We use the past simple tense to talk about past actions and situations.


The Rule:

He/She/It
+ v.2 (past simple)
They/We/You/I

The keys:

last (week, year, night), yesterday, ago, in 1987, when I was ....

In the positive form for the regular verb we should add (ed)

*if the verb was end in (y preceded by a consonant letter)we should change the -y to ied

But there are some verbs we couldn't add ed in so we change it .it's the(irregular verbs)*see the table in the end of the lesson

Example:

I arrived late last night. (regular verb)
arrive~>arrived
He came back late last night. (irregular verb)
come~>came

In past simple tense we use(did) in to make negatives and to make questions too.

Example:

He went to Dubai last week
Question:Did he go to Dubai last week?
Answer:yes he did
No he didn't






*We use the past continuous tense to talk about something that was already happening in the past at a particular time.

The Rule:

He/She/It/I was
+ + (v+ ing)
They/We/You were

Examples:

-Jack was working on the report last night at 10.15
-They were working on the report at six.

*also the past continuous used with Something that was happening when something important took place
example:
She was speaking on the phone when he arrived.

*And with Something that was happening while something else was happening
example:
She was working on her homework while I was preparing dinner.

In the past continuous we use(was&were) in negative and questions.

Negative:
I wasn't working when he came into the room.

Question:
Were they calling?





When we use the past perfect tense?

*Something that had happened before something else took place.

Example:

I had eaten lunch before they arrived.

*Something that had happened over a period of time in the past before another point in the of past.

Example:

Jane had studied in England before she did her master's at Harvard.

*With wish to express a desire about the past

example:
She wishes she had known about her problems.

This tense is often used with time conjunctions,such as,after,when,once,as soon as.

The Rule:

He/She/It
+ had + v.3(past participle)
I/They/We/You

In Negative:

Subject +had not (hadn't)+ past participle

They hadn't eaten before he finished the job

In Question:

Question word +had +subject+ past participle

What had he thought before I asked the question?









We use The past perfect continuous in the same way that we use the past perfect but it's used when we want to emphasize that one action was longer than the other

The Rule:

He/She/It
+ had been+ (v+ing)
They/We/You/I

Example:

He had been working for two hours when she telephoned.

this tense usually come with When and after.

Example:

when
they had been working for an hour,they went home
After


In Negative:

Subject +had not (hadn't) been+ verb+ ing

she hadn't been paying attention for long when he asked the question.

In Question:

Question word (often 'How long') + had been+ subject +verb+ ing

How long we been working before he arrived?
to be contenued