Put is a regular or irregular verb. Past tense in English

Verbs in the past tense in English have 4 forms. They are used in relation to actions that are different in dynamics and moment of commission.

Description of past tense forms

Native English speakers distinguish past actions by duration, completion, and other characteristics. To talk about what has happened or has happened up to now, they use:

• Past Simple (Simple Past) – reports regular or one-time actions. The keywords are: yesterday (yesterday), last week (last week), a year ago (a year ago). The Past Simple formation rule involves adding the ending -ed to the stem of the verb, that is, the second form: play-played (play), watch-watched (watch, observe), stop-stopped (stop). Negative and interrogative sentences require the auxiliary verb did. In this case, the semantic is put back into the initial form.

I didn't watch this match. - I didn't watch this match.

Did you watch this match? - Did you watch this match?

In all tenses of the Past group, verbs are divided into regular and irregular. The latter form 2 forms, changing in various ways. They are considered exceptions that must be remembered: see-saw (see), put-put (put), find-found (find).

• Past Continuous (Past Continuous) Describes a process that took place at a specific time in the past. The formation of this form requires the 2nd form of the verb to be - was / were and the semantic verb with the ending -ing.

I was doing exercises at 7 a.m. - I did exercises at 7 in the morning.

A moment in the past can be denoted not only by exact time, but also by another single action.

She was listening to the radio when she saw a cat in the street. She was listening to the radio when she saw the cat on the street. (was listeting is a process, saw is a one-time action)

• Past Perfect (Past Completed) - expresses an action that has ended by the time of speaking, when the result is important. This tense is formed from 2 components: the 2nd form of the verb to have - had and the past participle of the semantic verb.

I had passed my exams by the 1st of June. I passed my exams by June 1st.

• Past Perfect Continuous (Simple Complete Continuous) - a description of a long action that began before another event in the past and was still happening at the time of speaking. To form this form, 3 components are required: had + been + semantic verb with the ending -ing.

Jane had been knitting for an hour when I called her. Jane had been knitting for an hour when I called her.

Table Verbs of the past tense in English

In order to better understand the mechanism for the formation of sentences that are different in purpose of uttering sentences in the past tense, you can look at the diagram with examples.

In the last lesson, we talked with you about the past simple tense (Past Simple). You have learned to tell what happened to you yesterday, a week ago, last year, etc. But we have touched on only part of this topic. You will ask why? All English verbs are divided into two groups: regular and irregular. We learned how to construct a sentence in the past tense using regular verbs.

Today we will talk about irregular verbs.

Irregular verbs in Past Simple

Verbs are called irregular for a reason, but because they form the past tense not according to the rule. Most of the most used verbs in English are irregular. The exact number of irregular verbs is still unknown, about 250-260. The difficulty lies in the fact that each verb has its own special form of the past tense. The only way to master them is to simply learn them by taking a table of irregular verbs.

In this lesson we will try to consider the most commonly used verbs.

Irregular verbs include verbs such as:
Be-was, were to be - was
Begin – began start - started
Become-became become - become
Come-came come - came
Do-did do - did
Drink-drank drink - drank
Eat-ate eat - ate
fly - flew fly - flew
Go - went walk - walked
Have-had have - had
Know- knew know - knew
Make-made do - did
Meet-met meet - met
Put - put put - put
read-read read - read
Run-ran run - ran
Spend-spent spend, spend - spent, spent
Speak-spoke speak - spoke
Tell - told tell - told
Think thought think - thought
Write - wrote write - wrote

As you have noticed, there is no special principle for constructing the past tense forms of irregular verbs. But there are verbs in which the form of the present and past tenses are the same, for example, put - put, read - read.

However, the verb read - read spelled the same, but read differently, in the present tense , in the past time - [e]. This is due to the centuries-old formation of the currently existing grammar and phonetics of the English language.

