English A2 · Past simple
Anglais A2 Sujet 3 4:31 Narration en anglais · Sous-titres anglais + 中文 incrustés
Chapitres
Transcript
The past simple talks about finished past events, things that started and ended with a door closed behind them. Wo zuotian kanle yi bu dianying: I watched a film yesterday. And here is the surprise: every person shares one form. I walked, you walked, she walked; for once, he gets nothing special, and the ego letter stays home. The memory hook: a closed door. If the event is still connected to now, this is the wrong tense; that door belongs to the present perfect, the next topic.
Regular verbs add ed, with four dances. Most just add it: worked, watched. Verbs ending in e add only d: liked, danced. Consonant plus y dances to ied: studied, carried. And short stressed verbs panic and double, exactly like running: stopped, planned, while calm ones stay calm: rained. The ed has three pronunciations: worked with a t, played with a d, wanted with an extra beat. Say wanted aloud and hear it.
The commonest verbs in English are irregular; they went to the gym of history and came back changed. Go, went. Eat, ate. See, saw. Buy, bought. Have, had. Take, took. Come, came. Write, wrote. There is no rule; there is a list, and ten a week empties it in a month. And be keeps shape-shifting even in the past: was for I, he, she and it; were for you, we and they. I was tired; they were happy.
Like does in the present simple, the past hires a helper: did. You watched the film becomes did you watch the film. The helper arrives and eats the past, so the main verb relaxes to base form. Did you went has two pasts in one sentence, and the sentence is full; did already ate it. The negative works the same way: I didn't watch the film. The helper family has a big appetite: does eats the s, and did eats the ed.
Pause and choose. Did you go home? Did plus the base form. Option one double-marks the past, option three asked did to serve be, and be flips alone as always: were you tired? Option four saved the surprise voice for a written question, where it does not belong.
The deepest trap is le. Le marks a completed action, not a timeline, and the Chinese verb never changes, so the sentences for every day and yesterday differ only in the time word. English chooses tense by time, and the verb must carry the past: I walk to school yesterday is impossible; I walked. Learn the door-closing signal words: yesterday, last week, in twenty nineteen, two days ago. See one, and the past simple closes behind the event.
Pause and choose. I ate breakfast at seven this morning. Seven this morning is finished, the door is closed, so the past simple. Have eaten connects the breakfast to now, which belongs to the next topic, and am eating puts you in the kitchen this evening with very cold eggs.
Tell a true story about yesterday, three sentences minimum, drama optional. I woke up late. I ran to the bus stop. The bus left without me. The bus always knows. Then interview a partner: what did you eat for dinner? I ate noodles; tell the truth. And a public service announcement: I didn't do my homework because my dog looked at me has been tried by ten thousand students, and it still doesn't work.
Pause for four checks. I watched a film yesterday: regular verb, closed door. She went to Beijing last week: a rebel from the list, not the rule. Did you see the game: did eats the past. And they were happy: be needs no helper, even in the past. Next topic: the present perfect, the door that is still open.