The negative of the simple past

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

• English4Today Grammar: Simple Past section

Answers:

1. They did not study ..
2. Tim did not play…