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PAST SIMPLE

The Past simple is used to talk about events, actions and facts that began and finished in the Past, is formed with subject + regular verb -ed (Il past Simple si usa per azioni, eventi e fatti che iniziano e finiscono nel passato, si forma con Soggetto + Verbo regolare -ed

To be, To do, To Have (Essere, fare, avere)

To be (essere)

I was                               We were

You were                        You were

He, she, it was              They were

To do (fare)

I did                                 We did

You did                           You did

He, she, it did               They did

To have (avere)

I had                               We had

You had                          You had

He, she, it had              They had

Rules for regular verbs in the past simple  (regole generali per i verbi regolari al past simple)

add –ed (or –d if they finish with an “e”). The –ed sound at the end is not pronounced, we only hear the –d, but it sounds more like a –t. We can hear the –ED sound with verbs that end in T or D. example : wanted; demanded; waited;

(Per coniugare i verbi in past simple si conclude con -ed,  la cui pronuncia ricorda un -t, per i verbi che terminano con T e D si pronuncia invece l’ed)

Example : To Work

I worked                         We worked

You worked                   You worked

He, she, it worked        They worked

Verbs ending in e silent - add d (Verbi che terminano in e silente -  si aggiunge d)

I live – I lived

I subdue – I subdued

I desire – I desired

I debate – I debated

Verbs ending with vowel + consonant - The consonant is doubled and then ed is added (Verbi che terminano con vocale + consonante - Si raddoppia la consonante e poi si aggiunge ed)

I prefer- I Preferred

I travel – I travelled

I Stop – I stopped

Spelling of Regular Verbs in the Past Simple

The past form of regular verbs ends in - d, - ed, or - ied. Here are some guidelines for spelling. (La forma passata dei verbi regolari termina in - d, - ed o - ied. Ecco alcune linee guida per l'ortografia.)

. Add -d to the base form.

This happens when the base form ends in a vowel and one or more consonants plus e:

ached, baked, blamed, breathed, cared, cached, chased. diced, dozed, dyed, edged, fiddled, filed,  glared, grated, hated, hoped, joked, lived, mired, noted, paced, pasted, raced, raised, sliced, spared, surprised, tasted, typed, whined. 

This also happens when the base form ends in ue, oe, or ie:

glued, rued, sued, hoed, toed, died, lied, tied

. Change -y to -i and add -ed.

This happens when a verb ends in a consonant and y:

apply / applied; bully / bullied; bury / buried; carry / carried; copy / copied; cry / cried; dry / dried; ferry / ferried; fry / fried; hurry / hurried; marry / married; parry / parried; pry / pried; query / queried; rely / relied; tarry / tarried; tidy / tidied; try / tried; vary / varied; worry / worried

This does not happen when a verb ends in a vowel and y:

annoy / annoyed; bray / brayed; destroy / destroyed; employ / employed; enjoy / enjoyed; play / played; pray / prayed; prey / preyed; stay / stayed; stray / strayed; sway / swayed;.

. Double the final consonant and add -ed

if there is a single stressed vowel before the final consonant:

ban / banned; can / canned; hem / hemmed; mop / mopped; pin / pinned; sip / sipped; trap / trapped; whip / whipped; compél / compélled; confér / conférred; prefér / preférred; refér / reférred

Auxiliary DO

In the Past Simple, the verb “to be”  does not need the Auxiliary Verb “do”,

With most other verbs, and this does not apply to the verb “to be” and to modal verbs, we need the auxiliary verb “do” to make the question and negative forms. (Al Past Simple, il verbo “to be” non ha bisogno del verbo ausiliare “do”, ma con la maggior parte degli altri verbi, e questo non si applica al verbo “to be” e ai verbi modali, abbiamo bisogno del verbo ausiliare “do” per fare la domanda e Forme negative)

Example: Matthew, are you pleased with my birthday gift? (NOT “do you are)

How did you travel? (Come hai viaggiato?)

Did you arrive on time?

Past simple questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past simple:

Did she play tennis when she was younger?

Did you live abroad?

When did you meet your wife?

But questions with who often don't use did:

Who discovered penicillin?

Who wrote Don Quixote?

We use didn't (did not) to make negatives with the past simple:

They didn't go to Spain this year.

We didn't get home until very late last night.

I didn't see you yesterday.

Resume and example

• I ate dinner

• They did not (didn’t) eat dinner

• Did She eat dinner?

• Yes, She did

• No, He did not (didn’t)

Importante: lista verbi irregolari

Scritto da www.brunogalazzi.com il 17/11/2022

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