When I was Young

When I was a young girl, I did not like pop music very much. I began learning to sing Irish and Scottish folk songs. I loved the sounds of the instruments, and I enjoyed copying the singers’ accents. I became good at using the accents when I sang. I also liked to explore the history of many of the songs. After some time, I could begin singing a traditional song from Ireland and Scotland any time I wanted. How did I learn to sing this way? Did I hire an online teacher? Read next month’s post about past simple tense to learn the answers.

Describing the Past

This little story is all true. Did you notice how I was able to describe the happenings and my feelings? I was able to describe my feelings and actions from when I was a young girl because of past tense. And as you already realize, if you learn to use past tense in English well, you will be able to do the same thing, and I would love to read your experiences in the comments, or hear about them in class.

Basic Forms

This post will teach you the basic structures of simple past tense: basic sentences, negative sentences, and questions.

Basic Statements

The form for the basic sentence is like this:

subject + past simple verb + object

Of course, there are often other words, like adverbs and modal verbs, but this is the basic structure. Fore example:

I loved the sounds of the instruments.

I enjoyed copying the singers’ accents.

Negative Sentences

To make negative sentences in English, we need to add “not,” and the past form of a helping verb like “did,” or a modal verb like “could.”

subject + past helping/modal verb + base verb + object

Again, this is only the basic structure. For example:

I did not like pop music very much.

Past Simple Questions

There are 2 ways to make questions in simple past tense. The first is to begin with the past form of a modal or helping verb. Notice that the structure is different with questions.

past helping/modal verb + subject + base verb + object

With questions, the helping or modal verb comes before the subject. For example:

did I hire an online teacher?

Adding Question Words

The second way to make a question in simple past is to add a question word: “what,” “when,” etc. Notice that the modal or helping verb comes after the question word.

question word + past helping/modal verb + subject + base verb + object

Did you notice this example:

How did I learn to sing this way?

Your Turn

Now you know the basic structures of simple past in English. It is important to practice them. One way to do this is to leave a comment telling me a little about your past. What did you do when you were young? And don’t forget to change your verbs.