There is also one verb that has two forms of the past tense, be-was, were. This is the verb we know to be, which is not an action verb, but is a linking verb and has singular and plural forms. was - the singular form, that is, it is used with the subject, which is in the singular (I, he, she, etc.). Were - plural form, always used with the subject in the plural (they, we, you).

Features of constructing sentences with irregular verbs in Past Simple

Let's look at some examples of sentences in the past tense with irregular verbs.
I went to work yesterday. I went to work yesterday.
Did you go to work yesterday? Did you go to work yesterday?
I didn't go to work yesterday. I didn't go to work yesterday.

What is special about these sentences that you noticed?

In the affirmative sentence, we used the verb form go in the past tense - went, but why in the interrogative and negative sentences we again began to use the verb go in the present tense. This is due to the fact that we use the helper verb to construct a question and a negation. did, with which we are already familiar. Verb did is also the past form of the verb do, which we used to build questions and negatives in the present simple tense present simple. Accordingly, in the question and negation, the helper verb did assumed the function of expressing the past tense.

Now your task is to learn the forms of irregular verbs and learn how to distinguish them from regular ones and use them correctly in a sentence.

Tasks for the lesson

Exercise 1. Choose from the list of irregular verbs and name their forms.
Stay, do, play, listen, continue, run, write, have, go, wash, clean, want, meet, spend, become, come.

Exercise 2. Insert the verbs in brackets in the correct form into the sentence.
1. I … to music at the weekend. (listen)
2. We … a lot of time outdoors last summer. (spend)
3. Kate ... to work by bus yesterday. (go)
4. Did you … lunch yesterday afternoon. (have)
5. They didn't … English when they … to Italy. (speak, travel)

Exercise 1.
Do-did, run-ran, write-wrote, have-had, go-went, meet-met, spend-spent, become-became, come-came.

Exercise 2.
1. listened
2. spent
3. went
4. have
5. speak, traveled

Indicating the time of a certain action in the past.

In the aggregate, past tense forms in English are usually combined with the concept of Past Tenses. This article will consider three main times, which differ in duration and quality. So, there are indefinite past or Simple), long (Past Continuous) and perfect (Past Perfect) times.

Past formSimple

The Past Simple form is the most common and frequent past tense in English. This is the main time for expressing any action that happened some time ago. Very often it competes with the present perfect tense (Present Perfect), which, despite belonging to real verbs, is in the past tense. We must not forget that the perfect present tense is only suitable when a past action affects the present. If the events are not related to the present, you should use the Past Simple.

This time is formed very simply. If the verb is correct, you should simply add the ending -ed to it, if it is incorrect, the desired form is in the standard table:

We played the piano three days ago; I forgot my hat at home.

To form a question, use the auxiliary verb did:

Did you play the piano yesterday?

This auxiliary verb is also used for negation, but with the negative particle not:

She didn't watch TV.

Thus, Past Simple should be used if the action happened in the past and is not related to the present. Words that foreshadow the use of this tense form of the verb are yesterday (yesterday), 8 years ago (8 years ago), in 1989 (in 1989) and so on.

Past continuous form

Past Continuous is a tense that denotes a long action in the past. In other words, it is used when talking about a specific moment, about an action in a process. For example, She was playing the guitar yesterday at 10 p.m. The example shows that the Past Continuous is formed with the help of the additional verb to be in the past tense and the verb with the ending -ing. If the sentence is interrogative, it should be moved to the beginning, if negative, not is added to it:

Were you playing the piano yesterday at 10 p.m.? No, I wasn't doing this at that time.

In addition, this past tense in English is used to denote an action that once happened at a particular moment and was interrupted by another simultaneous action. For example, We were looking through the magazine when he called.

Tenses Past Perfect andPast Perfect Continuous

These tenses are called the perfect and perfect long past tenses, respectively. To form them, you must have a good knowledge of the forms of verbs. The past tense in English is completely based on this knowledge. So, for the Past Perfect, you need an additional in the form of had and the second participle of the main verb. The latter can be found in the table of irregular verbs or formed by adding the familiar ending -ed.

