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Grammar - Level 2

Simple Past Tense with “Did”

When we want to talk about events that occurred in the past, we must use the simple past tense of the verbs.

  • I went to my house after I finished class. 
  • She studied for the exam yesterday. 
  • They came back by taxi. 

The structure is as follows:

Subject + Verb in Simple Past + Complementizer + Expression of Past Time

  • She wrote me a letter last summer. 
  • They ate at a nice restaurant. 
  • Bill and Tom played basketball yesterday. 

But when we want to make questions in the simple past tense we have to use the auxiliary “did”. When we put “did” at the beginning of the sentence the verb changes to the present form. If the answer to a question is negative, the verb use in the negative answer also changes to the simple present form.

Question: Did she write you a letter last summer? 
 Affirmative Answer: Yes, she wrote me a letter last summer. 
Negative Answer: No, she didn’t write me a letter last summer. 

In some ways the English past tense is easy because the auxiliary “did” is the same for all of the pronouns or subjects when asking a question. Also the past tense affirmative answers are the same for each person. And the negative answers are all in the simple present for each person.

Question: Did you travel all over the world last year? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, I traveled all over the world last year. 
Negative Answer: No, I didn’t travel all over the world last year. 

Question: Did she travel all over the world last year? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, she traveled all over the world last year. 
Negative Answer: No, she didn’t travel all over the world last year. 

Question: Did he travel all over the world last year? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, he traveled all over the world last year. 
Negative Answer: No, he didn’t travel all over the world last year. 

Question: Did they travel all over the world last year? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, they traveled all over the world last year. 
Negative Answer: No, they didn’t travel all over the world last year. 

Question: Were they in England last summer? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, they were in England last summer. 
Negative Answer: No, they weren’t in England last summer.  

Question: Were you angry at me yesterday? 
Affirmative Answer: Yes, I was angry at you yesterday. 
Negative Answer: No, I wasn’t angry at you yesterday.

When using “to be” in the past, it is impossible to use “did” in the questions. 

Remember:

 I was  They were
 You were  We were
 She was  
 He was  
 It was