The Past Simple (le passé simple en anglais)

1. Definition 

The past simple is used to talk about finished actions in the past.
? It’s the most common tense in English for narrating past events.

Example:

I visited Paris last year.

She watched a movie yesterday.

2. How to form it

? Regular verbs

Add -ed to the base form.
Ex: play → played / work → worked / call → called

⚠️ Rules for spelling:

Verbs ending in -e → add only -d (love → loved).

Verbs ending in -y → change y to i + ed (study → studied).

One-syllable verbs with consonant–vowel–consonant → double the last consonant (stop → stopped).

? Irregular verbs

❌ They don’t follow the -ed rule. You must memorize them.
Ex:

go → went

have → had

see → saw

eat → ate

come → came

3. Affirmative, Negative & Interrogative

✅ Affirmative:

I played football.

She went to school.

❌ Negative:
Use did not (didn’t) + base verb

I did not (didn’t) play football.

She didn’t go to school.

❓ Interrogative:
Use Did + subject + base verb

Did you play football?

Did she go to school?

4. Uses of the Past Simple

Completed actions in the past:
I watched TV last night.

Series of actions:
He entered, sat down, and opened a book.

Past facts:
People believed the Earth was flat.

5. Time expressions often used

yesterday

last week / last year

two days ago

in 1999

when I was a child