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  • Hi, everybody!

  • My name is Alisha, today we're gonna be talking about simple past tense.

  • We're gonna talk about how to make simple past tense statements in English.

  • So let's get started!

  • Okay, so first, let's talk about when we should use the simple past tense.

  • Simple past tense statements for today are for actions that started and ended in the

  • past, so these are things that both started or began and ended in the past, both of those

  • must be true to use simple past tense.

  • The second point for today is these are actions which happened at a specific point in time,

  • so a specific point in time can be yesterday, it can be an hour ago, it can be last year,

  • it can be when you were a kid, all of these are a specific point in time, but the key

  • is that we know when the action happened.

  • So specific point in time is point two for this grammar point.

  • Third, we can use simple past tense for repeated actions in the past.

  • So things you did every week or every month, or every year, every summer, every hour, if

  • you like, but one point about this, make sure to include a frequency indicator if you want

  • to talk about an action that repeated in the past.

  • Frequency indicator, for example, I just mentioned a few, every week, every month, every year.

  • So frequency, meaning how often, an indicator shows how often you did that.

  • So you can use repeated actions with past tense to show, let's see, something you did

  • a lot in the past, for example.

  • So to give you a visual, the past is down here, now is this point here, and future is

  • up here.

  • When we use the simple past tense it's an action that started and ended in the past

  • somewhere before now, that's one.

  • It's at a specific point in time, so this action and this action, we know when they

  • happened, it could be this morning, it could be yesterday, for example, but we know when

  • these actions happen.

  • Third, we can use for repeated action, so maybe these actions repeat, but we know when

  • the repetition happened, we know when we repeated these actions, so it's okay to use simple

  • past tense to describe those.

  • Okay, so now we know when we should use simple past tense, we know why we should use simple

  • past tense, but how do we make simple past tense statements?

  • So, when you want to use the simple past tense to explain an action that happened in the

  • past, you need to conjugate your verb, you need to change your verb.

  • So that means when you're using a regular verb, you do verb + ed.

  • So verb + ed is the basic form for simple past tense verbs, but keep in mind this is

  • only for regular verbs, not all verbs are regular verbs.

  • So, for example, some common ones are talk, which becomes talked; start which become started;

  • and enjoy which becomes enjoyed.

  • Please be careful, however, you'll notice that the past tense form of verbs has a few

  • different pronunciations, so, for example, start becomes started, it has an ID sound

  • it's not an ED sound, but an ID sound.

  • You might hear a word like walked, also, which has a sort of T sound about it; walk becomes

  • walked; started becomes started; an ID sound.

  • And then there's also a sound like in breathed, a very soft D sound.

  • So there are three past tense verb sounds to listen for, an ID sound, started; a soft

  • D sound like breathed; and then a more hard T sound like walked.

  • So pay attention to that when you're trying to make these past tense verb conjugations.

  • Ok, but some verbs are irregular verbs.

  • Irregular verbs do not have a simple rule for understanding past tense conjugation.

  • How to change them in past tense, there's no rule for these, you simply have to practice,

  • you have to remember them, read them, listen to them until you can remember the correct

  • conjugation, the correct way to change these verbs into the past tense.

  • So, for example, some common ones are eat, which becomes ate; speak becomes spoke; and

  • make becomes made.

  • If you see a verb somewhere that seems a little odd, or you're not sure what the present tense

  • form would be, you can check a dictionary and try to remember it from there.

  • So, now we've talked about simple past tense, irregular and regular verbs, let's try to

  • use them to make some sentences.

  • I've prepared a few example sentences, so let's take a look.

  • Okay, first sentence, He ______ a towel and sunglasses to the beach.

  • So the verb here is bring, I want to use the verb "bring."

  • Bring, however, is an irregular verb, so I can't use the ED rule for regular verbs; the

  • correct conjugation is brought.

  • He brought a towel and sunglasses to the beach.

  • This is the correct conjugation here, so bring is an irregular verb.

  • Okay, let's go to the next sentence.

  • They ______ to the gym every day last week.

  • So here, I'm showing you a repeated action, here I'm using every day, this is a frequency

  • indicator, how often did I do that action; and last week shows the specific point in

  • time.

  • So I'm using both of these two points, in addition to a simple past, the basic simple

  • past structure here.

