Finn Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Finn.
Sophie And me, Sophie. Hello.
Finn In today’s programme we’re talking about the past simple tense…
Sophie … when we use it, how we form it for regular verbs…
Finn …we’ll take a look at some irregular verbs, negative sentences and questions.
Sophie …and we’ll finish as usual with a quiz.
Finn Ok - so let’s get started! The past simple is a tense in English that we use to talk about an event that happened and finished in the past. Here’s Neil with our first example:
Neil Jack Dorsey invented Twitter in 2006.
Sophie Thanks Neil. Now, we often find the past simple in stories like this:
Neil The boy started running. Suddenly, he stopped and listened…
Finn Wow - sounds like an exciting story! And it had three past simple verbs: started, stopped, and listened.
Sophie … and they are all regular verbs. We make the past simple of regular verbs by adding an ‘e’ and a ‘d’ to the infinitive.
Finn … so the past simple of start is started,
Sophie … the past simple of stop is stopped,
Finn … and the past simple of listen is listened
Sophie … did you spot the difference in the pronunciation there?
Finn Yes, sometimes the ‘e’ and ‘d’ at the end sounds like a ‘t’. ‘t’. Listen: Stopped. Stopped.
Sophie Sometimes it sounds more like ‘id’. ‘id’. Started. Started.
Finn … or like a ‘d’: Listened. Listened.
Sophie Let’s hear all three again:
Neil Stopped, started, listened. Stopped, started, listened.
Finn So, listen out for those 3 different pronunciations of the past simple e-d ending. It’s simple, isn’t it…
Sophie Yes, well we are talking about the past simple, … but … irregular verbs are not quite so simple.
Finn That's true: can you give us some examples of irregular verbs, please, Neil?
Neil I went to the interview yesterday and got the job!
Finn And another one please?
Neil Kurosawa made some wonderful films.
Finn So the past simple of go is went.
Sophie ...get is got.
Finn ...and make is made.
Sophie And I’m afraid you just have to learn irregular verbs. There is no one simple rule for them.
Finn But the good news is that the past simple is the same for all people.
Sophie Yes – it’s I got the job, you got the job, he got the job…
Finn We got the job… they got the job...
Sophie Everybody got the job!
Both Hooray!
IDENT You’re listening to BBC Learning English.
Finn Now, for negatives in the past simp… [sfx: loud sound of unwrapping of biscuit and someone taking a bite] …Sophie, are you hungry?
Sophie [munching] Yes, sorry, I didn’t have breakfast this morning.
Finn You didn’t have breakfast! Aha! … past simple negatives … this is simple… you just put didn’t in front of the main verb.
Sophie That’s right. Didn’t plus the infinitive makes a past simple negative: I didn’t have breakfast this morning.
Finn So remember: it’s not I didn’t had, it’s I didn’t have breakfast.
Sophie I didn’t have breakfast. I didn't have time!
Finn Now, let’s move on to past simple questions. Here’s an example:
Neil Did you make that cake? It’s delicious!
Sophie Did you say ‘cake’? Where?
Finn Sorry Sophie, it was just the example! So in past simple questions it’s did plus subject plus an infinitive: Did you make? Let’s hear that again - with an answer this time:
Neil Did you make that cake? It’s delicious!
Finn Yes, I did.
Sophie Or we could say: No, I didn’t. For short answers, just drop the verb and use the subject with did or didn’t, so it’s Yes, I did.
Finn Or: No, I didn’t.
Finn Good! Now for a quiz. I’ll say a sentence in the present simple and you change it to the past simple. Here goes: We start work at 10 in the morning. We start work at 10 in the morning.
Sophie Ok, in the past simple it’s: We started work at 10 in the morning.
Finn We started work at 10 in the morning. Great! Number 2. Here’s a sentence in the past simple: you have to make it negative. Ready? Scientists found a cure for the disease. Scientists found a cure for the disease.
Sophie And the answer is: Scientists didn’t find a cure for the disease. We change ‘found’ to ‘find’ and put ‘didn’t’ in front of the verb: Scientists didn’t find a cure for the disease.
Finn And finally, I’ll ask a past simple question. Can you give me a short answer. Sophie: Did you have breakfast this morning? Did you have breakfast this morning?
Sophie No, I didn’t. Or I could say: Yes, I did. Finn, what did you have for breakfast?
Finn Oh, I had cereal, eggs, toast, orange juice … coffee, croissants ….
Sophie Stop, stop!...I’m so hungry… [munching a biscuit]…There’s more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Grammar.