Past Simple: Regular & Irregular Verbs

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PART 01

Discover

Meet today's English in a real situation — no rules yet. Read it once and try to guess the pattern in the words in bold. Underlined words open a short definition.

Yesterday, Luke woke up at 7:00 AM. He had a quick breakfast and drank a cup of hot coffee. Then, he walked to the bus stop.

He arrived at the bus stop at 7:35 AM. He waited for ten minutes, and then he caught the bus to the city center. On the bus, he read a book on his phone.

He got to his office at 8:20 AM and started working immediately. During the day, Luke talked to many clients and wrote three long reports. He finished work at 5:00 PM.

On his way home, Luke went to the supermarket and bought some pasta and vegetables. He returned home, cooked a delicious dinner, and watched a movie. He went to bed at 10:30 PM.

infoNOTE

This story shows how we mix regular verbs (walked, arrived, started, cooked) and irregular verbs (woke, had, drank, caught, read, got, went, bought) to tell a story in the past.

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PART 02

Learn

Now the rules behind what you just saw — explained simply, with examples. Underlined words open a short definition — hover on desktop, tap on a phone.

We use the Past Simple to talk about actions that happened and finished in the past. In English, verbs are divided into two groups: regular verbs (which follow a spelling rule) and irregular verbs (which you must memorize).

Regular Verbs: The -ed Ending

To form the past tense of a regular verb, we add -ed to the base form. This form is the same for all subjects (I, you, he, she, we, they).

Rule	Base Verb	Past Simple	Example
General Rule: Add -ed	work, play, watch	worked, played, watched	I worked yesterday.
Ending in -e: Just add -d	love, live, like	loved, lived, liked	We lived in London.
Ending in consonant + -y: Change -y to -i + -ed	study, try, cry	studied, tried, cried	She studied last night.
Ending in short vowel + single consonant: Double the final consonant	stop, plan	stopped, planned	The bus stopped here.

warningWARNING

Do not double the consonant if the verb ends in -y or -w (e.g., play → played, show → showed).

Irregular Verbs: No Rules!

Irregular verbs do not add “-ed”. They change completely, and you must memorize them. Here are the 15 most common irregular verbs you need for A1 English:

Base Verb	Past Simple	Pronunciation	Spanish	Example
go	went	/went/	ir	We went to the cinema.
have	had	/hæd/	tener	I had breakfast at 8:00.
do	did	/dɪd/	hacer	He did his homework.
see	saw	/sɔː/	ver	I saw a good movie.
get	got	/ɡɒt/	obtener/levantarse	She got up early.
eat	ate	/et/ or /eɪt/	comer	They ate pizza.
drink	drank	/dræŋk/	beber	He drank a glass of water.
buy	bought	/bɔːt/	comprar	I bought a new shirt.
make	made	/meɪd/	hacer/fabricar	She made a cake.
say	said	/sed/	decir	He said hello.
take	took	/tʊk/	tomar/llevar	We took a taxi.
write	wrote	/rəʊt/	escribir	She wrote an email.
read	read	/red/ (like red)	leer	I read a book last week.
come	came	/keɪm/	venir	They came to my house.
give	gave	/ɡeɪv/	dar	He gave me a pen.

priority_highIMPORTANT

The spelling of read is the same in the present and past, but the pronunciation is different: present read /riːd/ vs. past read /red/ (rhymes with the color red).

Pronunciation of -ed

Do not pronounce the “e” in “-ed” unless the verb ends in a T or D sound. The “-ed” ending has three different sounds:

/ɪd/: Use this sound only when the verb ends in a T or D sound. This adds an extra syllable.
- start → started (/ˈstɑː.tɪd/) · need → needed (/ˈniː.dɪd/)
/t/: Use this sound after voiceless consonants (/p/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/).
- work → worked (/wɜːkt/) · wash → washed (/wɒʃt/) · watch → watched (/wɒtʃt/)
/d/: Use this sound after all other voiced sounds (vowels and voiced consonants).
- play → played (/pleɪd/) · live → lived (/lɪvd/)

warningWARNING

Spanish speakers often pronounce worked as two syllables: “work-ed”. This is a major mistake. It must be pronounced as one syllable: worked /wɜːkt/.

Common Mistakes for Spanish Speakers

Applying -ed to irregular verbs: Incorrect: ~~We goed to the park.~~ / ~~I haved breakfast.~~ Correct: We went to the park. / I had breakfast.
Pronouncing the silent ‘e’ in -ed: Incorrect: pronouncing lived as /lɪv-ed/ or walked as /wɔːk-ed/. Correct: lived /lɪvd/, walked /wɔːkt/.

boltQUICK REVIEW

Regular verbs: Add -ed (play → played, study → studied, stop → stopped).
Irregular verbs: Memorize the forms (go → went, have → had, buy → bought).
Pronunciation: Only pronounce the “e” in “-ed” as /ɪd/ after T or D (start → started).
Form is the same for all subjects (I worked, She worked, They worked).

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PART 03

Practice

Try it yourself. You'll see right away whether you got it right, plus a short explanation of why.

0 / 6 correct

1. Choose the correct past simple form for the regular verb 'study':

2. What is the past simple of the irregular verb 'go'?

3. Which spelling is correct for the past simple of 'stop'?

4. Choose the sentence that uses correct past forms:

5. In which of these words is the '-ed' ending pronounced as an extra syllable (/ɪd/)?

6. What is the correct past simple form of 'read'?

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PART 04

Use It

Now make the language yours in a real task. Use the prompt below — the editor keeps a simple word count, and nothing is saved or graded.

PROMPT

Write a short story about what you did yesterday from morning to night. Use at least three regular verbs and three irregular verbs.

0 words