Simple Past Tense (Bahasa Inggris)

Simple Past Tense

Understanding Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense is a simple form of the verb to indicate that an event never happened and it has been customary in the past. In addition, this tense is also used in if conditional type 2

Formula of Simple Past Tense

The formula for the simple past tense sentences positive, negative, and interrogative following example can be seen in the table below.

Type of sentence	Formula	Example of Simple Past Tense
positive (+)	S + Verb-2 (past tense) S + be(was/were)	The hunter shot the bear.
		I was a stamp collector.
negative (-)	S + did + not + bare infinitive S + be(was/were) + not	The hunter didn’t shoot the bear.
		I wasn’t a stamp collector.
interogative (?)	Did + S + bare infinitive be(was/were) + S	Did the hunter shoot the bear?
		Was I a stamp collector?

Note:

1.     Changes in Verb-2 (past tense) refers to the rules of regular and irregular verbs.

2.     Verb used is Transitive and intransitive.

3.     Did, was, and were are auxiliary verb.

4.     Bare infinitive is a Verb-1 in the form of a simple (no extra s or ice even for a third person singular subject).

Example of  Simple Past Tense

Some examples of the simple past tense of its functions are as follows.

Function	Example of  Simple Past Tense
Simple past tense to talk about actions that occur at a specific time in the past (long or short, single action or glow).	He closed the window. (Dia menutup jendela.)
	Did he come on time? (Apakah dia datang tepat waktu?)
	The party was started at 10.00 a.m. (Pesta dimulai jam sepuluh pagi.)
	The child run across the yard then jumped the fence. (Anak itu berlari melintasi halaman kemudian melompati pagar.)
	Did you sleep enough last night? (Apa kamu cukup tidur semalam?)
	Studied civil engineering for almost 4 years. (Saya belajar teknik sipil selama hampir 4 tahun.)
Simple past tense to talk about habits in the past.	I often did exercise in the gym when I lived in Bandung. (Saya sering berlatih di gym ketika tinggal di Bandung.)
	When I was a senior high school student, I always got up at 4 am to study. (Ketika saya sma, saya selalu bangun jam 4 pagi untuk belajar.)
Simple past tense is used in if conditional type 2.	If she studied hard, she would be pass. (Jika dia belajar keras, dia akan lulus.)
	I would buy a sport car if I had much money. (Saya akan membeli mobil sport jika punya uang banyak.)