TT.2 Which sentence tells about the past?
What is past tense?
Past tense tells about an action that already happened. It lets the reader know that the action is finished.
- Today I walk. → Yesterday I walked.
- I jump. → I jumped.
- She plays. → She played.
Past tense answers the question: Did it already happen?
How do we form past tense verbs?
Many verbs show past tense by adding -ed to the end of the word.
- talk → talked
- help → helped
- clean → cleaned
If a verb ends with a silent “e,” just add -d (like smile → smiled).
Irregular past tense verbs
Some verbs do not follow the -ed rule. These are called irregular verbs, and their past tense form changes.
- go → went
- eat → ate
- see → saw
- run → ran
Irregular verbs must be memorized because they do not follow a pattern.
Using past tense in sentences
Past tense verbs are used to tell what happened before now in a sentence.
- I played with my dog.
- We went to the park.
- She read a book last night.
Words like yesterday, last night, and ago often tell you a sentence is in past tense.
Check your verb tense
When writing, make sure your verbs match the time the sentence is talking about.
- Correct: Yesterday, I walked to school.
- Incorrect: Yesterday, I walk to school.
If the action already happened, the verb must be in past tense.