It should be remembered that the simple perfect tense is used to express an action that has already been completed before a specific moment. In turn, Past Perfect Continuous is used in situations where a certain action began before a certain moment in the past and lasted for some time. Past Perfect Continuous is formed using the form had been, to which the main verb is added with the ending -ing.

In general, the past tense in English is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It is very important to understand everything and practice on various exercises that will perfectly demonstrate the above rules in practice.

No matter how sad it may sound, they are not limited to only one option. If you want to be good at grammar, you need to learn how to analyze the situation you are talking about. It is important to understand whether the action is completed or whether it continues. Is there any connection to the present moment, or is the speaker simply mentioning facts from his past? The answers to these questions are key in determining the time at which a particular sentence should sound.

Rules of the past tense in English. 6 English tenses in one Russian sentence

To understand past tense rules in english, I propose to take the Russian sentence ("I spoke with John") and see in which cases it can be translated in one of the 6 past tenses. Pay special attention to the "explanations" column.

In theory past tense rules in english should not include phrases such as present perfect and present perfect continuous. But this article focuses on the fact that these tenses can be used in certain cases when you need to translate a Russian sentence into English in the past tense. After all, the concept of "past tense" in English cannot be attributed to any one rule and adhere to it in all cases when the past is expressed in the native language.

How to master all forms of the past tense in English?

To master everything past tense forms in english It's important to spend as much time as possible practicing. Pay attention to the table above. Auxiliary verbs and the necessary form of the main verb for the formation of the corresponding tense are specially highlighted in red. Start your grammar work by making a similar table, but based on a different sentence. It can be something like “she read 2 stories”, “Masha was in the store” and so on. Pay attention to how past tense formation in English, and on the meaning that you want to focus on in a particular sentence.

If you want to learn English grammar faster and start putting this knowledge into practice, contact our friendly team of experienced teachers. We know how to sort through past tense rules in english and we are happy to share our experience.

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Hi friends! The Past Simple tense is used to denote an action that happened at a certain time in the past and the time for which has already expired.

To clarify the moment of an action in the past, when using Past Simple time, words such as five days ago (five days ago), last year (last year), yesterday (yesterday), in 1980 (in 1980), etc. P.

When we use the Past Simple

We use the simple past tense when we say:

1. About events or actions that occurred in the past and the time for which has expired. That is, the action or event is completed. (he bought a car last year, they went on vacation last month, the meeting was last week)

2. About events or actions in the past that were repeated regularly, but do not occur now. (she did dance at school, we went to the gym last year)

3. About events in the past that happened one after the other. (they met, walked in the park, went to the cinema)

• My brother was born in 1987. - My brother was born in 1987.
• She moved to the capital 7 years ago. She moved to the capital seven years ago.
• We saw him last month. - We saw him last month.
• The Second World War began in 1939. - The Second World War began in 1939.

How is the Past Simple formed?

Statement

In order to form the Past Simple, we add the ending to the verb -ed if the verb is correct (work - worked, learn - learned, ask - asked). If the verb is irregular, then we look for the form for Past Simple in the second column of the table. Most likely, at first it will be difficult for you to immediately determine which verb is in front of you.

Past Continuous - long past tense in English

Time Past Continuous indicates a process that lasted at a certain moment or period in the past. Unlike the Past Simple tense, this moment in the past must be named directly (for example, yesterday at 5 o'clock, when you called, when rain started) or be obvious from the context.

• When you called I was taking a shower.
  When you called, I was taking a shower.
• Charlie and me were already driving home when the engine suddenly stopped.
  Charlie and I were driving home when the engine suddenly stopped.

Use of Past Continuous

1. An action that took place at a certain moment in the past. Since this moment is still expressed by a long time, a period can also be indicated.

• From six to seven I was cooking dinner.

