I Played, I Went — Simple Past (Regular & Irregular Verbs)

In Unit 5, you learned “was” and “were.” Today, we learn how most other verbs change in the past — and some special verbs that don’t follow the rule!

Regular Verbs (+ed)

Most verbs add “-ed” to show the past. But some spellings change a little:

Most Verbs

play → played

Verbs Ending in Consonant + Y

study → studied

Also Remember

watch → watched, stop → stopped (double letter)

معظم الأفعال تضيف “ed” للدلالة على الماضي، مثل play → played. بعض الإملاءات تتغير قليلا: study → studied (بعد حرف ساكن + y)، stop → stopped (مضاعفة الحرف).

Irregular Verbs

Some verbs don’t follow the “-ed” rule at all. You need to memorize these:

Common Irregular Verbs

go → wentdo → didhave → hadsee → sawmake → madewin → won

Example

I went to the park yesterday.
We saw a great film last weekend.

بعض الأفعال لا تتبع قاعدة “ed” إطلاقا، ويجب حفظها: go → went، do → did، have → had، see → saw، make → made، win → won.

Questions and Negatives

To ask a question or say “no” in the past, we use “did/didn’t” — the main verb goes back to its base form:

Example

Did you play football yesterday? Yes, I did.
I didn’t play chess last week.

💡 Easy Tip

After “did” or “didn’t,” the verb returns to its base form — even irregular ones! We say “Did you go?” not “Did you went?”

لطرح سؤال أو قول “لا” في الماضي، نستخدم “did/didn’t”، والفعل الرئيسي يعود لشكله الأصلي، حتى مع الأفعال الشاذة: “Did you go?” وليس “Did you went?”.

Quick Reminder: Was & Were

Don’t forget what you learned in Unit 5 — the verb “to be” in the past is different from other verbs:

Remember

I/he/she/it → was, you/we/they → were

لا تنس ما تعلمته في الوحدة 5: فعل “to be” في الماضي مختلف عن باقي الأفعال: was مع I/he/she/it، وwere مع you/we/they.

I Played, I Went — Summary Card

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Test Yourself!

“I ___ football yesterday.” (play)
“We ___ to the park.” (go)
“___ you play chess?”
“I ___ play chess last week.” (negative)