Inglese/Simple Past

Il Past Simple, in inglese, è il tempo verbale che esprime un'azione passata e che non ha alcun legame con il presente.

Quando si usa il past simple:

1. L’azione deve essersi svolta nel passato ed essere finita nel momento in cui si parla.
2. Il tempo in cui l’azione si è svolta deve essere espresso nella frase o nel contesto (es. in 1990, last week...)
3. Il tempo espresso deve essere passato e finito mentre si parla.(es. last week ma non this week)

Coniugazione di to be

Persona	Forma affermativa	Forma negativa	Forma interogativa	Risposte brevi
I	was	wasn't	Was I?	Yes, I was / No, I wasn't
You	were	weren't	Were you?	Yes, you were / No, you weren't
He / She / It	was	wasn't	Was he / she / it?	Yes, he / she / it was / No, he / she / it wasn't
We	were	weren't	Were we?	Yes, we were / No, we weren't
You	were	weren't	Were you?	Yes, you were / No, you weren't
They	were	weren't	Were they?	Yes, they were / No, they weren't

Coniugazione dei verbi regolari

Persona	Forma affermativa	Forma negativa	Forma interogativa	Risposte brevi
I	asked	didn't ask	Did I ask?	Yes, I did / No, I didn't
You	asked	didn't ask	Did you ask?	Yes, you did / No, you didn't
He / She / It	asked	didn't ask	Did he / she / it ask?	Yes, he / she / it did / No, he / she / it didn't
We	asked	didn't ask	Did we ask?	Yes, we did / No, we didn't
You	asked	didn't ask	Did you ask?	Yes, you did / No, you didn't
They	asked	didn't ask	Did they ask?	Yes, they did / No, they didn't

Come si può notare, il verbo alla forma affermativa ha la desinenza -ed.

Variazioni ortografiche

• Se il verbo finisce per -e, si aggiunge solo una -d: observe → observed.
• Se il verbo termina per una -y preceduta da vocale, essa rimane tale; se invece è preceduta da una consonante la -y cade e si aggiunge -ied: play → played, study → studied.
• Se il verbo termina per consonante preceduta da vocale ed è monosillabico, si raddoppia l'ultima consonante e si aggiunge -ed: stop → stopped.

Verbi irregolari

Alcuni verbi sono irregolari. Tali verbi, nel Past Simple, sono uguali in tutte le persone. Sotto ci sono le forme al Past Simple di alcuni verbi irregolari. Per la forma negativa si usa l'ausiliare do (did).

Persona	Forma affermativa	Forma negativa	Forma interogativa	Risposte brevi
I	ran	didn't run	Did I run?	Yes, I did / No, I didn't
You	ran	didn't run	Did you run?	Yes, you did / No, you didn't
He / She / It	ran	didn't run	Did he / she / it run?	Yes, he / she / it did / No, he / she / it didn't
We	ran	didn't run	Did we run?	Yes, we did / No, we didn't
You	ran	didn't run	Did you run?	Yes, you did / No, you didn't
They	ran	didn't run	Did they run?	Yes, they did / No, they didn't