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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