Tenses tell you when
| Past | Present | Future |
|---|---|---|
| I walked | I walk | I will walk |
| I was walking | I am walking | I will be walking |
Regular past tense: add -ed
walk → walked · hope → hoped (just add -d) · stop → stopped (double the letter) · carry → carried (y → i)
Irregular verbs: learn them!
| Verb | Past (yesterday I…) | With have/has (I have…) |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | gone |
| see | saw | seen |
| catch | caught | caught |
| bring | brought | brought |
| write | wrote | written |
| swim | swam | swum |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| take | took | taken |
| begin | began | begun |
| run | ran | run |
Past tense or past participle?
- On its own: Yesterday I went home. I saw a fox.
- After have, has or had: I have gone. She has seen it.
Watch out! I have went ✘ and I seen it ✘ are very common mistakes. It’s I have gone and I saw it (or I have seen it).
Top tip: keep the same tense all the way through a sentence. If it started in the past, keep it in the past.
👆 Past tense hunt
Tap every verb that is in the past tense.
🎮 Pick the verbQuestion 1 of 5