Simple Past Tense digunakan untuk fakta-fakta atau peristiwa-peristiwa yang terjadi di masa lampau. Contoh:
- I played tennis with some guys from work yesterday.
- We stayed in Shanghai for five days.
Kata kerja simple past tense (kata kerja bentuk ke-2) yang reguler dibentuk dengan menambahkan “-ed” pada akhiran kata kerja. Contoh:
- jump -> jumped: The dog jumped over the fence.
- walk -> walked: I walked 22 kilometers yesterday.
- work -> worked: We worked together as lawyers for 15 years.
Kegunaan
Simple past tense digunakan untuk menyatakan sebuah tindakan yang telah selesai dilakukan. Contoh:
- We watched a movie at the weekend (kami menonton film di akhir pekan)
- She arrived on Thursday (dia tiba hari Kamis)
Waktu spesifik harus dinyatakan atau diisyaratkan. Contoh:
- I walked to work this morning – Dalam kalimat ini waktunya disebutkan
- I walked to work – Dalam kalimat ini waktu tidak disebutkan, tetapi konteks kalimatnya dapat membuat kita memahami waktu yang dimaksud (yakni waktu lampau).
Kalimat negatif
Kalimat negatif simple past tense dibuat dengan did dan not. Did adalah bentuk lampau dari kata kerja to do. Did dan not sering disingkat menjadi didn’t. Contoh:
- I arrived in London on Monday -> I didn’t arrive on Sunday.
- They stayed at the Vivaldi Hotel -> They didn’t stay at the Carlton Hotel.
- I arrived in London on Monday -> I didn’t arrive on Sunday.
- They stayed at the Vivaldi Hotel -> They didn’t stay at the Carlton Hotel.
Karena “did” merupakan bentuk lampau, maka kata kerja utama tidak mengalami perubahan. Contoh:
- We didn’t live in Italy. Did adalah bentuk lampau sehingga live tidak dirubah menjadi bentuk lampau.
- We didn’t lived in Italy. Kalimat ini tidak benar
Kalimat bertanya
Pertanyaan dibuat dengan menempatkan did sebelum subjek. Contoh:
- You lived in Japan -> Did you live in Japan?
- They stayed at the Vivaldi Hotel -> Did they stay at the Vivaldi Hotel?
Kata kerja utama juga tidak berubah (tidak diganti menjadi bentuk lampau), contoh:
- You lived in Japan -> Did you lived in Japan? (tidak benar)
- You lived in Japan -> Did you live in Japan? (benar)
- You lived in Japan -> Did you lived in Japan? (tidak benar)
- You lived in Japan -> Did you live in Japan? (benar)
Kata kerja tidak beraturan
Ada banyak kata kerja simple past tense yang tidak beraturan (irregular verbs) dalam bahasa Inggris, yakni tidak ditambahkan -ed. Berikut beberapa kata kerja tidak beraturan yang paling umum.
be – was/were become – became begin – began break – broke bring – brought build – built buy – bought catch - caught choose – chose come – came do – did draw -drea eat – ate feel – felt fight – fought find – found fly – flew forget – forgot get – got give – gave go – went have – had hear – heard hit – hit know - knew learn – learnt/learned leave – left lose – lost | make – made meet – met pay – paid read – read ride - rode run – run say – said sell – sold send – sent shut – shut sing – sang sit – sat sleep – slept smell – smelt/smelled speak – spoke stand – stood swim – swam take – took teach – taught tell – told think – thought understand – understood wear – wore win – won write – wrote |