  • So the verb that we want to use here is "go," but go is an irregular verb so we can't use

  • go-ed, for example.

  • Go changes to went in the past tense, so went is the correct answer for this sentence here.

  • Okay, let's try the next one.

  • I ______ to tell my boss about my schedule.

  • So the verb I want to use here is "forget."

  • Forget is a very useful word, I think, to remember.

  • But again, forget is not a regular verb, forget is an irregular verb, so we cannot use the

  • ED form.

  • Forget in the past tense becomes forgot.

  • Ok, so, I forgot to tell my boss about my schedule is the correct sentence here.

  • Alright!

  • Let's go to something a little bit different, here's a negative sentence.

  • I don't think they _______ a reservation at the restaurant.

  • Ok, so here I'm using a phrase, I want to use the phrase "make a reservation," to make

  • a reservation.

  • So the verb here is "make," this was one of my example verbs for the irregular form.

  • So make becomes made.

  • I don't think they made a reservation at the restaurant is the correct verb form to use

  • here.

  • All right, the next sentence, we ______ junk food almost every day last month.

  • So here, again, I have every day, but I have almost here, so almost every day, not every

  • day but close to every day.

  • And then last month, last month is my specific point in time in this case.

  • So here we have junk food, that means that the verb we want to use is probably eat, and

  • we learned that eat is an irregular verb, there's no rule for conjugating this, we just

  • know that eat becomes ate.

  • We ate junk food almost every day last month.

  • Great.

  • Okay.

  • So next sentence has two spaces for verbs, actually.

  • Okay, so the next sentence that I've prepared I included because a lot of my students asked

  • about how to report information.

  • When you want to report information, share something that you heard from a friend, a

  • past tense action, you need to conjugate the reporting verb, for example, say becomes said,

  • or hear becomes heard.

  • You need to conjugate this verb and you need to conjugate the information that you heard.

  • So there are two past-tense conjugations that should happen when you report information.

  • Let's take a look.

  • So here we have She _____ she _____ a great time at the party.

  • So, here, she ____ a great time at the party, so we used the expression "to have a great

  • time."

  • To have a great time, again, have is an irregular verb so we conjugate it to had.

  • She had a great time at the party.

  • Okay, but then to report your speech, so someone gave you information, past tense, give becomes

  • gave you information, so the verb for giving information, a neutral way to pass information

  • is "say."

  • So to conjugate say into the past tense, it's an irregular verb, so we use said.

  • Say becomes said, so she said she had a great time at the party.

  • Okay.

  • Please be careful of your pronunciation with the word said, a lot of people I've heard

  • use say-d.

  • Say-d is not correct, so please use said.

  • It sounds like SED, the pronunciation, but it's said, SAID is the spelling.

  • Say becomes said.

  • She said she had a great time at the party.

  • Ok, so last one.

  • Okay, so the last example sentence for today includes spaces for a few different verbs.

  • I included this because I wanted to show you that you can use a lot of different information

  • in one sentence, just by connecting your past tense verbs together.

  • So let's take a look.

  • Okay.

  • Yesterday I _____ late, _____ shopping, and _____ to my mother.

  • Okay, so the verbs I want to use for this sentence are sleep, "go," and "speak."

  • These are all irregular verbs, there are no regular verbs in this sentence.

  • So sleep in past tense becomes slept; go in past tense becomes went; and speak in past

  • tense becomes spoke.

  • So here, in one sentence, I have explained three things about my day yesterday.

  • Yesterday I slept late, I went shopping, and I spoke to my mother.

  • So you can explain a lot of things with past tense and a few connecting words, in this

  • case, I've just used "and" to connect the last two things in this sentence.

  • So please keep this in mind when you're sharing information about your past events.

  • So today we talked about the simple past tense, and we talked about how to conjugate both

  • regular and irregular verbs.

  • It might seem a little bit difficult to understand which verbs are regular and which verbs are

  • irregular, but with some practice it will become easier.

  • So I hope that you enjoyed this video, if you have any questions or comments, please

  • be sure to leave us a comment and let us know.

  • Also, please be sure to LIKE this video and subscribe to our channel, if you haven't already.

  • Thanks very much for watching, check us out for more on EnglishClass101.com.

  • And we'll see you again soon. Bye!

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