[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":339},["ShallowReactive",2],{"exercise-grammar-simple-past-exercises":3,"exercise-index-for-related":232},{"slug":4,"skill":5,"topic":6,"title":7,"levels":8,"tags":11,"published":13,"updated_at":14,"is_premium":15,"meta_title":16,"meta_description":17,"rule":18,"examples":37,"exercises":53,"faq":208,"article":224},"simple-past-exercises","grammar","simple-past","Simple Past Exercises",[9,10],"A1","A2",[12,6],"tenses",true,"2026-07-20",false,"Simple Past Exercises — Regular & Irregular Verbs | Free Practice | FluencyRoad","Practice the simple past tense with free interactive exercises covering regular and irregular verbs, negatives and questions — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"heading":19,"summary":20,"points":21},"How the simple past works","The simple past describes finished actions and situations at a finished time: yesterday, last year, in 2010, two hours ago.",[22,25,28,31,34],{"label":23,"text":24},"Regular verbs","base verb + -ed: work → worked, play → played, stop → stopped",{"label":26,"text":27},"Irregular verbs","special forms to memorise: go → went, see → saw, have → had, buy → bought",{"label":29,"text":30},"Negative","didn't + base verb: I didn't see him (not 'didn't saw')",{"label":32,"text":33},"Question","Did + subject + base verb: Did you enjoy the film?",{"label":35,"text":36},"Signal words","yesterday, last night\u002Fweek\u002Fyear, ago, in 1999, when I was a child",[38,41,44,47,50],{"sentence":39,"note":40},"We **visited** my grandparents last weekend.","regular verb + finished time",{"sentence":42,"note":43},"She **went** to Italy in 2023 and **loved** it.","irregular (went) and regular (loved) together",{"sentence":45,"note":46},"I **didn't watch** the match last night.","negative — base verb after didn't",{"sentence":48,"note":49},"**Did** you **call** me an hour ago?","question — base verb after did",{"sentence":51,"note":52},"He **bought** his first car when he **was** twenty.","irregular verbs buy → bought, be → was",[54,103,144,186],{"id":55,"type":56,"title":57,"instructions":58,"questions":59},"mc","multiple_choice","Choose the correct form","Select the correct option to complete each sentence.",[60,69,78,87,95],{"id":61,"prompt":62,"options":63,"answer":67,"explanation":68},"mc1","They ___ to the beach yesterday.",[64,65,66],"go","goed","went",2,"'Go' is irregular: go → went. 'Goed' does not exist.",{"id":70,"prompt":71,"options":72,"answer":76,"explanation":77},"mc2","I ___ my keys, so I couldn't open the door.",[73,74,75],"lost","losed","loose",0,"'Lose' is irregular: lose → lost.",{"id":79,"prompt":80,"options":81,"answer":85,"explanation":86},"mc3","___ you ___ the new film at the cinema?",[82,83,84],"Did \u002F saw","Did \u002F see","Do \u002F saw",1,"After 'did', the main verb returns to its base form: Did you see…?",{"id":88,"prompt":89,"options":90,"answer":76,"explanation":94},"mc4","She ___ come to the meeting because she was ill.",[91,92,93],"didn't","doesn't","don't","Past negative uses 'didn't' + base verb.",{"id":96,"prompt":97,"options":98,"answer":85,"explanation":102},"mc5","We ___ at a small hotel near the station.",[99,100,101],"stay","stayed","staied","Vowel + y just adds -ed: stay → stayed (no -ied).",{"id":104,"type":105,"title":106,"instructions":107,"questions":108},"gap","gap_fill","Complete the sentences","Type the simple past form of the verb in brackets.",[109,116,123,130,137],{"id":110,"prompt":111,"hint":112,"answers":113,"explanation":115},"gap1","Yesterday I ___ up at 6 a.m.","wake",[114],"woke","'Wake' is irregular: wake → woke.",{"id":117,"prompt":118,"hint":119,"answers":120,"explanation":122},"gap2","She ___ me a long e-mail last week.","write",[121],"wrote","'Write' is irregular: write → wrote.",{"id":124,"prompt":125,"hint":126,"answers":127,"explanation":129},"gap3","The children ___ football in the park all afternoon.","play",[128],"played","Regular verb: play → played.",{"id":131,"prompt":132,"hint":133,"answers":134,"explanation":136},"gap4","We ___ dinner at nine and went to bed early.","have",[135],"had","'Have' is irregular: have → had.",{"id":138,"prompt":139,"hint":140,"answers":141,"explanation":143},"gap5","The bus ___ at every single stop this morning.","stop",[142],"stopped","Short verbs ending consonant-vowel-consonant double the final consonant: stop → stopped.",{"id":145,"type":145,"title":146,"instructions":147,"questions":148},"reorder","Put the words in order","Click the words in the correct order to build the sentence.",[149,158,168,176],{"id":150,"words":151,"answer":156,"explanation":157},"re1",[152,153,154,155],"last night","we","a movie","watched","we watched a movie last night","Subject + past verb + object + time expression.",{"id":159,"words":160,"answer":166,"explanation":167},"re2",[161,162,163,164,165],"did","arrive","when","you","?","when did you arrive ?","Question word + did + subject + base verb.",{"id":169,"words":170,"answer":174,"explanation":175},"re3",[91,171,172,173],"the train","on time","leave","the train didn't leave on time","Subject + didn't + base verb + adverbial.",{"id":177,"words":178,"answer":184,"explanation":185},"re4",[179,180,181,182,183],"ago","moved","they","two years","to Canada","they moved to Canada two years ago","'Ago' comes after the length of time: two years ago.",{"id":187,"type":188,"title":189,"instructions":190,"questions":191},"tf","true_false","True or false?","Decide if each statement about the simple past is true or false.",[192,196,200,204],{"id":193,"prompt":194,"answer":15,"explanation":195},"tf1","\"I didn't went to school yesterday\" is correct.","False — after 'didn't' the verb goes back to its base form: \"I didn't go to school.