Yesterday: the past simple

Say what happened, with regular and irregular verbs. Lesson 8 of 58: Everyday English, CEFR A2.

Regular verbs: -ed, and its three sounds

• Most verbs add -ed for the past: work → worked, call → called, start → started. It has three sounds. After t and d it is an extra syllable, /ɪd/: start-ed, need-ed. After p, k, s, sh, ch and f it is /t/: worked sounds like “workt”. After everything else it is /d/: called sounds like “calld”.
• I worked late. (“workt”, one syllable)
• She called me. (“calld”)
• We started at nine. (“start-ed”, two syllables)
• Tip: Only add a syllable after t and d. “Work-ed” and “watch-ed” as two syllables are the classic giveaway.

Irregular verbs

• The most common verbs are irregular and simply have to be learned: go → went, have → had, see → saw, make → made, get → got, say → said, take → took, come → came, think → thought, buy → bought.
• I went to Delhi last week.
• We had a long meeting.
• She bought a new laptop.

Questions and negatives: did

• Use “did” and the plain verb: “Did you call?” “I didn’t see it.” The past is in “did”, so the verb goes back to its base form.
• Did you see the email?
• I didn’t go to the party. (Not “didn’t went”)
• What did you do at the weekend?

Lines to have ready

• How was your weekend? (Monday morning small talk)
• What did you get up to? (Casual: what did you do?)
• I didn’t catch that. (You did not hear something)
• It was great, thanks. (Answering “How was…?”)
• Last week, I… (Starting a short story)

Your turn to speak

• Tell somebody about your last weekend: where you went, what you did, who you saw and the best moment.
• I used at least three irregular verbs (went, had, saw…)
• I said -ed endings as one syllable, except after t and d
• I used a time word: then, after that, later

Related

• Lesson 7: Vowel sounds: ship or sheep
• Lesson 9: Right now: the present continuous
• The whole English course

FinClamp: skills, brain and play. About · Contact · Privacy · Terms