Past Tense

Past tense

Ga kerasa sekarang udah SMA, padahal rasanya baru kemaren aja SMP. Ingat kenangan di SMP, ingat juga ma jenis tense yang satu ini. Taukan apa tensenya? Ga lain dan ga bukan ya iyalah past tense (lebay deh).

Simple past is formed for regular verbs by adding –ed to the root of a word. In other word, simple past is used for describing acts that have already been concluded and whose exact time of occurrence is known. Furthermore, simple past is use for retelling successive events. That is why it is commonly used in storytelling.

Simple past tense is a kind of tense which is used to describe an event or action that happened already in a certain time in the past.

The pattern:
- Using be
(+) S+was/were+complement
(-) S+was/were not+complement
(?) was/were+S+complement?

- Using verbs
(+) S+verb II+complement
(-) S+did not+verb I+complement
(?) did+S+verb I?

Examples:
- Using be
(+) I was a student.
(-) I was not a student.
(?) Was I a student?

- Using verbs
(+) I went to Tahai Lake yesterday.
(-) I did not go to Tahai Lake yesterday.
(?) Did I go yesterday?

Adverbs used:
- Yesterday
- Last night
- Last week
- Two days ago
- A few minutes ago
- Last weekend
- Last month
- Last year
- Etc

The functions of the simple past:

1. To express that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.
2. To describe a habit which stopped in the past. To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was a younger, etc.
3. To describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true.

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:
(+) S+was/were+verb-ing+complement
(-) S+was not/were not+complement
(?) was/were+S+verb-ing+complement?
Examples:
(+) He was writing a letter at eight o’clock last night.
(-) He was not writing a letter at eight o’clock last night.
(?) Were you writing a letter at eight o’clock last night?

Adverbs used:
- At the time like this yesterday
- At seven o’clock last night
- All day yesterday
- Etc


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

The pattern:
(+) S+had+verb III+complement
(-) S+had not+verb III+complement
(?) Had+S+verb III+complement?

Examples:
(+) I had sent a message.
(-) I had not sent a message.
(?) Had I sent a message?

Adverbs used:
- From 1998
- Once
- Twice
- Etc