Simple Past (DID)

The SIMPLE PAST TENSE is used to talk about a completely finished action in the past.

The auxiliary used in this tense is DID. The auxiliary is only used in negative and interrogative sentences. In the affirmative, we don't use DID but the verbs in the past (check STRUCTURE below).

SIMPLE PAST is commonly followed by adverbs that indicate the past such as: yesterday, last night, last month, last year, a year ago, a few hours ago, a month ago, etc.

We have 2 kinds of verbs in the past: the regular and the irregular verbs. In regular verbs we add –ED (Worked, walked, watched, cleaned, etc.). In irregular verbs, the only way to remember is by practicing and checking a verb list until you memorize them.

REGULAR VERBS - EXCEPTIONS:

1)  In verbs ending in –Y that have a consonant before, we cut the –Y and substitute it by –IED: Study = Studied (different from play, that has a vowel before = played)

2)  In verbs ending in –E, we just add –D: danced

3)  In verbs with one syllable ending in consonant + vowel + consonant, double the last consonant: stopped

4)  In verbs with more than one syllable ending in vowel + consonant that have the last syllable strong (tônica), we double the last consonant: permitted 

IRREGULAR VERBS:

1)  Some irregular verbs don’t change. The context is what indicates if the sentence is in the simple presente or simple past.

SIMPLE PRESENT	SIMPLE PAST	PORTUGUESE
To cut	Cut	cortar
To hit	Hit	bater
To fit	Fit	atacar
To read	Read	ler

2)  Others change one vowel:

SIMPLE PRESENT	SIMPLE PAST	PORTUGUESE
To get	Got	Pegar
To sit	Sat	Sentar
To give	Gave	Dar
To drink	Drank	beber

3)  Still others change completly:

SIMPLE PRESENT	SIMPLE PAST	PORTUGUESE
To be	Was/were	Ser/estar
To bring	Brought	Trazer
To teach	Taught	Ensinar
To feel	Felt	Sentir

STRUCTURE

INTERROGATIVE

DID + SUBJECT + VERB (INFINITIVE WITHOUT “TO”) + (COMPLEMENT)

Did you watch TV yesterday?

NEGATIVE

SUBJECT + DID + NOT (or DIDN’T) + VERB (INFINITIVE WITHOUT “TO”) + (COMPLEMENT)

I did not (OR didn’t) watch TV yesterday.

AFFIRMATIVE

SUBJECT + VERB (regular/ irregular in the past) + (COMPLEMENT)

I watched TV yesterday./ I went to school yesterday.

To watch (regular verb) - watched

To go (irregular verb) - went

Observe that we only used the verb in the past in the affirmative sentence. In interrogatives and negatives the auxiliary DID shows that the sentence is in the past, so we don’t change the verb to past.


We can use DID in affirmative sentences, but to emphasize:

I really liked the movie. = I did like the movie.

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There is/ There are

There is e there are is like há or existe(m) in Portuguese. We use THERE IS for singular things, person, or situation. We use THERE ARE for plural things, people, or situations.

Check the examples:

Extended form	Contracted form	Examples	Translation Port.
there is há, existe	there’s	There is a man in the car. There’s a fly in your soup. There is a new store here.	Há um homem no carro. Há uma mosca na sua sopa. Há uma loja nova aqui.
there are há, existe	—	There are 40 students in my class. There are two dogs in the house. There are 10 people in the family.	Há 40 alunos na minha classe. Há dois cães na casa. Há 10 pessoas na família.

Observe that in Portuguese we say “Tem um homem no carro” or “Tem 40 alunos na minha classe” intead of using “há”. In English we cannot use the verb have in this case. Have, as a verb, indicates possession.

“There is a man in the car.” And not “Has a man in the car.”

“There are 40 students in my class.” And not “Have 40 students in my class.”

THE NEGATIVE:

Affirmative	Negative (long form)	Negative (contracted form 1)	Negative (contracted form 2)
There is	There is not	There’s not	There isn’t
There are	There are not	—	There aren’t

Examples:

Affirmative	Negative
There is a man in the car.	There is not a man in the car. [Não há um homem no carro.]
There’s a fly in your soup.	There’s not a fly in your soup. [Não há uma mosca na sua sopa.]
There is a new store here.	There isn’t a new store here. [Não há uma loja nova aqui.]
There are 40 students in my class.	There are not 40 students in my class. [Não há 40 alunos na minha classe.]
There are two dogs in the house	There aren’t two dogs in the house. [Não há dois cachorros na casa.]
There are 10 people in the family.	There aren’t 10 people in the family. [Não há 10 pessoas na família.]

 

THE INTERROGATIVE 

Affirmative	Interrogative
There is	Is there?
There are	Are there?

 Examples:

AFFIRMATIVE	INTERROGATIVE
There is a man in the car. [Há um homem no carro.]	Is there a man in the car? [Há um homem no carro?]
There’s a fly in your soup. [Há uma mosca na sua sopa.]	Is there a fly in your soup? [Há uma mosca na sua sopa?]
There are two dogs in the house [Há dois cachorros na casa.]	Are there two dogs in the house? [Há dois cachorros na casa?]
There are 10 people in the family. [Há 10 pessoas na família.]	Are there 10 people in the family? [Há 10 pessoas na família?]

§  SHORT ANSWERS

QUESTION	short answer (AFF.)	short answer (NEG.)
Is there a man in the car?	Yes, there is.	No, there is not. No, there’s not. No, there isn’t.
Is there a fly in your soup?	Yes, there is.	No, there is not. No, there’s not. No, there isn’t.
Are there two dogs in the house?	Yes, there are.	No, there are not. No, there aren’t.
Are there 10 people in the family?	Yes, there are.	No, there are not. No, there aren’t.

§  Any is a common word used in questions with there is/are. In this case it means “algum(a)”:

Are there any apples in the refrigerator? (Há alguma maçã na geladeira?)

Yes, there are. (Sim, há.)

No, there isn’t (any). (Não, não ha (nenhum).)

§  We use there isn’t any or there aren’t any to give the idea of “nenhum”, zero. Check the examples:

There isn’t any milk in the refrigerator. (Não há (nenhum) leite na geladeira.)

There aren’t any apples in the basket. (Não há nenhuma maçã no cesto.)