Tom: Look! It's raining again.
Ann: Oh no, not again. It rained all day yesterday too.
Rained is the past simple tense. We use the past simple to talk about actions or situations in the past.
- I very much enjoyed the party.
- Mr. Edwards died ten years ago.
- When I livedin Manchester, I worked in a bank.
b) Very often the past simple ends in - ed:
- We invitedthem to our party but they decided not to come.
- The police stopped me on my way home last night.
- She passedher examination because she studied very hard.
But many important verbs are irregular. This means that the past simple does not end in -ed.
For example:
leave —> left We all leftthe party at 11 o'clock.
go —> wentYesterday I went to London to see a friend of mine.
cost —> cost This house cost£35,000 in 1980.
The past of the verb be (am/is/are) is was/were:
I / he / she / it waswe/you/they were
I was angry because Tom and Ann were late.
c) In past simple questions and negatives we use did/didn't + the infinitive (do/open/rain etc.):
it raineddid it rain? it didn't rain
- Ann: Did you go out last night, Tom?
Tom: Yes, I went to the cinema. But I didn't enjoy the film.
- When did Mr Edwards die?
- What did you do at the week-end?
- We didn't invite her to the party, so she didn't come.
- Why didn'tyou phone me on Tuesday?
Note that we normally use did/didn't with have:
- Did you have time to write the letter?
- I didn't have enough money to buy anything to eat.
But we do not use did with the verb be (was/were):
- Why wereyou so angry?
- They weren't able to come because they werevery busy.