There are hundreds of irregular verbs and you just have to learn them off by heart! Here are some of the most common:. The main use of the past simple is for finished actions in the past. For example:. I cleaned my room. I forgot my key. We can use it with a finished time phrase like in the sentences below:.
Last night we watched the football. The phone rang five minutes ago. We also use the past simple for the main action when telling a story. I woke up on my wedding day, I jumped out of bed and immediately called my brother. We are going to test your knowledge of regular and irregular verbs! Watch this cartoon of Mr Bean making spaghetti. Then have a go at conjugating the verbs below into the past simple.
Finally put the sequence in order they appear in the video! A common use of the past continuous is to show that a longer action was interrupted usually by a shorter action in the past simple. We often use the time expression when. Henry was sitting at home when the phone rang. She was playing golf when it began to rain.
When two continuous actions are happening at the same time we use the time expression while. We were playing while dad was cooking dinner.
We can also use it to show a continuous action happening at a specific time in the past. What were you doing at 8pm last night?
Finally, it can be used to add some description to a story. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. We were walking around our favourite park. Look at these pictures and complete the sentences with your own ideas! Now we can move on to a slightly more difficult tense — the past perfect.
We use it when one action happens before another past action. The film had started when we arrived. The film started when we arrived we arrived at the same time the film started. We use time expressions such as before , by the time and when. Be careful lots of students overuse the past perfect! Remember you only use it for actions that happened before the main action. The past perfect continuous is very similar to the past perfect.
We use it to show that an action which started in the past continued up to another point in the past. I had been waiting for ten minutes before the bus came. By the time Steve arrived I had been working for nearly eight hours! With the past perfect we use time expressions such as for five hours, for 2 weeks, for a long time, by the time. We can also use it to talk about the cause of something in the past.
Henry was late because he had been studying. Practise when to use past perfect vs. Finally, put all your new knowledge to the test! Look at this photo and answer the questions below using the different past tenses. Leave us a comment below with your ideas!
Why was the man looking at the people in the background when the photo was taken? What had happened just before the photo was taken? Where had the man been going before the photo was taken? Did you enjoy this blog? Had you studied all these rules before reading it? Leave us a comment and let us know! You may also like to read our article about common grammar mistakes in English.
It was a Wednesday afternoon, it was raining heavily, I was sitting on the bus trying not to fall asleep. Activity Five example sentences :. The man was looking at the people in the background because he thought he recognised one of the women. Just before the photo was taken the man had gone to the kitchen to get a drink of water.
The man had been walking back to his room before the photo was taken. Tricky adj : : difficult. Off by heart exp : from memory. To conjugate v : to add different endings to a verb in order to produce all its different forms. To move on pv : to transition to something new. Overuse v : to use something too much. Game show n : a television programme where contestants win prizes.
Speculate v : to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain. Name required. Email required. Read More. A lot of our global business is conducted in English.
After s And as the world All subjects use had for the past perfect tense. All subjects use will have or shall have for the future perfect tense. The infinitive have or has for singular third person is used for the perfect present tense. The present perfect tense can also show that an action started in the past and is still going on in the present. He has worked for three hours.
Action started in the past and is still going on. She has always written in a diary. Action started in the past but continues now. The progressive tenses show continuing action. They can also show how long an action has been going on for an amount of time in the present, past, or future. A verb's present participle joins with some forms of the verb be am, is, are, was, were to make the simple progressive tenses. The perfect tense form plus been plus the verbs present participle makes the perfect progressive tenses:.
Not all verbs can make a progressive tense. Verbs that have qualities not able to show change cannot make the progressive tense. These are some of the verbs:. Correct: She is pretty. Incorrect: They are wanting a raise. Correct: They want a raise. All rights reserved. I fell off a ladder when I was painting my bedroom.
I've been on holiday. I went to Spain and Portugal. People were chatting and music was playing. He sat down and ordered a coffee. Unreal or imaginary things in the present or future. So we use it with the second conditional and after words like 'wish'. He won the silver medal. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites.
The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished. Wolfgang admired the way the light glinted off his silver medal. You can also use the simple past to talk about a past state of being, such as the way someone felt about something.
This is often expressed with the simple past tense of the verb to be and an adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase. Wolfgang was proud of his hula hoop victory.
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