The past tense
A short captioned lesson on how to talk and write about what already happened, for children. Free, with a full transcript and teaching notes.
Read the whole lesson
The past tense Yesterday I walked to the park. Today I am telling you about it. When we talk about something that has already happened, we use the past tense.
Past | Now Think of a line of time. On one side is the past, what has happened. On the other side is now. The past tense lives on the left of the line.
walk, walked Most verbs are easy. Add ed to the end. Walk becomes walked. Jump becomes jumped. Play becomes played. These are called regular verbs.
like, liked If the verb already ends in e, just add d. Like becomes liked. Bake becomes baked. Remember: one e is enough.
go, went Some verbs change in strange ways. Go becomes went. See becomes saw. Eat becomes ate. These are irregular verbs, and we learn them one by one.
ate, not eat Try these. Yesterday I eat an apple, or yesterday I ate an apple? Ate is right. Say it out loud so your ear learns it.
My weekend Now tell me about your weekend. I went to the shop. I saw my friend. We played football. Use the past tense for each thing that happened.
A diary of yesterday Well done! Practise a few past tense verbs every day, and soon they will come naturally. Try writing a diary entry about yesterday.
For grown-ups Teaching notes
- The simple past describes finished events. Regular verbs add ed (walk, walked). Irregular verbs change shape and need to be learned (go, went).
- Start with the question: did it already happen? Use a timeline on the board to show before and now.
- Spelling rule: for verbs ending in e add d (like, liked); consonant then y becomes ied (study, studied).
- Do not memorise all irregular verbs at once. Practise the ten most common: go, see, have, make, say, come, take, get, eat, run.
Tip: pause the video after each picture, ask the child to say the answer, then press play.