Past Indefinite Tense

As we know, tense tells us the time of action and event, Past Indefinite Tense tells us about an action that took place in past time and also completed by that time. Past indefinite tense is also called Simple Past Tense. The structure of past indefinite tense is:

Subject + V2 (II form of the verb) + Other Words

Examples:

• He played yesterday.
• He went to school.
• She didn't wash her car.
• Rohan left the college two years ago.
• He didn't wait for the bus.
• Did he do hard work for his examination?

Structure of Past Indefinite Tense in different kinds of sentences

1. Affirmative Sentences: In affirmative sentences of past indefinite tense, the second form (V2) of the verb is used. The structure of the sentence will be:

Subject + Verb (II form) + Other Words

Examples:

• I baked the cake.
• We baked the cake.
• You baked the cake.
• He/she baked the cake.
• They baked the cake.
• John baked the cake.
• Girls baked the cake.

2. Negative Sentences: In the negative sentence of past indefinite tense, 'did not' is used with the first form (V1) of the verb. The structure of the sentence will be:

Subject + did not + Verb (I form) + Other Words

Examples:

• I did not bake the cake.
• We did not bake the cake.
• You did not bake the cake.
• He/ she did not bake the cake.
• They did not bake the cake.
• John did not bake the cake.
• Girls did not bake the cake.

3. Interrogative Sentences: In the interrogative sentence of past indefinite tense, 'did' is placed before the subject, and after the subject, the first form (V1) of the verb is used. The structure of the sentence will be:

Did + Subject + Verb (I form) + Other Words

Examples:

• Did I bake the cake?
• Did we bake the cake?
• Did you bake the cake?
• Did he/she bake the cake?
• Did they bake the cake?
• Did john bake the cake?
• Did the girls bake the cake?

4 Negative Interrogative Sentences: In negative interrogative sentences of past indefinite tense, 'did' is placed before the subject, and after the subject 'not' is placed, which is followed by the first form (V1) of the verb. The structure of the sentence will be:

Did + Subject + not + Verb (I form) + Other Words

Examples:

• Did I not bake the cake?
• Did we not bake the cake?
• Did you not bake the cake?
• Did he/she not bake the cake?
• Did they not bake the cake?
• Did john not bake the cake?
• Did girls not bake the cake?

Note: In the past indefinite tense, the forms of the verb do not change according to the number and person of the subject, and it remains unaffected, unlike the present indefinite tense.

Examples:

• He played football.
• She went to the market by car.
• We completed our homework.
• They began their classes soon after the summer break.
• I wore a bright and colorful dress for the party.

Uses of past indefinite tense

• It is used for the action completed in the past and not related to the present.
  Example: They went to school at a young age.
• It is also used to show past habits. To express past habits, we can use the words like always, often, generally, sometimes, usually, every day, etc.
  Examples: She always wore sunglasses during her traveling. Sita visited the temple every day.
• It is used to indicate the action that lasted for a period of time in the past.
  Examples: Rohan lived in Delhi for 10 years. John worked in Microsoft Company for 10 years.
• It is used in asking for the time of action.
  Examples: when did you go to market? Did you bake the cake this morning?
• It is used to indicate the completed action in the past when the time is mentioned.
  Examples: I was born in 1900. India won the first world cup in 1983.
• It is also used to express that action which time is not given, but that is definite. Examples: He purchased his cloth in Delhi. I was born and bought up in Muzaffarpur.

Subject-verb agreement in past indefinite tense

In the past indefinite tense, the form of the verb remains the same with the singular and plural subject except with the 'be' form of the verb (was and were), where it changes according to the singular and plural subject. For example:

1. With singular subject 'was' is used in past indefinite tense. Examples:
   • I was well.
   • I was happy with my family.
   • She was very special to me.
   • He was hungry.
   • Rohan was born on 1^st March 2010.
2. With plural subject 'were' is used in past indefinite tense. Examples:
   • They were unwell.
   • We were in America last year.
   • Where were you last night?
   • Children were happy in the park.
   • Girls were excited about the picnic.

Formation of the verb in past indefinite tense

In the past indefinite tense, the second form of the verb is used. Here we will see the formation of the second form of verb from the root or base form of the verb.

• Most of the second form of the verb is formed by adding the suffix 'ed' to the root or base form of the verb.
  Examples:
  Want - wanted
  Call - called
  Listen - listened
  Need - needed
  Play - played
• Many base forms of the verb ended by 'e' are changed into the second form of the verb by adding the suffix 'd' to it.
  Examples:
  Like - liked
  Love - loved
  Taste - tasted
  Close - closed
  Decide - decided
• Some of the verbs remain the same in both base form and in the simple past form.
  Examples:
  Put - put
  Cut - cut
  Read - read
  Let - let
  Cost - cost
• Some verbs are formed differently in simple past forms. That kind of verb is also called an irregular verb, and there is no rule for that.
  Examples:
  Go - went
  Speak - spoke
  Steal - stole
  Bring - brought
  Do - did

Difference between present perfect and past indefinite tense

Some important facts about past indefinite tense

• It tells about the action that took place and was completed in past time.
• In the past indefinite tense, the impact of the action is ended in past time and not important at the present time.
• With past indefinite tense, the words like yesterday, before, ago, last, etc., is used.
• It is also used to tell the past habits. For that, the words like generally, always, often, usually, etc., are used.
• Unlike present indefinite tense, the verbs in past indefinite tense remain the same with the singular and plural subject, except with verb 'be' (was/were).