Past Simple with did and didn’t: Negatives and Questions

A quick review of the past simple We use the past simple to talk about actions and events that happened and finished in the past. In affirmative sentences, the main verb carries the past meaning: We visited Rome last year. She bought a new laptop yesterday. In most negative sentences and questions, however, did carries the past meaning instead. Making negatives with didn’t To say that an action did not happen, use subject + didn’t + base verb. For example, He finished the report. becomes He didn’t finish the report. Didn’t already marks the sentence as past, so the main verb does not stay in its past form. Making yes/no questions with did To ask whether something happened, put did before the subject: Did you enjoy the concert? A positive short answer can be Yes, I did. and a negative one can be No, I didn’t. In a full affirmative answer, the main verb normally takes its past form again: Yes, I enjoyed it. Asking Wh-questions about the past At A2 level, you need to ask not only whether something happened but also for details about it. For most Wh-questions, use question word + did + subject + base verb: Where did you stay? Why did she leave early? How did they travel? What did he say? Using irregular verbs after did and didn’t Irregular verbs also return to their base form after did and didn’t. Compare She went home. with Where did she go? and She didn’t go home. The same pattern applies to other irregular verbs: saw becomes see, ate becomes eat, took becomes take, and bought becomes buy. Questions and full affirmative answers use different verb forms In What did you eat?, did marks the past, so eat stays in the base form. In a full affirmative answer, did is normally absent, so the main verb carries the past meaning: I ate pasta. In a negative answer with didn’t, the verb returns to the base form: I didn’t eat pasta. An important difference with who When who asks about the object of an action, we use did: Who did you call? Here, you is the subject. When who itself is the subject and performs the action, we normally do not use did: Who called you? This distinction is useful for forming natural questions about people. Was and were follow a different pattern The past forms of be do not normally use did or didn’t. We form questions directly with was or were: Was the hotel expensive? Were you tired? For negatives, use wasn’t or weren’t. Sentences such as Did you be tired? and You didn’t be tired. are not correct.