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What is the past form of a verb? (with examples)
The past form is the form used to display the simple past tense.
The past form is one of the five verb forms in English. Let’s see the five forms of the verb“to catch“:
| 1 | Base Form | catch |
| 2 | The -S Form (also called the Third Person Singular Present Tense Form) |
catches |
| 3 | Past Form | caught |
| 4 | The -ING Form (also called the Present Participle Form) |
catching |
| 5 | The Past Participle Form | caught |
The Past Form Is One of the Past Tenses
La forma pasada no es lo mismo que el tiempo pasado, aunque muchas personas usan los términos indistintamente.
There are four different past tenses:
| 1 | simple past tense | I looked at the sea. |
| 2 | past progressive tense | I was looking at the sea. |
| 3 | past perfect tense | I had looked at the sea. |
| 4 | past perfect progressive | I had been looking at the sea. |
Forming the Past Form
No existe una regla simple para crear la forma pasada (es decir, el tiempo pasado simple) de un verbo. Depende de si el verbo es regular o irregular.
Past Form of Regular Verbs
Regular verbs form their past forms by adding -ed or -d. For example:
want > wanted
dance > danced
There are some spelling rules to consider as well. For example:
hurry > hurried (y changes to an i)
prefer > preferred (the r doubles)
Here are some more examples of past forms of regular verbs:
| Base Form | Past Form | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| help | helped | -ed added |
| dance | danced | -d added |
| tally | tallied | -ed added but spelling rule applied (change y to i) |
| allot | allotted | -ed added but spelling rule applied (double the last consonant if the verb ends [consonant-vowel-consonant] and is end stressed) |
Past Form of Irregular Verbs
Los verbos irregulares forman sus formas pasadas de varias maneras. Aquí hay algunos verbos irregulares comunes con formas complicadas en el pasado:
- catch > caught
- bring > brought
- see > saw
- wear > wore
- fly > flew
- teach > taught
- drink > drank
- read (pronounced REED) > read (pronounced RED)
- lead (pronounced LEED)> led (pronounced LED)
Aquí hay algunos ejemplos más de formas pasadas de verbos irregulares:
| Base Form | Past Form | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| set | set | past form same as the base form |
| dig | dug | past form has a vowel change from the base form |
| seek | sought | past form is completely different from the base from |
The Five Verb Forms
La siguiente tabla muestra las cinco formas verbales en inglés.
| Verb Type | 1 The Base Form (aka“Simple Form“or“Uninflected Form“) |
2 The -S Form (aka“Third Person Singular Present Tense Form“) |
3 Past Form (aka“The Past Tense Form“) |
4 The -ING Form (aka the Present Participle Form |
5 The Past Participle Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | play | plays | played | playing | played |
| Regular | use | uses | used | using | used |
| Regular | marry | marries | married | marrying | married |
| Irregular | bring | brings | brought | bringing | brought |
| Irregular | run | runs | ran | running | run |
| Irregular | fall | falls | fell | falling | fallen |
| Irregular | drink | drinks | drank | drinking | drunk |
Why Should I Care about the Past Form?
Aprender las formas de los verbos (incluida la forma del pasado) es útil cuando se estudia inglés porque permite a los profesores y alumnos hablar sobre los componentes que forman los distintos tiempos.
For example, with some verbs, the past form and the past participle form are the same (eg, I played, I had played). With other verbs, the base form, past form, and past participle form are the same (eg, set, I set, I had set). With others, everyone is different (eg, drink, drank, had drank).
