What Is the Simple Past Tense ? The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity that happened in the past. In other words, the activity started in the past and ended in the past. For example: John baked a cake. They painted the fence. Test Time! However, there are some spelling rules. The Simple Past Tense (also known as Past Indefinite Tense) is a verb tense used to describe actions that were completed in the past. It indicates that an event occurred at a specific time, which is usually indicated by a time expression (like “yesterday,” “last year,” or “in 2010”). The simple past tense describes completed actions, routines, and events . Learn its form, structure, grammar rules, usage, & examples. In this lesson, you will find 100 examples of simple past tense sentences — including regular and irregular verbs, as well as affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms.
