Welcome to our Past Simple Exercises. Let’s learn how to use the past simple tense to describe moments and periods of time in the past. It is important to learn how to use them properly at this expanding stage of English,, where there is more focus on academic tasks and language functions. These Past Simple Exercises teach you to talk about the completion of an event or action.
You can often just put -ed at the end (regular verbs)
- I play basketball at school now. Before that, I played football last term.
- Charlie passed his exam because he studied very hard.
- I stopped off at the coffee shop on my way home from school.
But many verbs are irregular, so you don’t use -ed.
- see ⇢ saw = I saw a great movie at the cinema last night.
- go ⇢ went = Emma went home late last night
- write ⇢ wrote = Jack wrote an email to his friend yesterday.
When you use the past of be (am/is/are), it changes to was/were.
In questions and negative sentences, you use did/didn’t + infinitive
- I enjoyed the football match last night. Did you enjoy it?
- Did you go to the cinema? No, I didn’t.
- I didn’t go to school yesterday because I wasn’t feeling very well.
- Air Travel Exercises
- Animals and Pets
- British and American English
- Chinese New Year
- Christmas
- Clothing
- Computer Exercises
- Easter (A2 – B1 Levels)
- Education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Environmental Issues
- Finance Exercises
- Food and Drink
- Leisure and Hobbies
- Money Exercises
- Phoning and Texting Exercises
- Places and Buildings
- Relationships
- Transport and Travel
- Work and Jobs
- Article – Work of Art
- Report – Features of Glaciers
- Article – The Countryside
- Email – Saving Energy
- Article – The Cardboard Bike
- Short Story – Computer Problems
- Email – Subject Choices
- Movie Review – Ted
- Short Story – Art Competition
- Email – School Holidays
- Email – Borrowing
- Short Story – In Free Fall
- Email – Favourite Film
- Article – Being Famous
- Short Story – Talent Contest
- Email – New School
- Report – Eating out in Berlin
- Short Story – The Angel
- Letter – Most Important Time
- Email – Computer Games
- Email – Visiting a relative
- Speech – Course Introduction
- Email – Holiday Plans
- Email – Holiday in Thailand
- Book Review – The Call
- Article – Schools for Boys and Girls
- Email – Barbecue Invitation
- News Report – Bank Robbery
- Blog Post – A New Life in Japan
- Email – Party Invitation
- Email – about University
- Email – Summer School
- Air Travel Crossword
- Computer Crossword
- Crime Crossword
- Entertainment Crossword
- Financial Language Crossword
- Food Crossword
- Health Crossword
- Home Crossword
- Language Crossword
- Leisure Crossword
- Money Crossword
- Natural World Crossword
- Places Crossword
- Shopping Crossword
- Sports Crossword
- Technology Crossword
- Texting Crossword
- Time Crossword
- Transport Crossword
- Travel Crossword
- Work and Jobs Crossword
- Adjectives with -ing Word Search
- Art Word Search
- Bonfire Night Word Search
- Buildings Word Search
- Classical Music Word Search
- Countryside Word Search
- Drama Word Search
- Education Word Search
- Entertainment Word Search
- Fast Food Word Search
- Feelings Word Search
- Food and Drink Word Search
- Football Word Search
- Gambling Word Search
- Haunted House Word Search
- Health Word Search
- Home Word Search
- Internet Word Search
- Language Word Search
- Leisure Word Search
- Natural World Word Search
- Shopping Word Search
- Sports Facilities Word Search
- Sports Word Search
- Sushi Word Search
- Technology Word Search
- Time Word Search
- Town and City Word Search
- Travel Word Search
- Weather Word Search
- Work Word Search
- Clothes Word Puzzle
- Color Word Puzzle
- Communication Word Puzzle
- Easter Word Puzzle
- Education Word Puzzle
- Entertainment Word Puzzle
- Environment Word Puzzle
- Food Word Puzzle
- Health Word Puzzle
- Hobbies Word Puzzle
- Language Word Puzzle
- Medicine Word Puzzle
- Natural World Word Puzzle
- Technology Word Puzzle
- Time Word Puzzle
- Weather Word Puzzle
Cambridge English exams are designed for learners at all levels, from the Elementary level Cambridge English: Key (KET) to the very advanced level Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE). These exams give candidates proof of their ability to use English in a wide variety of contexts relevant to work, study and leisure activities.