Common Irregular Verbs in the Past Simple

What are irregular verbs? We use the past simple to talk about actions and events that happened and finished in the past. Many English verbs form the past simple by adding -ed, but some common verbs do not follow this rule. They have different past forms. For example, the past form of go is went, not goed. These verbs are called irregular verbs. Common irregular verbs to learn first There is no single rule for forming all irregular past forms, so you need to learn them gradually. At A1 level, focus on common verbs that you can use in everyday situations. Important examples include go → went, come → came, see → saw, eat → ate, drink → drank, have → had, get → got, make → made, take → took and buy → bought. Affirmative sentences In an affirmative past simple sentence, use the past form of the irregular verb after the subject. The form is the same for all subjects. We say I went, she went and they went. You do not add -s for he, she or it in the past simple. Negative sentences To make most past simple sentences negative, use did not or the contraction didn't. After didn't, use the base form of the main verb. For example, She didn't come is correct. She didn't came is incorrect because didn't already shows that the sentence is about the past. Questions with did For most yes-no questions in the past simple, put did before the subject and use the base form of the main verb: Did you see him? With a question word, use the same principle: Where did you go? Because did marks the past, the main verb does not use its irregular past form. When do we use these forms? Use the past simple for completed actions and events in the past. Time expressions such as yesterday, last night, last week, on Monday and two days ago often appear with this tense. A time expression is not always necessary when the past time is already clear from the context.