In today’s grammar potion, we are stepping into the past. The simple past tense helps us describe actions and states that were completed before now. Some verbs follow regular spelling patterns, while others transform in strange and magical ways. Think of regular verbs as predictable potion ingredients and irregular verbs as wild ingredients that refuse to follow the recipe.
In these grammar potion lessons, we will work with three time tenses: past, present, and future. Each one can appear in four aspects: simple, continuous (progressive), perfect, and perfect continuous.
Simple Past
The simple past tense describes a completed action, event, or past state. It usually gives the impression that the action, habit, or state belongs to the past and is not being presented as true now.
Common uses of the simple past tense include:
- Specific points or spans of time
- She attended school at Alchemist Academy from 2001 to 2006.
- She left work at 6:00.
- Habitual actions in the past
- We celebrated our birthday at the same resort every year.
- Condition or states in the past
- She always appreciated her brother’s help.
- Actions in the past
- She dived off the board.
Regular Verbs
Some verbs follow regular spelling rules, while others have unique forms for the simple past and past participle. We will first study the regular spelling rules.
Regular Verbs Spelling Rules
1. Most verbs add “-ed.”
- ask → asked
- call → called
2. If a verb ends “e,” add “-d”
- live → lived
- love → loved
3. If a verb ends in a consonant + “y,” change the “y” to “i” and add “-ed”
- cry → cried
- hurry → hurried
4. If a verb ends in a vowel + “y,” do not change the “y;” add “-ed”
- deploy → deployed
- play → played
5. If a one-syllable verb has a single vowel letter and ends in a single consonant, double the final consonant before adding “-ed.”
- hop → hopped
- slam → slammed
A one-syllable verb that ends in a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant usually doubles the final consonant before adding “-ed.” However, verbs like leap do not double because “ea” is a vowel team, not a single vowel letter. Verbs like peck also do not double because “ck” already represents a final consonant spelling pattern.
6. If a multi-syllable verb ends in a stressed final syllable with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, double the final consonant before adding “-ed.”
- permit → permitted
- regret → regretted
A stressed syllable is pronounced with more force or clarity than an unstressed syllable. An unstressed vowel often reduces to the schwa sound /ə/. The upside-down e in dictionaries represents the schwa sound. Words like “was,” “said,” and “the” contain a vowel sound that reduces to schwa.
In “regret,” the final syllable is “gret.” Because it is stressed and ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant, the final consonant is doubled before adding “-ed.”
7. If a verb ends in “-ic” add “k” and then add “-ed”
- panic → panicked
- mimic → mimicked
When “c” is followed by “e,” “i,” or “y,” it usually softens to /s/. If we did not add k, the pronunciation would change. To preserve the /k/ sound, we add k before “-ed.” This reflects the multi-letter phonogram “ck,” which says the /k/.
Regular Verbs by Rule
Rule 1: ask, call, dance, enjoy, help, jump, laugh, look, need, open, play, paint, rain, start, book, bark, cough, drop, fill, kiss, mix
Rule 2: live, love, change, move, hope, agree, close, like, decide, hate, imagine, judge, notice, prepare, reduce, smile, bake, save, name
Rule 3: cry, try, carry, hurry, study, apply, reply, multiply, identify, satisfy, worry, fry, spy, deny, justify, qualify, supply, magnify, verify, notify
Rule 4: play, stay, enjoy, pray, relay, survey, employ, convey, display, delay, obey, annoy, deploy, decay, destroy, betray
Rule 5: plan, stop, rub, tap, slip, grab, drop, beg, clap, hop
Rule 6: refer, permit, regret, commit, control, occur, transmit
Rule 7: panic, mimic, picnic, traffic, frolic, critic
Pronunciations of Regular Past Tense Endings
The “–ed” ending in regular past tense verbs can be pronounced in three ways: /d/, /t/, and /Id/.
The last sound in the base verb determines how the ending is pronounced. Keep in mind that multi-letter phonograms represent a single sound. Examples include ay, ey, ough, ck, igh, ch, and ow. Some words contain silent letters. To choose the correct pronunciation of “-ed,” listen for the final sound, not just the final letter.
1. /d/ after Voiced Consonant or Vowel Sound
If the verb ends in a voiced consonant or a vowel sound, the “-ed” ending is pronounced /d/. When you pronounce a voiced sound, your throat vibrates. Vowels are also voiced sounds.
- play → played
- enjoy → enjoyed
- beg → begged
- refer → referred
- name → named (The e is silent.)
- comb → combed or comb → combed
Note: Sometimes we teach mb as a multi-letter phonogram, and other times as a silent b. Either way, the sound you hear is /m/.
2. /t/ after Voiceless Consonant Sound
If the verb ends in a voiceless consonant sound, the “-ed” ending is pronounced /t/. Put your hand on your throat. If it does not vibrate, the sound is voiceless.
- jump → jumped
- dance → danced (The e is silent)
3. After /d/ or /t/, “-ed” say /ɪd/.
If the verb ends in a /d/ or /t/ sound, the “-ed” ending is pronounced /ɪd/.
- wait → waited
- need → needed
Irregular Verbs
Unfortunately, we must memorize irregular verb spelling. Reading helps you become familiar with these forms, and over time they will feel less like wild magic and more like familiar patterns.
Irregular verbs have unusual spellings in the simple past tense and the past participle. For now, focus on the simple past forms. We will study the past participle more closely later.
Do you remember those highly irregular verbs? To have, to be, and to do all have irregular simple past forms.
Simple Past Forms of “To Be,” “To Have,” and “To Do”
| To be | To have | To do | ||
| Singular | 1st person | was | had | did |
| 2nd person | were | had | did | |
| 3rd person | was | had | did | |
| Plural | 1st person | were | had | did |
| 2nd person | were | had | did | |
| 3rd person | were | had | did | |
Examples
- I was beautiful.
- We had a dog.
- They did a great job.
Common Irregular Verbs
| Bare infinitive | Past tense | Past participle |
| begin | began | begun |
| break | broke | broken |
| buy | bought | bought |
| catch | caught | caught |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| come | came | come |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| drive | drove | driven |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| find | found | found |
| fly | flew | flown |
| give | gave | given |
| hear | heard | heard |
| keep | kept | kept |
| forgive | forgave | forgiven |
| hang | hung | hung |
| shrink | shrank | shrunk |
| sting | stung | stung |
| swim | swam | swum |
| tear | tore | torn |
| wring | wrung | wrung |
| weave | wove | woven |
Words of Wisdom
“Even crawling towards a goal is better than standing still