Talking about the past (1)

The tense of a verb tells us when the action was done. The action can be done in the past, present or future.

When do I use the past tense?
There are many ways of talking about the past in English, but the two main ones are the simple past and the continuous past.

Use the simple past form of a verb when you are talking about an action that took place at a specific point in the past and that is now finished.
e.g. I kicked the ball and scored a goal.
I walked the dog yesterday.
I went to Florida last year.

NOTE! The simple past is formed in different ways for regular and irregular verbs. For regular verbs there is a rule, but irregular verbs just have to be learned!

e.g. 'I live in London now, but I lived in France for five years' = regular simple past tense
'I normally go to work by bus, but yesterday I went in the car' = irregular simple past tense