61. Verbs – Past Tense

Verbs in the past tense show something happening before now.
Past tense can show something that happened a long time ago. Past tense can also show something that happened just a moment ago.
If the action happened before right now, we use past tense.

Most regular past tense verbs add –ed.
Today I walk. Yesterday I walked.
Today I play. Yesterday I played.

I help my mother with the laundry.
Last night I helped my mother with the laundry.

I open the window when I wake up.
This morning, I opened my window.

Verbs ending in -e add only -d for past tense.
bake/baked
raise/raised
force/forced

One-syllable words ending in a single consonant double that consonant before adding -ed.
bat/ batted
stop/stopped
plan/planned

Verbs ending in –y change the -y to -i before adding -ed.
carry/carried
copy/copied
try/tried

Remember – verbs that show action happening anytime before right now are past tense verbs. Add -ed or -d to the verb to show past tense.

  • You try it. Add -ed or -d to each of these verbs to show past tense: work, smile, miss, marry, wait, skate, bury, hop, dry . Did you remember to double the -p in hop before adding -ed? Did you change the -y to -i in bury and dry? Good job!