Simple Past Tense
Finished things at a finished time. The tense for every story you tell.
Good news first: in the simple past, the verb is the same for everyone. No -s for he, she or it. I, you, she, they — all went.
අතීතයේ පටන් අරන් අතීතයේම ඉවර වුණු දෙයක් ගැන කියන්න අපි simple past පාවිච්චි කරනවා. "ගියා", "කෑවා", "දැක්කා" වගේ. ගොඩක් වෙලාවට ඒක සිද්ධ වුණේ කවදද කියලත් කියනවා: yesterday, last week, in 2010.
How to make the V2
Regular verbs add -ed:
- walk → walked, play → played, watch → watched
- Ending in -e: add -d → live → lived, dance → danced
- Consonant + -y: → -ied → study → studied, cry → cried
- Short verbs, one vowel + one consonant: double it → stop → stopped, plan → planned
Irregular verbs have their own V2, and you just have to learn them: go → went, eat → ate, see → saw, buy → bought, come → came. The full list is in irregular verbs.
Positive, question, negative
| Example | |
|---|---|
| Positive | She watched the match. |
| Question | Did she watch the match? |
| Negative | She didn't watch the match. |
When do we use it?
1. Finished actions, often with a time
Finished actions
- Yesterday, I went to Colombo.
- I ate string hoppers this morning.
- Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.
- We watched a good film last week.
Time words that go with this tense: yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago, in 2019, when I was a kid, the other day.
2. A list of things, one after another (telling a story)
A story
- I came home, had a wash, ate rice and went to bed.
- She got off the bus, crossed the road and went into the shop.
3. Past habits
Things we used to do
- When we were kids, we played cricket every Sunday.
- I often walked home from school.
You can also say we used to play cricket for past habits. It means the same thing, and it shows that you don't do it any more.
was / were: the past of "be"
be is the one verb with two V2 forms:
| was | were |
|---|---|
| I was | you were |
| he / she / it was | we / they were |
was / were
- I was very tired yesterday.
- Was the film good?
- They weren't at home.
Questions and negatives with was/were don't use did: Was it good? (not Did it was good?)
Quick check
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We to Jaffna last December.
the fireworks last night?
Nimal hard for his A/Ls.
We late for the meeting.
Sorry, I my umbrella.
The bus at every halt.
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