Past Tense: Definition, Structure and Examples

Past Tense

The past tense can be used to speak about or represent an event or action that already happened in the past.

Regular past tense verbs are formed using the infinitive followed by the suffix -ed.

For irregular verbs, there is a special past simple form.

For negatives, use didn’t and the verb, but don’t change the verb to the past form.

Examples of Past tense

1) I played volleyball.

2) She went to the market yesterday.

3) Rohit has been working since yesterday.

4) She listened to the news.

5) She tried very hard to pass the test.

6) We watched a match last week.

7) Mohan bought a new car.

8) She did not complete her work.

9) He sang a beautiful song at the function.

10) He wrote a beautiful poem.

11) I was swimming in the pool.

12) They had washed some dishes.

13) She had been sick since last week.

14) She was cleaning the house.

15) They had been preparing for an exam.

16) I ate Chinese food with my family.

17) Last year I traveled to Canada.

18) She forgot to turn off the lights.

19) I went to the museum yesterday.

20) She danced all night at the party.

21) I did not kill a mosquito.

22)  Was she studying yesterday?

23) He worked at MNC in New York

24) He won the gold medal in the competition.

25) Didn’t you know about the promotion?

Types of Past Tense

1) Simple Past Tense

2) Past Continuous Tense

3) Past Perfect Tense

4) Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity/ event /action that happened in the past.

The simple past tense is formed

1) By adding an ‘ed’ or a ‘d’ to the end of the base verb.

For example talk- talked, call – called,  play – played, push – pushed, arrive – arrived

2) Some verbs take the same spelling as the base verb and remain the same in the past tense.

For example: cut- cut, hurt -hurt, set -set, hit – hit

3) There are other verbs that behave differently and take different spellings when used in the simple past form.

For example: think – thought, draw – drew, build – built, rise – rose, see-saw 

Structure

Subject + Verb in the past form (base form of the verb + ed/d for regular verbs or past tense form of the irregular verbs)

Positive	Subject + Verb in the past form (base form of the verb + ed/d for regular verbs or past tense form of the irregular verbs) Example: They watched a movie yesterday. Reena completed her assignment on time. You spoke French really well.
Negative	Subject + Didn’t + Verb in the base form Example: They did not watch a movie yesterday. Reena did not complete her assignment on time.  You did not speak French really well.
Interrogative	Did + Subject + Verb in the base form Example: Did they watch a movie yesterday? Did Reena complete her assignment on time? Did you speak French really well?
Negative interrogative	Didn’t + Subject + Verb in the base form Example: Did they not watch a movie yesterday? Did Reena not complete her assignment on time? Did you not speak French really well?

Example of Simple Past Tense

1) She saved her friend from scolding.

2) The parents motivated their children to speak on stage.

3) I went to a museum in Canada.

4) They were very happy last week.

5) Did they finished their work?

6) She caught a mosquito and killed it.

7) She placed a cup on tea on table.

8) Mohan took her notebook by mistake.

9) Seerat did not come to office on Friday.

10) Did you see the movie ?

11) I visited my sister’s house last weekend.

12) She played the match energetically.

13) Rohan watched the game enthusiastically.

14) She took a nap in the afternoon.

15) He bought a new watch last month.

16) Did he met her in the party?

17) The police didn’t find the thief.

18) Meeta didn’t study in the class.

19) Did we not bake a cake for you?

20) He invited me on his birthday.

Past continuous Tense or Past Progressive Tense

The past continuous tense is employed in a sentence to represent an action or event that was going on in the past. It shows the progress of the action or event at a specific time in the past.

Structure

Subject + was/were + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence

Positive	Subject + was/were + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence Example: I was preparing for the exams. He was writing a letter. It was stormy night when you came. You were studying when I came to your house.
Negative	Subject + was/were + not + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence Example: I was not preparing for the exams. He was not writing a letter. It was not a stormy night when you came. You were not studying when I came to your house.
Interrogative	Was/were + subject + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence Example: Was I preparing for the exams? Was he writing a letter? Was it a stormy night when you came? Were you studying when I came to your house?
Negative Interrogative	Wasn’t/weren’t + subject + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence(Or) Was/were + subject + not + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence Example: Was I not preparing for the exams? Was he not writing a letter? Was it not a stormy night when you came? Were you not studying when I came to your house?

Examples of Past continuous Tense

1) They were waiting for the train.

2) Meeta was eating Chinese food.

3) They were playing football in the sports period.

4) Mehak wasn’t watching the horror movie.

5) Was he cleaning the utensils with you?

6) Wasn’t she not doing well in the exams?

