Two sentences. What's different?
First sentence = true now. Second sentence = true in the past, maybe not true now.
🎙 Speak: What changed in the second sentence?
Every day, you tell stories:
All of these need past simple. Without it, you can't tell your story.
Can you think of one sentence about something that happened yesterday or last week? Don't worry about being perfect — just try.
🎙 Speak: Tell me one thing that happened yesterday.
Most verbs in English are regular. You just add -ed at the end to make the past.
Rule 1: Most verbs → add -ed
work → worked, talk → talked, play → played
Rule 2: Verbs ending in -e → add -d only
live → lived, love → loved, hope → hoped
Rule 3: Verbs ending in consonant + y → change y to i, add -ed
study → studied, try → tried, worry → worried
Present: "I work every day." → Past: "I yesterday."
worked — "I worked yesterday."
Present: "She lives in London." → Past: "She in Paris for two years."
lived — "She lived in Paris for two years."
Present: "I study English." → Past: "I for the exam last night."
studied — "I studied for the exam last night." (y → ied)
🎙 Speak: Make three past simple sentences with regular verbs. Tell me what you did yesterday or last week.
Tell me three things you did yesterday or last week. Use regular past simple verbs.
Example: "I worked in the morning. I played with my kids. I studied English in the evening."
🎙 Speak: Tell me your three sentences now.
English has about 150 irregular verbs. They don't add -ed. You just have to learn them. Here are the most common ones.
| Present | Past | Example |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | I went to Paris |
| be (am/is/are) | was/were | I was happy. They were tired. |
| have | had | She had a cat |
| eat | ate | We ate pizza |
| drink | drank | He drank water |
| see | saw | I saw a movie |
| get | got | She got a job |
| make | made | They made dinner |
| do | did | What did you do? |
| come | came | He came to the party |
🎯 Key tip: With irregular verbs, the form stays the same for ALL SUBJECTS. "I went," "He went," "They went" — no -s added.
Present: "I go to work." → Past: "I to work yesterday."
went — "I went to work yesterday."
Present: "She is happy." → Past: "She happy yesterday."
was — "She was happy yesterday."
Present: "He eats pizza." → Past: "He pizza last night."
ate — "He ate pizza last night."
🎙 Speak: Tell me one sentence with each verb: went, was, ate, saw, had. Use past simple.
Make one sentence for each irregular verb. Use past simple.
Example: "I went to Paris. I ate pizza. I saw my family. I had a great time. I came home happy."
🎙 Speak: Tell me five sentences — one for each verb. Don't worry about perfection.
Now you mix them. Sentences with both regular and irregular verbs in past simple.
Story: "Yesterday, I (go) to the store. I (buy) coffee and bread. I (see) my friend Maria. We (talk) for 20 minutes. I (go) home and (make) lunch."
went, bought, saw, talked, went, made
Full sentence: "Yesterday, I went to the store. I bought coffee and bread. I saw my friend Maria. We talked for 20 minutes. I went home and made lunch."
🎙 Speak: Read the story out loud. Point out which verbs are regular and which are irregular.
Pick one card and tell a short story about your weekend or last week. Use at least 5 past simple verbs — mix regular and irregular.
🎙 Speak: Pick a card. Tell your story. Use past simple with regular and irregular verbs.
Tell a short story — something that happened to you. Five to eight sentences. Use past simple.
Think of a story from your life. It could be:
Tell your story. Use past simple. Aim for at least 5 sentences. Mix regular and irregular verbs.
🎙 Speak: Tell your story now. Don't plan too much — let it flow naturally.
Now you write a short paragraph about something that happened. Then read it and explain one sentence.
Now read your paragraph out loud. Then pick ONE sentence and explain to me: Why did you use that verb? Is it regular or irregular?
🎙 Speak: Read your paragraph. Then explain one sentence.
...use regular and irregular past simple verbs to tell stories about what happened before — and know the difference between them.
1. How do you make regular past simple verbs?
Add -ed to the base verb. Examples: walk → walked, work → worked, study → studied. (And for verbs ending in -e, add -d only.)
2. Give me three irregular verbs in past tense.
Examples: go → went, be → was/were, eat → ate, see → saw, have → had, make → made, drink → drank, come → came, get → got, do → did
3. What's different between "go" and "went"?
"Go" is present simple. "Went" is past simple. They're both forms of the same verb, but "went" is irregular — it doesn't follow the -ed pattern.
Tell me five sentences about something that happened. Mix regular and irregular verbs:
🎙 Speak: Tell me your five sentences. Show me you can use both regular and irregular past simple.
🎙 Speak: Which is harder for you — regular past simple or irregular verbs? Why?