easily and without making a lot of mistakes
• For Band 6 - make and use longer sentences with fewer hesitations. Correctly use a variety of language. A few small mistakes will be allowed as long as your meaning is clear. You should also be able to paraphrase (restate a text, story or passage, using other words).
• For Band 7 - Ybe able to vary your sentences and connect the sentences correctly. Use and understand difficult vocabulary. Very small mistakes will be permitted if your meaning is clear. You should be able to paraphrase very well.
• For Band 8, you need a very wide vocabulary and the ability to speak fluently on any topic. You may make a few tiny errors, if those errors do not get in the way of communication.

View the videos related to this Simple Past video:

• Forming the Simple Past
• About the Simple Past

And the English4Today Grammar Notes for the Simple Past:

• English4Today Grammar Section on Simple Past
• Irregular Verbs in English
• Crossword Puzzle: Irregular Verb Past Forms
• Wordsearch (Easy): Irregular Past Forms

Example:

Subject + verb + -ed
I + play + ed
I played

And, to make it easier, the Simple Past form is invariable – that means it doesn’t change no matter what subject you use. Let’s look at the verb ‘to play’, in the Simple Past it would look like this:

I played
You played
He, she, it played
We played
You played
They played

A couple of things to watch out for:

• Verbs ending in a consonant + y, like cry and try: drop the y and add ied.
• Verbs ending in e like receive only need to have the ‘d’ added – received.

For the irregular verbs in English it is a bit more difficult and you will need to learn most of the most often used ones. There is a full list of irregular verbs with their past form on English4Today.
Now, before moving to the next video where we talk about when to use the Simple Past why don’t you try a couple of verbs your self. Just complete the sentence with the verb in the Simple Past:
STUDY —–> ?

They studied English in 2006 – notice that this is a verb that ends in a consonsant + y so we have dropped the y and added ed.

One more, PLAY—–> ?

Tim played golf when he was at university.

In Video Part 2 we will look at making the Interrogative and Negative of the Simple Past and then in Video Part 3 we will look at WHEN we use the Simple Past.

Useful Links:

• English4Today Grammar Section on Simple Past
• Irregular Verbs in English
• Crossword Puzzle: Irregular Verb Past Forms
• Wordsearch (Easy): Irregular Past Forms

BE CAREFUL!
The Simple Past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may be different.

1. Simple past,form

Regular verbs: base+ed

e.g. walked, showed, watched, played, smiled, stopped

Irregular verbs: see list in verbs

Simple Past: be, have, do:

Affirmative

1. I was in Japan last year
2. She had a headache yesterday.
3. We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative

Note:
For the negative and interrogative simple past form of “do”
as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary “do”, e.g. We didn’t
do our homework last night. The negative of “have”
in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary “do”,
but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction “n’t”.

The interrogative form of “have” in the simple past normally
uses the auxiliary “do”.

• They weren’t in Rio last summer.
• We hadn’t any money.
• We didn’t have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
• We didn’t do our exercises this morning.
• Were they in Iceland last January?
• Did you have a bicycle when you were a boy?
• Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Simple past, regular verbs

Example:
to walk, simple past.

Note: For
the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple
past, always use the auxiliary ‘did”.

Examples: Simple
past, irregular verbs

to go

a. He went to a club last night.

b. Did he go to the cinema last night?

c. He didn’t go to bed early last night.

to give

d. We gave her a doll for her birthday.

e. They didn’t give John their new address.

f. Did Barry give you my
passport?

to come

g. My parents came to visit me last July.

h. We didn’t come because it was raining.

i. Did he come to your party last week?

2. Simple past, function

The simple past
is used to talk about a completed action in a time before
now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be
in the recent past or the distant past.

• John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
• My father died last year.
• He lived in Fiji in 1976.
• We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened,
so it is associated with certain past time expressions

Examples:

• frequency:often,sometimes, always;
• a definite point in time:last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.
• an indefinite point in time:the other day, ages ago, a long time ago etc.

Note: the
word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into
the past. It is placed after the period of time e.g.
a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Examples:
a. Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.

b. She finished her work at seven o’clock.

c. We saw a good film last week.

d. I went to the theatre last night.

e. She played the piano when she was a child.

f. He sent me a letter six months ago.

g. Peter left five minutes ago.

Useful Links

• The English4Today Grammar: Simple Past Section
• Irregular Verbs (shows the past form for irregular verbs)

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English Language Tests and Assessments

You can try the sample exercise for this video by going to the CAELT listening section of our website.

CAELT

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• I usually take a medium.
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• Do you have a shorter one?
• It’s a bit too large.
• Do you have a smaller one.
• It’s a bit too small.
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• Excuse me, may I have some natto, please?
• How many would you like?
• All of them.
• How much is it?
• I’ll take it.

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