\"",{"id":197,"prompt":198,"answer":13,"explanation":199},"tf2","Regular verbs form the simple past by adding -ed.","True — work → worked, clean → cleaned. Spelling may adjust (stop → stopped, study → studied).",{"id":201,"prompt":202,"answer":13,"explanation":203},"tf3","The past of 'be' is 'was' for I\u002Fhe\u002Fshe\u002Fit and 'were' for you\u002Fwe\u002Fthey.","True — 'be' is the only verb with two past forms: I was, they were.",{"id":205,"prompt":206,"answer":15,"explanation":207},"tf4","We use the simple past with 'since yesterday'.","False — 'since' points to an unfinished period continuing to now, which takes the present perfect: \"I've been here since yesterday.\"",[209,212,215,218,221],{"question":210,"answer":211},"When do we use the simple past?","Use the simple past for actions and situations that started and finished in the past, usually with a finished time expression: yesterday, last week, two years ago, in 2015, when I was young.",{"question":213,"answer":214},"How do I form the simple past of regular verbs?","Add -ed to the base verb: work → worked. Spelling rules: verbs ending in -e add only -d (live → lived); consonant + y becomes -ied (study → studied); short stressed consonant-vowel-consonant endings double the consonant (stop → stopped).",{"question":216,"answer":217},"How can I learn irregular verbs?","Learn them in high-frequency groups and practice them in sentences. Patterns help: buy\u002Fbring\u002Fthink → bought\u002Fbrought\u002Fthought; sing\u002Fring\u002Fdrink → sang\u002Frang\u002Fdrank. The 50 most common irregular verbs cover most everyday conversation.",{"question":219,"answer":220},"Why is it wrong to say 'Did you went'?","Because 'did' already carries the past tense. The main verb returns to its base form in questions and negatives: Did you go? \u002F I didn't go. Only one word per clause needs the past marking.",{"question":222,"answer":223},"What is the difference between the simple past and the present perfect?","The simple past reports a finished action at a finished time (I saw that film last week). The present perfect connects a past action to the present, without a finished time expression (I have seen that film).",{"heading":225,"paragraphs":226},"The simple past explained in depth",[227,228,229,230,231],"The simple past is the storytelling tense of English. Every anecdote, biography, news report and novel leans on it, which makes it one of the highest-value tenses a learner can master. Its concept is refreshingly clear — the action is over, and the time it happened in is over too — but its forms carry two classic difficulties: irregular verbs and the auxiliary 'did'.","Regular verbs are the easy half: add -ed and adjust the spelling where needed. The three spelling rules worth memorising are silent -e verbs adding only -d (arrive → arrived), consonant + y switching to -ied (carry → carried), and one-syllable consonant-vowel-consonant verbs doubling the final letter (plan → planned). Pronunciation of -ed varies between \u002Ft\u002F, \u002Fd\u002F and \u002Fɪd\u002F (worked, played, wanted), which is worth practising aloud.","Irregular verbs are the hard half — around 200 verbs with unpredictable forms, of which perhaps 50 dominate daily speech: go\u002Fwent, get\u002Fgot, make\u002Fmade, come\u002Fcame, take\u002Ftook, see\u002Fsaw. There is no rule that generates them, but there are families with shared vowel changes, and grouping them that way roughly halves the memorisation effort.","The auxiliary 'did' governs negatives and questions, and brings the same logic as 'does' in the present: once the auxiliary carries the tense, the main verb goes back to base form. 'Did she called?' and 'I didn't went' are among the most common learner errors in English — if you catch yourself doubling the past marking, you have found a high-impact habit to fix.","Finally, watch the boundary with the present perfect. Finished-time expressions — yesterday, ago, last year, in 2010 — lock the sentence into the simple past. If the time period is still open (today, this week, ever), English prefers the present perfect. Choosing between those two tenses is such a frequent decision that we dedicate a full exercise page to it.",[233,245,256,265,275,282,290,297,304,312,321,324,332],{"slug":234,"skill":5,"topic":235,"title":236,"levels":237,"tags":239,"meta_description":243,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"future-tenses-exercises","future-tenses","Future Tenses