Simple Past: Part 2 - Forming the Negative

Tags:: English Form Grammar Language Negative Past Simple Tense Tenses Verbs Writing

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Added: 15-Nov-08

Forming the Negative of the simple past

To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb 'do' - that is 'did' + 'not' + the infinitive of the verb you want to use. For example - I did not play.

We often contract did and not into one word - didnt for example:
I didn't play
They didn't play
She didn't play

Notice that did and didnt are invariable they do not change.

The Same rule applies for irregular verbs: Lets look at leave,come and teach:

I didn't leave
We didn't come
He didn't teach

Heres an example with the very common irregular verb 'to go'
She went to school yesterday.

Becomes in the negative:
She did not go to school yesterday.

Remember that 'went' is the past form of 'go'. I went I didnt go

Regular verbs:

Very simple!
She talked to Martin last week.

She did not talk to Martin last week.

You try...
Make the sentences with the negative Simple Past
They studied English in 2006.
. .
They did not study English in 2006.

Tim played golf when he was at university.
..
Tim did not play golf when he was at university.

Exercises for this video:
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