Before you continue the lesson read the following passage and try to see how the verbs are formed and used.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and composer. He lived from 1756 to 1791. He started composing at the age of five years old and wrote more than 600 pieces of music.He was only 35 years old when he died.
REGULAR VERBS: The verbs “lived, started, died” are regular past forms. The rule is the following:
Verb + ed
IRREGULAR VERBS: The verbs “was, wrote” are irregular past forms. “was” is the simple past of “to be”; “wrote” is the simple past of “write”. There is no rule for these verbs. You should learn them by heart.
The forms of the simple past: The Affirmative form of the simple past: I, you, he, she, it, we, they + played, wrote, did.
Examples: º I played tennis with my friends yesterday º I finished lunch and did my homework
The interrogative form of the simple past: Did + I, you, he, she, it, we, they + play? wite? do?
Examples: º Did you play basketball yesterday? º Did you watch television? º Did you watch homework?
The negative form of the simple past: I, you, she, it, we, they + did not/didn't + play, write, do.
Examples: ºI didn`t like the food in the website last Saturday ºI didn`t eat it
The use of the simple past The simple past is used principally to describe events in the past, but it also has some other uses. Here are the main uses of the simple past. Finished events in the past ºWilliam Shakespeare wrote Hamlet ºChristoph Columbus discovered America in 1492 ºHe kissed her and left
Past habitual action ºI visited them every day for a year. ºI drove to work every day when I worked with that company
Events that were for true for some time in the past º He lived in Paris for 20 years º They talked on the phone for ten minutes
Remember: didn't is the short form of did not. You can say either: º I did not play basketball, or º I didn't play basketball