Past Tense With Examples, Definition, Rules And Structures

Today, by reading this post, you will learn what is the past tense? Past tense is the time of action that is used to express what happened in the past time.

In this post, I will teach you the definition of past tense, structures, rules and examples; I hope that you will read this post and learn past tense step by step; Let’s start.

Definition Of Present Tense : According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, ‘past tense’ as “the form of a verb used to express actions in the past.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the past tense form of the verb is “used to describe verb forms in many languages used for actions that have now finished.”

Some examples here : They went to school at 9 a.m./ She was writing a letter to her father./ She had gone to Mumbai before I talked to her. / I had been doing a job in this country for five years.

Types Of Present Tense :

1. Simple Past Tense : Past tense is used to express an action or event that happened in the past time.
2. Past Continuous Tense : An action or event that was continuing in the past.
3. Past Perfect Tense : This tense is used to express an action or event that happened in the past before another event or action that happened in the past.
4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense : This tense is used to express an event or action that was happening in the past until another action or event happened in the past.

Use Of Simple Past Tense With Examples And Structure

Simple Past tense is used to express an action or event that happened in the past time –

Structure : [ Subj + Second form of the verb + Object + Other Word ]

Simple Past Tense Examples –

• She went to Delhi two days ago.
• He came to see me last night.
• He was punished for his mistake.
• I bought something for you from the market.
• I was a doctor.
• Radha was very ill.
• He was a very poor man in this village.
• All the students were laborious.
• He helped me cross this road yesterday.
• The peon bought a cup of tea.
• My father came back from the office at 9 P.M.
• He went on Sundays.
• In my childhood, I played football.
• She always invited me to this party.
• Mohan always got up late morning.
• I used to study in this college.
• She would wait for me at this place.
• It’s time he started studying.
• It’s high time she left for the bus stop.
• It was night.
• He saw me today.
• While she cooked, I wrote a book.
• While they played, we studied. 
• When I was writing a book, she arrived.
• I wish I were the prime minister of India.
• If I became the chief minister of UP, I would solve the problem of farmers.

Negative Structure Of Simple Past Tense : [ Subject + did not + First form of the verb + Object + Other Word ]

• Neha did not go to market alone.
• She did not speak English at home.
• He did not teach me this subject.
• They did not come here with their family.
• All students did not complete their projects.
• My father did not go to office today.
• You did not help me to complete this task.
• She as well as his father did not see me.
• Neither you nor your brother helped me.
• Ravi never went to Mumbai.

Yes/No Type Interrogative Structure Of Simple Past Tense : [ Did + (not) + Subject + (not) + first form of the verb + object + other word + ? ]

• Did you go to see him?
• Did your father not come back from the office? 
• Did she complete her homework?
• Did Neha not help you two days ago?
• Did he learn English?

W.H. Word Type Interrogative Structure Of Simple Past Tense : [ W.H.word (Question Words) + did + Subject + (not) + first form of the verb + object + other word + ? ]

• Where did you go alone?
• How did you do this work without any one’s help?
• Why did you not help her?
• When did you come back from the village?
• What did you do about it?
• Which book did you like reading?
• For what did you come here? 
• To whom did you talk about this?
• With whom did you go there? 
• Which book of these did you read? 
• What did you see there?

There are some time expressing adverbs that are used to express habitual, or regular or repeated action in the past; remember it; all these time expressing adverbs are always used in the past tense –

Time expressing adverbs : yesterday, yesterday morning, yesterday noon, yesterday evening, yesterday afternoon, the day before yesterday, the other day, ago, last morning, last evening, last night, last day, last week, last month, last year, last moment, in March 1942, in May 2022 etc.

Examples here :

• She always went there at night. 
• He read this book last month.
• I taught him this chapter last night.
• Mohan talked to me on this matter two days ago.
• He came here to see me yesterday morning.
• They started this business in March 2010.
• Radh did not help me last evening.
• I learned this subject the day before yesterday.

Past Continuous Tense With Examples And Structure

Definition : An action or event that was continuing in the past.

