Simple past : Negative form
To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ – that is ‘Forming the Negative of the simple past
To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ – that is ‘did‘ + ‘not‘ + the infinitive of the verb you want to use. For example – I did not play.

We often contract did and not into one word – didn’t – for example:
- I didn’t play
- They didn’t play
- She didn’t play
Notice that did and didn’t are invariable – they do not change no matter which pronoun you use.
The Same rule applies for irregular verbs:
Let’s look at leave,come and teach:
- I didn’t leave
- We didn’t come
- He didn’t teach
Here’s an example with the very common irregular verb ‘to go’
- She went to school yesterday.
Becomes in the negative:
- She did not go to school yesterday.
Remember that ‘went’ is the past form of ‘go‘. I went I didn’t go
Regular verbs:
Very simple!
- She talked to Martin last week.
- She did not talk to Martin last week.
You try…
Make the sentences with the negative Simple Past
- They studied English in 2006.
- Tim played golf when he was at university.
(answers below)
See also
Answers:
- They did not study ..
- Tim did not play…