Exercises",[10,238],"B1",[12,240,241,242],"future","will","going-to","Practice English future forms (will, going to, present continuous, present simple) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and explanations.",18,{"slug":246,"skill":5,"topic":247,"title":248,"levels":249,"tags":251,"meta_description":255,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"gerund-infinitive-exercises","gerund-infinitive","Gerund and Infinitive Exercises",[238,250],"B2",[252,253,254],"gerund","infinitive","verb-patterns","Practice gerunds and infinitives (enjoy doing vs decide to do) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and explanations of every verb pattern.",{"slug":257,"skill":5,"topic":258,"title":259,"levels":260,"tags":261,"meta_description":264,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"irregular-verbs-exercises","irregular-verbs","Irregular Verbs Exercises",[10,238],[262,258,6,263],"verbs","past-participle","Practice English irregular verbs (past simple and past participle) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and memory-friendly explanations.",{"slug":266,"skill":5,"topic":267,"title":268,"levels":269,"tags":270,"meta_description":274,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"modal-verbs-exercises","modal-verbs","Modal Verbs Exercises",[10,238],[267,271,272,273],"can","must","should","Practice English modal verbs (can, could, must, have to, should, may, might) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations.",{"slug":276,"skill":5,"topic":277,"title":278,"levels":279,"tags":280,"meta_description":281,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"past-perfect-exercises","past-perfect","Past Perfect Exercises",[238,250],[12,277],"Practice the past perfect tense with free interactive exercises: sequencing past events, before\u002Fafter\u002Fwhen clauses — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":283,"skill":284,"topic":285,"title":286,"levels":287,"tags":288,"meta_description":289,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"phrasal-verbs-exercises","vocabulary","phrasal-verbs","Phrasal Verbs Exercises",[238,250],[284,285],"Practice common English phrasal verbs with free interactive exercises: multiple choice, gap-fill, sentence building and true\u002Ffalse — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":291,"skill":5,"topic":292,"title":293,"levels":294,"tags":295,"meta_description":296,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"present-perfect-continuous-exercises","present-perfect-continuous","Present Perfect Continuous Exercises",[238,250],[12,292],"Practice the present perfect continuous (have been doing) with free interactive exercises comparing it with the present perfect simple — instant feedback included.",{"slug":298,"skill":5,"topic":299,"title":300,"levels":301,"tags":302,"meta_description":303,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"present-perfect-exercises","present-perfect","Present Perfect Exercises",[10,238],[12,299],"Practice the present perfect with free interactive exercises: multiple choice, gap-fill, sentence ordering and true\u002Ffalse questions with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":305,"skill":5,"topic":306,"title":307,"levels":308,"tags":309,"meta_description":311,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"present-perfect-vs-past-simple-exercises","present-perfect-vs-past-simple","Present Perfect vs Past Simple Exercises",[10,238],[12,299,310],"past-simple","Learn to choose between the present perfect and the past simple with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations of every answer.",{"slug":313,"skill":5,"topic":314,"title":315,"levels":316,"tags":317,"meta_description":320,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"present-simple-vs-present-continuous-exercises","present-simple-vs-present-continuous","Present Simple vs Present Continuous Exercises",[10,238],[12,318,319],"present-simple","present-continuous","Learn to choose between the present simple and present continuous with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations of every answer.",{"slug":4,"skill":5,"topic":6,"title":7,"levels":322,"tags":323,"meta_description":17,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},[9,10],[12,6],{"slug":325,"skill":5,"topic":326,"title":327,"levels":328,"tags":329,"meta_description":331,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"simple-past-vs-past-continuous-exercises","simple-past-vs-past-continuous","Simple Past vs Past Continuous Exercises",[10,238],[12,6,330],"past-continuous","Practice choosing between the simple past and the past continuous (was\u002Fwere doing) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations.",{"slug":333,"skill":5,"topic":334,"title":335,"levels":336,"tags":337,"meta_description":338,"updated_at":14,"question_count":244},"simple-present-exercises","simple-present","Simple Present Exercises",[9,10],[12,334],"Practice the simple present tense with free interactive exercises: third-person -s, negatives, questions and adverbs of frequency — with instant feedback and explanations.",1785358988647]