PET: Preparazione Certificazione B1 Lesson 5

we add –ed, –d to regular verbs:

want → wanted, hope →hoped, shop →shopped

I/you/he/she/it/they +verb + ed/d
I/you/he/she/it/they did not +verb
Did I/you/he/she/it/they + verb

I phoned you.

She didn’t phone me. 

Did you phone me?

Some verbs are irregular and do not end in -ed/-d

buy→bought, go →went, make→made

I/you/he/she/it/they + irregular past verb
I/you/he/she/it/they did not +verb
Did I/you/he/she/it/they + verb

I went to the cinema.

They didn’t go to the cinema. 

Did you go to the cinema? 

To be has two forms: was and were 

I/he/she/it was
you/we/they were

I/he/she/it was not
you/we/they were not

Was I/he/she/it?
Were you/we/they?

I was there. 

They weren’t there.

Were you there?

we use the past simple:

• for completed actions, events, and situations in the past

we form the past continuous of all forms with was/were + ing:

I/he/she/it was + verb + ing
you/we/they were + verb + ing

I/he/she/it was not + verb + ing
you/we/they were not + verb + ing

Was I/he/she/it + verb + ing …?
Were you/we/they? + verb + ing….?

note: we do not use state verb in the past continuous.

I was having a coffee. 

We weren’t having a coffee.

Were they having a coffee. 

We use the past continuous for:

• for an unfinished activity around a time in the past

• for a past activity beginning before a past event and continuing until or after it. For the event, we use when+ past simple.

• for two activities at the same time in the past (often with while or and)

At 9 o’clock I was sitting in the cinema.

I was talking to the manager when you rang me. 

I was sitting near the ticket desk and the manager was talking.