The simple past tense, also known as the past indefinite tense, is one of the essential tenses to talk about the past. In English Grammar, it is also one of the most significant tenses to relate stories in English Literature. We use it to talk about the activities and events in the past. Past is the time that is gone. Every movement we go through makes the past, also known as history. So, no past, no history.
In the English Language, we use six different tenses to talk about the past.
- She studied (the simple past)
- She was studying (the past progressive)
- She has studied (the present perfect tense)
- She has been studying (the present perfect progressive)
- She had studied (the past perfect)
- She had been studying (the past perfect progressive)
The differences between these tenses are quite complicated for the students to learn the use of tenses. Therefore, it is significant to know the situation where we can use the simple past tense. For this, let's learn various usages of the simple past tense.
USAGES
The simple past tense is used to express an action that is done in the past, completed in the past and the time is known, often follows by an adverbial of time in the sentence.
Example:
She bought a car yesterday.
The word "yesterday" is an adverbial of time. The activity of buying a car is done and completed in the past at a definite time. Therefore, the simple past tense has been used.
The regular verbs take "e" or "ed" at the end to make their past tense (2nd form of a verb) like washed, used, created, watched, etc but irregular verbs have no such rules to make their past tense but we change the verb in a different way like ate, spoke, wrote, went, saw, etc.
The simple past tense is used to indicate an action that clearly took place at a definite time, though the time is not mentioned.
Examples;
I met her in Islamabad.
She went to the library.
In these examples, the actions have clearly taken place at a definite time but there is no need to mention it because the listener knows when "I" met her in Islamabad and when "she" went to the library.
The simple past tense is used for the action whose time is not mentioned but it occupies a period of time in the past now ended.
Example:
She lived in Islamabad for ten years.
She doesn't live there now but she lived there for a period of ten years. For such actions, we use the simple past tense.
The simple past tense shows an action that takes place in the recent past.
Example:
She expected you to be at the office earlier.
She, the boss was expecting the person to be at the office, suppose at 8 O'clock as there was an important meeting in the office but the person arrived at 9 O'clock that day, so 8 O'clock is the recent past.
The simple past tense is also used for habits and repeated actions in the past.
Examples:
She came to meet my mother every month for three years.
She was studying here at the university for three years and she visited my mother during this period which is now ended. So for such kind of repeated actions in the past, the simple present tense is used.
He always carried an umbrella.
It shows his habit. We can guess it from the word "always" whether it was raining or not but he carried an umbrella.
The progressive or continuous forms are used when we want to talk about a past event at a particular time or up to a particular time.
Examples:
When you phoned she was fixing the car.
She was tired because she had been cooking in the kitchen all day.
The "be" verb in the simple past tense is used for the past general state.
Examples:
I was a student.
She was not sad.
They were happy.
You were not angry.
Was she sad?
Were you angry?
Wasn't she sad?
Was she not sad?
Weren't you angry?
We use the be verbs "was" & "were" in this tense. "was" is the past tense of "am & is" while "were" is the past tense of "are". "was" is used with the pronouns "I, he, she, it & name" whereas "were" is used with the pronouns "we, you, they & names". For making negative sentences, we just put "not" after the verb "be". "Wasn't" and "weren't" are contracted forms of "was not" and "were not".
STRUCTURE
Positive or Affirmative Sentence
She ate the meal at Tahir Khan Restaurant (TKR).
Formula:
Subject + 2nd form of the verb + Object.
Negative Sentence
She did not eat the meal at Tahir Khan Restaurant (TKR).
Formula:
Subject + did + not + Base form of verb + Object.
To make the negative, we add "did not" before the lexical verb. "Did" is 2nd form of the helping verb "do". In negative sentences, we use the first form of the main verb because 2nd form of the lexical verb in the positive sentence shifts to the helping verb "do" and it becomes "did".
Interrogative or Question Sentence
Did she eat the meal at Tahir Khan Restaurant (TKR)?
Formula:
Did + Subject + Base form of the verb + Object.
In questions, we put "did" before the subject.
Negative Questions
Didn't she eat the meal at Tahir Khan Restaurant (TKR)?
Did she not eat the meal at Tahir Khan Restaurant (TKR)?
Formula:
Didn't + Subject + Base form of the verb + Object.
Did + Subject + not + Base form of the verb + Object.
The negative interrogative sentences can be made in two ways. If the word "not" is contracted with the auxiliary verb, then it comes before the subject and if it is not contracted, then the word "not" comes after the subject to make a negative interrogative sentence. In the first sentence, the word "not" has been contracted with the auxiliary verb while in the second sentence, it has been used in expanded form and that's why it has been put after the subject of the sentence.
RECOGNITION IN URDU
Examples:
Recognition in Urdu is very important. It helps a lot in translation. If you don't know the tense of a sentence, you will be unable to translate it.