Past simple: mark the past only once
Imagine an event in a finished past time, such as yesterday. A regular verb takes -ed in an affirmative sentence. In questions and negatives, did carries the past tense, leaving the main verb in its base form.
| English example | Reasoning |
|---|---|
| Yesterday I cleaned my desk. | Cleaned marks the past in the affirmative sentence. |
| I did not clean the shelf. | The auxiliary did already marks the past; clean stays unchanged. |
| Did you clean the shelf? | In the question, did comes before the subject. |
One worked example
- Yesterday I cleaned my desk.Cleaned marks the past in the affirmative sentence.
- I did not clean the shelf.The auxiliary did already marks the past; clean stays unchanged.
- Did you clean the shelf?In the question, did comes before the subject.
Watch out: Learn irregular forms separately: go → went. Be has was/were and forms its questions without did.
Goal, prerequisites and card origin
What you will learn: Form a regular past tense and choose the base form after did.
What you need first: English subjects and base verb forms.
An original PEAZIT working card. Independent expert review and effectiveness testing have not yet taken place. · v1
British Council — grammar reference ↗Show connections
Imagine an event in a finished past time, such as yesterday. A regular verb takes -ed in an affirmative sentence. In questions and negatives, did carries the past tense, leaving the main verb in its base form.