7) Mohit and Rohit were coming to the party.

8) We were leaving for the airport when she arrived.

9) The police was chasing the thief.

10) Rupa called me while I was driving car.

11) I was enjoying my South Indian meal.

12) I was cleaning my cupboard when the bell rang.

13) It was snowing yesterday night.

14) She was dancing with her friend at the party.

15) John was baking cake for her mother.

16) We were attending an annual function.

17) Mrs Sharma was working on a new project.

18) I was practicing my reading skills.

19) He was writing an article for school magazine.

20) Were the students listening to the instructions?

Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense states that one action took place before another action in the past.

or

It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past.

Structure

Subject + had + past participle + the rest of the sentence

Positive	Subject + had + past participle + the rest of the sentence Example: Mohan had gone out when I arrived in the office. She had completed her task before everyone else even started. The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
Negative	Subject + had + not + past participle + the rest of the sentence Example: Mohan had not gone out when I arrived in the office. She had not completed her task before everyone else even started. The thief had not escaped when the police arrived.
Interrogative	Had + subject + past participle + the rest of the sentence Example: Had Mohan gone out when I arrived in the office. Had she completed her task before everyone else even started? Had the thief escaped when the police arrived?
Negative Interrogative	Had + subject + not + past participle + the rest of the sentence or Hadn’t + subject + past participle + the rest of the sentence Example: Hadn’t Mohan gone out when I arrived in the office? Hadn’t she completed her task before everyone else even started? Hadn’t the thief escape when the police arrived?

Example of Past Perfect Tense

1) The teacher had asked the students to get their work done.

2) I had never visited my Uncle’s place in Sweden.

3) I called the lawyer for an appointment but he was busy.

4) I wished I had listened to him before attempting the paper.

5) If I had studied during the class, I would have cleared the exams.

6) Mohan and Sohan had played together for years before they shifted.

7) I had eaten at that restaurant many times before shifting to Cananda.

8) Aarna was tired because she had not eaten all day.

9) They had beaten a thief on road while he was trying to escape.

10) I had kept those documents in the cupboard yesterday.

11) They had already given a question paper to the class.

12) When I arrived at the office the meeting had started.

13) He had met her somewhere before.

14) We were late for the train because we got struck in traffic.

15) The land was dry because it hadn’t rained all summer.

16) We couldn’t go to the conference because we missed our flight.

17) When the boys arrived at the cinema, the film had already started.

18) Alan watched TV after he had studied.

19) I was very angry when I saw that my brother had eaten my cake.

20) When I got to the park I found out that I had lost my keys.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense or past perfect progressive

The past perfect continuous is a verb tense which is used to show that an action started in the past and continued up to another point in the past.

Structure

Subject + had + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence

Positive	Subject + had + been + present participle + the rest of the sentence Examples: Meena had been singing for an hour before her mom arrived. You had been standing a long there to meet the Principal.
Negative	Subject + had + not + been + present participle  + the rest of the sentence Example: Meena had not been singing for an hour before her mom arrived. You had not been standing a long there to meet the Principal.
Interrogative	Had + subject + been + present participle + the rest of the sentence Examples: Had Meena been singing for an hour before her mom arrived? How long had you been standing there to meet the Principal?
Negative Interrogative	Had + subject + not + been + present participle + the rest of the sentence or Hadn’t + subject + been + present participle + the rest of the sentence Examples: Had Meena not been singing for an hour before her mom arrived? Had you not been standing a long there to meet the Principal?

Examples of  Past Perfect Continuous Tense

1) Rita had been working at the company for over two years before she left the job.

2) I had been thinking about that dress before you selected it.

3) The girls had been practicing for three hours before their teacher came.

4) He had been playing Badminton for 1 hour when his mother called him.

5) It had been raining for one hour when they arrived.

6) She had been studying for exams for more than three hours.

7) Jack had been rejecting the marriage offer of an old friend.

8) She hadn’t been explaining anything to anyone about the accident.

9) Had he been suffering from cramps due to the excessive exercise?

10) They hadn’t been calculating the expenditure on foreign trips.

11) The stored water had been overflowing from the container in the kitchen.

12) Mother had been baking cake when I arrived.

13) They had been living in this house for ten years.

14)The cats had been fighting continuously until the guard came to stop them.

15) They had not been attending classes for 15 days.

16) We have been working on this project for 5 years.

17) Mohan had been eating his lunch when I entered the room.

18) She had not been sleeping for two hours when her mother woke her.

19) They had been working all day, so they felt a bit tired.

20) Mrs Jones had been looking out of the window when her friend came.