Simple past is formed for regular verbs by adding –ed to the root of a word. Example: He walked to the store. A negation is produced by adding did not and the verb in its infinitive form. Example: He did not walk to the store. Question sentences are started with did as in Did he walk to the store?

The pattern :

(+)Subject + verb II + complement

(-)Subject + did not + verb II + complement

(?)Did + subject + verb I

The examples :

(+)I went to Banjarmasin last night

(-)I did not go anywhere yesteray

(?)Did you go last month?

Adverbs used : yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago, a few minutes ago, last weekend, last month, last year, in 1984, etc.

2.Past Continuous Tense is a kind of tense that is used to describe an event or an action which was happening in a certain time in the past.

The pattern :

(+)Subject + was/were +verb-ing+ complement

(-)Subject + was not/were not+verb-ing+ complement

(?)was/were+ subject + verb-ing+complement

The examples :

(+)He was writing a letter at eight o’clock last night

(-)He was not writing a letter at seven o’clock last night

(?)Were you writing a letter at eight last night?

Adverbs used : at the time like this yesterday, at seven o’clock last night, etc.

3.Past Perfect Tense is a kind of tense that is used to describe an action or an event that started in a certain time in the past and completed or finished till certain time in the past too; or past perfect tense is used to express an action or an event that had happened before the other event or action happened.

The pattern :

(+)Subject + had+verb III+cmplement

(-)Subject + had not+ver III+complement

(?)Had + subject +verb III+complement

The examples :

(+)We had eaten before they came

(-)They had not eaten before we came

(?)Had they eaten before we came?

Adverbs used : from 1998 to 1999, once, twice, etc.