Structure : [ Subject + was (Singular subject) / were (Plural subject) + (not) + first form of the verb + ing + object + other word ]

• She was watching the movie at home.
• They were waiting for me at the bus stop.
• He was not sitting in the class.
• You were not going to Mumbai last month.
• Narendra was speaking English in the office.
• I was studying in this college five months ago.
• Reena was cooking in the kitchen yesterday morning.
• Ravi and Ram were fighting each other in the classroom.
• I was writing this book yesterday morning.
• I was talking to my brother, when she came to me.
• They were doing a job in this company in July 20220.

Yes/No Type Interrogative Structures Of Past Continuous Tense : [ Was/Were (according to subject’s number and person) + Subject + (not) + Verb + ing + Object + Other Word + ? ]

• Was he looking at you? 
• Were they not working in the field? 
• Was Sita not searching for a job in this city five days ago? 
• Were you not learning English?
• Was your mother cooking in the kitchen yesterday evening?
• Were Ram and Shyam waiting for you at your home? 
• Was he not coming here with you? 
• Were you not making him fool?

Question Words Type Interrogative Structure Of Past Continuous Tense : [ Question word + was/were + Subject + (not) + verb + ing + object + other word + ? ]

• What were you telling me last night?
• Where was your father going alone two days ago?
• Which book were you reading yesterday morning? 
• To whom were you talking on the phone yesterday evening? 
• How was he speaking English in the class? 
• Why were they fighting each other yesterday?
• When was your mother going to the village?
• For what were you standing there?
• With whom was she going to college?

Past Perfect Tense With Examples And Structure –

Definition : This tense is used to express an action or event that happened in the past before another event or action that happened in the past.

Structure : [ Subject + had + (not) + third form of the verb + object + other word ]

• He had gone before I came here. 
• Ravi and Rakesh had completed their works before my father scolded them.
• After I had come here, they came to see me.
• After she had prepared breakfast, he came back home.
• My father had gone to the office before I called him.

• My parents had worked in the field before I helped them. 
• She had learned all chapters before the teachers taught. 
• The patient had died before the doctor came.
• They had helped me before my father came on the spot.
• Had you finished your homework before your father came from the office?
• What had you told him before I came here?

Past Perfect Continuous Tense With Examples And Structures

Definition : This tense is used to express an event or action that was happening in the past until another action or event happened in the past.

Structure : [ Subject + had + (not) + been + verb + ing + object + other word + since/for + time ]

Note : ‘for’ is used for period of time and ‘since’ for point of time; try to understand the use of it through examples –

• She had been writing this book for five years.
• They had been going to Mumbai for ten days.
• My mother had not been cooking since 2010.
• Had you not been working in the field? 
• What had you been telling me? 
• Why had she been doing this work? 
• Which book had you been writing for 10 years? 
• Radha had been speaking English for 5 years.
• She had been watching this movie. 
• I had been making her fool.

Exercise Of Past Tense :

Q. 1. Change the verbs into past continuous tense in the following sentences :

• The boys sing a song.
• She wrote a book. 
• He did not finish his homework.
• The old man crossed the road.
• They helped me yesterday morning.
• My mother taught me this subject.
• Neha did not come with her brother.
• Ravi watched this movie with his friends.
• You looked at me yesterday.
• Why did you bring this from the market?
• Did you speak English in the class?
• What did you do about it?
• Which book did you read yesterday?

Q. 2. Change the verbs into past tense in the following sentences :

• I never tell a lie.
• He reads a book before sleeping. 
• They don’t know my father and mother.
• She leaves school daily at 4 ‘O’clock.
• I don’t tell him about this.
• He drinks tea every morning. 
• She gets up early in the morning. 
• She works hard for her future.
• I want to help her. 
• He writes a letter to me. 
• We play cricket in the field daily.

I hope that you learned the use of past tense; now, you can use this tense in your daily used conversation. If you are unable to learn this tense; try again; it will take some time to learn completely; it’s based on your practice. Learn Present Tense