The Simple Past Tense

The Simple Past Tense

I played guitar last weekend. I also listened to the radio.
What did you do last week? Yesterday? Last month?

We use the simple past tense to describe actions that occurred in the past. These actions may have happened earlier today, yesterday, last week, last year, and so on.

Add ed to the end of the verb to form the past tense.

Here are some examples.

Present Tense	Past Tense
listen	listened. Yesterday, I listened to the radio.
watch	watched Last week, I watched the football game.
jump	jumped The children jumped on the bed.
walk	walked I walked to the store this morning.

The simple past tense describes actions that happened in the past.

The Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense

What am I doing now? I am drinking tea.
Am I doing anything else? I am recording this lesson.

When am I drinking this tea? Now.
When am I recording this lesson? Now.

We use the present continuous tense to describe actions that occur right now, in this moment.

How is this different from the simple present tense?

The simple present tense describes actions that occur daily or on a regular basis. For example:
➢ I drink tea. I may drink tea every morning or every night before I go to bed.

The present continuous tense describes actions that are happening in this moment, right now.
➢ I am drinking tea. This sentence tells me I am drinking tea right now, in the present moment.

You form the present continuous tense by using the present tense of the verb to be, plus the present tense of the verb, plus ing.

The present tense forms of the verb to be are:

Singular	Plural
am, I am	are, we are
are, you are	are, you are
is, he, she, it is	are, they

What are some things you can do right now?

➢ You are eating breakfast.
➢ You are sleeping.
➢ You are brushing your teeth.
➢ You are cleaning your house.

The present continuous tense describes actions that are happening in this moment, right now.

The Simple Present Tense

The Simple Present Tense

What happens in the winter? It snows.
Is winter warm or cold? Winter is cold.

Is winter cold every day? Yes!

Does it snow every day? No. Does it snow regularly or often? Yes.

We use the simple present tense to describe actions that occur daily or on a regular basis.

What are some things you do daily or on a regular basis?

➢ You eat breakfast.
➢ You sleep.
➢ You brush your teeth.
➢ You clean your house.

The simple present tense describes actions that occur on a regular or daily basis.