The same action can be expressed both through the Past Continuous and through the Past Simple. It depends on whether you want to emphasize the duration of the action or not. Usually, when there is such a choice, the choice of a long tense puts more emphasis on the action being taken.

What did you do last night? — I played cards(more like a fact) or I was playing cards(focusing attention).

2. An action against which another action took place, which must be expressed by Past Simple. The Past Simple is usually inserted into a sentence using when and and conjunctions.

• He was walking home (background action) when somebody called his name.
• She was reading a book and suddenly came across an interesting phrase.

3. An action that takes a certain period of time in the past.

• He told me that he was working at his diploma.

4. A negative evaluation characteristic of a person's constant actions or behavior in an emotionally colored speech. In such sentences, adverbs of frequency are usually used, such as always, constantly, all the time.

• He was always lying on the sofa and doing nothing.
• His parents were quarrelling all the time.

5. To express two parallel actions occurring at a certain moment in the past. None of the parallel actions of the proposal is a background for the rest.

• The boy was reading, and the girl was playing the piano.

6. There are verbs in the present continuous tense ( look, feel, understand etc.), which usually do not have a long form. The same rule applies to these verbs in the past continuous tense.

To express strong emotions or to emphasize the importance of an action, these verbs can be continuous.

• He couldn't believe in what he was seeing and hearing.

In all types of long tenses, it is possible to use several semantic verbs with one linking verb with one subject

• She was driving her car and talking on the phone.

How is the Past Continuous Formed?

Statement

The predicate in the Past Continuous consists of an auxiliary verb and a main verb. In order to form the Past Continuous, we need the past tense forms to be - was, were. Was is used in the singular, were in the plural. We remove the to particle from the main verb and add the -ing ending.

affirmative sentences:

Negative suggestions:

Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous

Perfect and perfect long past tenses in English.

Time past perfect denotes an action that was completed up to some point in the past. The Past Perfect is characterized by the use of adverbs already, yet, ever, never, as for the Present Perfect. These adverbs show which action happened before, which means for which action you need to use the Past Perfect.

• By the time Mary got to the office, her boss had already left.
• By the time Mary arrived at the office, her boss had already left.

Using the Past Perfect

1. The action happened before a certain time in the past

• By 1995, he had become a famous artist.
• By 1995 he had become a celebrated artist.(i.e. he became a famous artist by a certain time in the past.)

2. The action happened before another time (event) in the past

• I didn't want to go to the cinema yesterday, because I had already seen the film.
• I didn't want to go to the cinema yesterday because I had already seen the film.(I.e. I saw this movie before, before yesterday.)

Statement

The predicate in the Past Perfect consists of two parts: the auxiliary verb had and the third form of the main verb (we add the ending -ed to the regular verb, and take the form of the wrong one from the third column of the table of irregular verbs).

Past Perfect Continuous - Past Perfect Continuous

Time Past Perfect Continuous indicates an action that started in the past, continued for some time, and either ended just before some point in the past or still not finished by some point in the past.

• When Jane came home, Martin was very tired, because he had been working hard all day.
• When Jane came home, Martin was very tired because he had been working hard all day.

Using the Past Perfect Continuous

1. The action took place before a certain time in the past

• When it was 3:00 p.m. I had been waiting for Bob for two hours.
• When it was 3 pm, I had been waiting for Bob for two hours.(That is, by the time it was 3 pm, this moment was in the past, I had already waited two hours.)

2. An action happened before another action (event) in the past

• Yesterday we had been playing for two hours when Tom arrived.
• Yesterday, when Tom arrived, we had already played for two hours.

Education Past Perfect Continuous

In order to put the verb in the Past Perfect Continuous tense form, the auxiliary verb to be in the Past Perfect tense and the present participle (V-ing form) of the semantic verb are required.

To be in time Past Perfect has a single form had been.

affirmative sentences:

Negative suggestions:

When you leave the page without liking, one cat is sad in the world.

Simple past tense in English