Simple past of regular verbs

The simple past is used to describe an action that occurred and was completed in the past. The simple past is formed by adding –ed to the base form of the verb (the infinitive without to).

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base form	+ ed =	simple past
walk		walked
push		pushed
greet		greeted
cover		covered

In English, the simple past of regular verbs is very easy because is the same for all persons. For example, here’s the the simple past of the verb WORK.

	singular				plural
1st per	I	worked	yesterday.		We	worked	yesterday.
2nd per	You	worked	yesterday.		You	worked	yesterday.
3rd per	He, She, It	worked	yesterday.		They	worked	yesterday.

There are several irregularities in the spelling of regular verbs in the simple past. Similarly, there are different ways to pronounce the simple past ending – see the lesson on pronunciation of the Simple Past –ed ending.

For regular verbs ending in the vowel -e, add –d.

base form		simple past
hate		hated
seize		seized
hope		hoped
assume		assumed
tie		tied
free		freed

For the very few English verbs that end in a vowel other than -e, add –ed.

base form		simple past
ski		skied
echo		echoed

Exceptions: The verbs DO and GO are irregular: See below.

For regular verbs that end in a vowel+y, add –ed.

base form		simple past
play		played
decay		decayed
survey		surveyed
enjoy		enjoyed

Exceptions: The verbs SAY and BUY are irregular: See below.

For regular verbs that end in a consonant+y, change the –y to –i and add –ed.

base form		simple past
cry		cried
dirty		dirtied
magnify		magnified

Exception: The verb FLY is irregular: See below.

For regular verbs ending in a consonant + vowel + consonant, double the final consonant before adding -ed.

base form		simple past
dam		dammed
beg		begged
plan		planned
strip		stripped

In American English, when the regular verb has more than one syllable and the syllable stress is on the final syllable, the final consonant is doubled.

base form		simple past		incorrect
defer		deferred		defered
regret		regretted		regreted
reship		reshipped		reshiped
compel		compelled		compeled

In these verbs, the stress is not on the final syllable so the consonant is not doubled.

base form		simple past		incorrect
orbit		orbited		orbitted
listen		listened		listenned
travel		traveled		travelled
consider		considered		considerred

Here are examples sentences with regular verbs in the simple present and the simple past.

simple present		simple past
I walk to school.		I walked to school.
She works downtown.		She worked downtown.
They help on Tuesday.		They helped on Tuesday.
He asks a lot of questions.		He asked a lot of questions.

Irregular verbs do not form the past tense by adding -ed. Irregular verbs form the past tense by a change in orthography (spelling).

base form		simple past
buy		bought
do		did
fly		flew
forget		forgot
light		lit
go		went
say		said

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Related lessons

• Pronunciation of simple past –ed ending
• List of irregular verbs
• Simple present
• Verbs